Degree Requirements:

(See general College requirements in ‘Graduate Regulations ’.)

Students who have taken twelve or more credits in courses leading to a graduate degree must maintain a minimum grade point average of 3.0. Students with less than a 3.0 average may appeal in writing to the department’s Committee on Admission, Retention, and Financial Aid to remain in the graduate program. The committee normally rejects appeals from students with less than a 2.75 grade point average.

Students may choose to write a thesis or not. Students who do not choose the thesis option must complete 32 graduate credits, including CSCI 710 , Research Project. Students who choose the thesis option must complete 24 graduate credits in addition to CSCI 700 , M.S. Thesis, and defend their thesis at an oral examination, open to the faculty and to whomever else the department may invite. CSCI 710 , Research Project cannot be applied to the 24 credits. In either case, students can apply at most 12 credits in courses numbered below 600 and must satisfactorily complete CSCI 653  and two of the additional 600 level courses, excluding CSCI 670 , CSCI 690 , CSCI 695 , and all courses with numbers 6x8.

A student cannot use courses taken in another department, nor CSCI courses designated as Computational Operations Research courses (last digit in the course number is an 8), to satisfy degree requirements without prior written approval of the student’s advisor and the Graduate Admissions Committee.

Students must submit a 2-year plan of study at the beginning of their first semester in the M.S. program, which must be endorsed by their faculty advisors and then approved by the Graduate Admission Committee.