Computer and Information Sciences Master’s program at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

The MS Thesis option requires 30 credits of course work of which typically 21 credits must derive from graded courses. Students in good standing typically complete this option in two years.

Students taking a terminal MS degree are expected to complete the thesis. The MS coursework-only option is intended for PhD students who seek a MS along-the-way . Students who wish a coursework-only degree at the Master level should enroll in the MENG degree program. You can see information that compares the two tracks here.

To fulfill requirements for the Thesis option, students must satisfy the breadth requirement, adhere to an appropriate credit distribution, enroll in the graduate seminar, comply with the ethics and diversity requirements, and complete an oral and written final exam (also known as a Master Thesis).

To encourage Masters graduates to exhibit sufficient breadth of computer science areas, MS Thesis students must take CS courses at the 5000 and 6000 levels that span four (4) different areas. The available courses and areas are listed here.

Graduate Seminar Requirement Graduate School Ethics, Inclusion, and Diversity Requirements.

The Graduate School requires that all graduate students satisfy two sets of requirements: one addressing training in Scholarly Ethics and Integrity, and one addressing Inclusion and Diversity. The CS Department also requires students to take a minimum number of instances of CS5944 Graduate Seminar.

Students entering the program in Summer 2019 or after must do the following.

Take some course that makes an explicit part of its syllabus satisfaction of all aspects of both sets of Graduate School requirements (ethics training, and inclusion and diversity training). Within CS, starting with Fall 2019, both CS5014 Research Methods and CS5024 Ethics and Professionalism in Computer Science will include material to satisfy both requirements. CS students may seek approval to satisfy the requirement with another course whose syllabus explicitly addresses both Graduate School requirements.

Earlier instances of the courses do not cover the required training, and so cannot be used.).

Complete the following two courses offered by the Research Division through CITI training courses:.

Cannot include CS5944, CS5904 CS5974, or CS7994. All courses must be in CS except that at most one course outside CS may be used if it appears in the list of approved cognate courses.

4000-level courses on the cognate list and most CS4xxx courses can be used for graduate credit, except CS4944, CS4964, CS4974 and CS 4994. See here for a list of courses.

A student satisfying the MS Thesis credit requirement typically uses seven graded CS courses to 21 credits with the remaining nine credits accrued from CS 5994 Research and Thesis. Student can choose to use eight CS courses to 24 credits with the remaining six credits from CS 5994 Research and Thesis. All courses must be in CS, except that one course outside CS may be used if it appears on the cognate course list.

Additional credit hours may be taken in any category, but do not count toward degree requirements. Substitutions for degree requirements are allowed only under rare or exceptional circumstances. Requests for substitutions must be made to the GD.

4000-level courses must be from the list of CS 4000 level courses approved for graduate credit, or else from the approved cognate course liet. Credits from CS 5894 Final Examination, CS 5904 Project and Report, CS 5944 Graduate Seminar, CS 5974 Independent Study, and CS 7994 Research and Dissertation cannot be used to satisfy any MS Thesis credit requirements. Finally, at least one 6000 level course is required.

At least two members of the committee must hold a PhD or equivalent terminal degree. Any member without a PhD or equivalent terminal degree must have recognized expertise in their field and have research experience.

Your graduate coordinator will then use that information to get the potential external member approved to serve on your committee.

Note that this assumes the student starts in the Fall. Also of note is that some of the order of courses shown is a recommendation, not a requirement. For example, whether you take the courses for breadth early in a program of study or later up to you.

Note: Recommended that a student who will do research take the CS5014: Research Methods in Computer Science course early in their studies.

Note: Student can take up to 2 4xxx. Doing it early in the program is a great way to fill a hole in your background.

Note: Department evaluates all graduate students on Green Thursday.