Course Requirements

Students who opt to complete a thesis must complete 24 credits, and those who choose not to complete a thesis must complete 32 credits.

• CSCI 649 - Computational Methods Credits: 3
• CSCI 653 - Analysis of Algorithms Credits: 3
• At least one additional 600-level course
• Students must satisfactorily complete at least one graduate course from outside the Computer Science Department

A student cannot use the following courses to satisfy degree requirements:

• CSCI 666 - Directed Studies Credits: (1-12) (Hours and credits to be arranged)
• CSCI 685 - Colloquium Credits: (0-2)
• CSCI 690 - Readings in Computer Science Credits: (1, 2, or 3 credits, depending on the material covered)
• CSCI courses designated as Computational Operations Research courses (last digit in the course number is an 8)
• More than one course taken outside the Computer Science Department
• Not more than 12 credits from courses numbered below 600 may be counted toward the degree.

Thesis Requirement

Students may choose to write a thesis or not.

Students who choose the thesis option must complete CSCI 700, M.S. Thesis, in addition to 24 credit hours, and defend their thesis at an oral examination, open to the faculty and to whomever else the department may invite.

Students who do not choose the thesis option must include CSCI 710, Research Project, as part of their 32 credit hours.

Comprehensive Exam Requirement

See the Graduate Regulations.

Foreign Language Requirement

There is no foreign language requirement.

Residence Requirement

See the Graduate Regulations.

Computational Science Cluster Certification

Each student will have a two-person computational science advisory committee within the department to advise the student about what is needed to meet the certification requirements of the Computational Science Cluster.

Satisfactory Progress

To be eligible to graduate, all students must achieve a cumulative grade point average of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale in all courses undertaken for graduate credit at William & Mary after admission to a degree program.  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. No credit toward a degree will be allowed for a course in which a student receives a grade below C (grade point = 2.0).