Computer Science, PhD

Program Requirements

To receive full admission to graduate study in computer science, a student must have taken intermediatelevel undergraduate computer science, including computer organization, data structures, operating systems, either algorithms or theory of computation, and either compilers or survey of programming languages; and basic mathematics including discrete mathematics. An applicant with minimal deficiencies may be admitted with prerequisites, while one with several deficiencies may be required to satisfactorily complete prerequisite work as a non-degree student prior to admission as a graduate student.

Although formal course requirements for the PhD degree are minimal, a typical program requires two to four years of study beyond the MS degree. Each candidate is required to pass a comprehensive examination, a dissertation proposal and a defense of the dissertation.