Graduate Information

The Computer Science Department offers three different graduate degrees.

• The Master of Computer Science (MCS) degree is a non-thesis professional master's degree that lets a student take advanced coursework beyond the Bachelor's degree. It requires 30 credit hours beyond the Bachelor's degree.  The Bioinformatics option lets the student specialize in aspects of computational biology.

• The Master of Science in Computer Science (MS) is a research degree that requires 30 credit hours beyond the Bachelor's degree, plus a thesis. While some students elect to pursue the MS as a terminal degree, most MS recipients remain in the graduate program to pursue a Ph.D.

• The Doctor of Philosophy with dissertation in Computer Science (Ph.D.) requires an extended course of study and research that typically lasts from four to six years. The Ph.D. is granted for demonstrated ability to conduct original research.