Requirements for the M.S. Degree (applicable to students registered before Fall 2010)

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Students in the M.S. degree program choose between two options, the M.S. with a thesis and the M.S. with a project. The course requirements depend on the option chosen. Students are required to complete a minimum of 31 graduate credits in the Computer Science Department. A list of graduate courses is provided on the web site and in the course compendium at the end of Graduate Program Handbook as well. The required 31 credits should be obtained by satisfying the following key requirements of the M.S. program:

All seven proficiency requirements must be satisfied by the time of graduation. For the details, see Proficiency Requirements.

Students who lack one or more proficiencies at the time of admission must take appropriate graduate or undergraduate courses to satisfy them. As discussed in Graduate Program Handbook, any undergraduate courses must be taken as CSE 587, and up to 4 such credits (i.e., at most two CSE 587 courses) can be counted as credits towards graduation. Note that there are specific grade requirements for proficiency courses.

This requirement can be satisfied by taking 6 to 9 credits of CSE 599 in case of the thesis option, or 6 credits of CSE 523/524 using the project option.

This requirement can be satisfied using CSE 593 (Independent Study), CSE 698 (Practicum in Teaching), CSE 596 (Internship in Research), Computer Science seminars (excluding CSE 600), Special Topics courses, 5 or regular 3 credit technical Computer Science graduate courses.

This requirement means that at most 2 credits can be counted towards graduation from all credits accumulated in the following courses: CSE 593 (Independent Study), CSE 698 (Practicum in Teaching), CSE 596 (Internship in Research), Seminars and Special Topics courses.

The remaining credits can be satisfied by taking any graduate Computer Science course, except Seminars, Special Topics Courses, CSE 523/4, CSE 587, CSE 593, CSE 596, CSE 599, and CSE 698. Note that Advanced Topics Courses CSE 590-595 or CSE 690-692 can be used, but only up to a total of two such courses (6 credits).

Relevant graduate courses in other departments can be used towards the 31 credits, if approved by the Graduate Program Director. To this end, the student must argue the case for taking a particular course by submitting a petition, which must also be endorsed by the student´s project or thesis advisor.