About the Program

The Doctor of Philosophy program emphasizes preparation for research, teaching, and scholarly work in academic settings or private, industrial, or governmental laboratories.Admission decisions are based on prior academic performance, letters of reference, the applicant's statement about background and purpose, and for PhD applicants, scores on the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) General Test. Students need not have a master's degree to begin the PhD program or to be granted the doctoral degree. A student admitted without a master's degree may choose to be granted an MS or the MCS while working toward the doctorate. 

Program Overview

The PhD program in computer science requires a minimum of 72 s.h. of graduate credit, three examinations (qualifying, comprehensive, and final), and a written dissertation.

Core Requirement

Breadth

Ph.D. students must complete at least three of the following courses, with at least one course selected from each area (9 s.h.).

Systems and Software

One of these:

Networks and Distributed Systems

One of these:

Programming Languages and Compilers

One of these:

Practice

Ph.D. students must complete at least one course (3 s.h.) with significant practical or implementation-oriented content. Each semester the department designates courses that satisfy this requirement. The following are typical selections. 

Cognate Area

Ph.D. students are required to select, in consultation with their advisor, a total of 9 s.h. in courses that constitute coherent coverage of an external cognate area. Choices include, but are not limited to, mathematics, statistics, genetics, biology, and engineering disciplines.

Colloquium

Ph.D. students must earn at least 4 s.h. in Research Seminar: Colloquium Series.

Electives

Ph.D. students fill their remaining semester hours with a selection of computer science graduate courses numbered above 120 and graduate courses outside of computer science, approved by their advisor.

Qualifying Exam

Ph.D. students are required to pass a qualifying examination by the end of their second year of graduate study. Once students select a topic in consultation with their advisor, they are assigned a three-member faculty examination panel by the department. Then they prepare a written prospectus for review by the committee, followed by an oral presentation.

Comprehensive Exam

The comprehensive examination is an evaluation of the student's mastery of a research area near completion of formal course work, and before preparation of the dissertation. The exam may be written, oral, or both, at the department's discretion, and is administered by a faculty committee. The comprehensive exam typically should be completed by the end of the student's third year and no later than the end of the fourth year in the Ph.D. program.

Dissertation

Each Ph.D. student must write a dissertation, a significant, original contribution to the field of computer science. Once students obtain some preliminary results and can identify and describe the boundaries of their dissertation, they prepare a written proposal for their committee's review. The dissertation must be prepared in accordance with the format specified in the Graduate College Thesis Manual.

Final Oral Examination

Once the dissertation is complete and has been reviewed by the student's committee, a final oral examination is administered on campus. This examination must take place no sooner than the semester following successful completion of the comprehensive examination and no later than five years after completion of the comprehensive exam.

Admission Criteria

Students seeking admission to our graduate programs are subject to both the minimum standards set by the Graduate College and also to specific departmental standards. The basic requirements are:

• a total number of courses equivalent to a four-year undergraduate degree;
• a minimum undergraduate GPA of 3.0 on a 4-point scale;
• a minimum undergraduate CS GPA of 3.25 on a 4-point scale;
• strong GRE scores—required for PhD applicants, strongly recommended for MCS applicants—(V+Q+130*W ≥1800, where V=verbal, Q=quantitative, and W=analytic writing); and
• if applicable, a minimum TOEFL score of 81 for the Internet-based test or a minimum IETLS score of 7.0 (with no section score lower than 6.0). However, students scoring below 100 on the Internet-based test are generally not admitted.

Please be aware that these are minimum scores, and that students who are offered admission typically score much higher.

Admission decisions for both the PhD and MCS programs are based on prior academic performance, letters of recommendation, scores on the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) and Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL), if applicable, as well as the applicant's written statement of purpose.

The successful applicant will have strong grades in the following key areas:

• math foundations (calculus, discrete math, probability, numerical analysis, etc);
• programming (C, C++, Java) and programming language foundations;
• data structures and algorithms;
• software and hardware systems.

Scholarships

Teaching and Research Assistantships

Teaching and research assistantships are available in most departments. Assistantship stipends typically range between $18,080 for a half-time academic-year appointment and $22,090 for a half-time fiscal-year appointment; assistants also are eligible for tuition scholarships. Assistants (one-quarter-time or more) pay resident tuition rates for fee purposes.

Post-Comprehensive Research Awards

The Post-Comprehensive Research Awards program provides an opportunity for advanced doctoral students to benefit from protected and supported time to pursue their scholarly research activities. The award is intended to recognize students with distinguished academic achievement during their early graduate training. These achievements should be evident from a combination of outstanding academic performance in course work, as well as early scholarly research activities. Students who have held teaching assistantships in the previous two semesters will have priority. Awardees will receive a stipend in the amount of $9,040. The Graduate College also supports up to 2 sh of tuition, 25% of the mandatory fees, and a health insurance allowance. Recipients are nominated by their department

* Additional fees include a $140 international student fee, $120 international orientation fee, $237 student health & wellness fee, $72 student activity fee, $123 building fee, $77 student services fee, $120 student union fee, $25 arts and cultural events fee, and $269 recreation fee.