Undergraduate Programs
Professional Master's Degree in Computer Science
The Professional Master’s degree in Computer Science is designed to enable students to complete a graduate degree in five years. It requires more graduate-level courses than the combined total of the B.S. and M.S., but fewer total credit hours than the sum total of the B.S. and M.S. when taken individually.Decisions to admit students to the Professional Master’s degree in Computer Science program can be made following the freshman year, at the time of enrollment in the School of Informatics and Computing. Students planning to apply to the program should contact an undergraduate advisor in SoIC for more information.
Students in the program are normally classified as undergraduates until the end of the first semester in which 122 or more hours of credit toward graduation have been earned. During this semester, students in good standing, defined as having a GPA of at least 3.0 overall and 3.0 in computer science, must submit the standard application to the Graduate School (which includes a processing fee) and initiate the transition to graduate status; if the transition to graduate status is delayed beyond this time, professional master’s status will normally revert to undergraduate B.S. status. Students are advised to check on the effect the transition to graduate status may have on existing undergraduate funding; the possibility of graduate funding is conditional upon transition to graduate status. Those not in good standing at this time are dropped from the program and reclassified as undergraduate B.S. students.
Students in the Professional Master’s Program in Computer Science must complete at least 15 hours of course work while registered in graduate status. Normally, this would encompass no fewer than two semesters.
Students in the program may receive a B.S., optionally with honors (B.S.H.), when they complete the requirements for that degree. Students in the program are encouraged to pursue the B.S.H. Students should be aware that the application for the bachelor’s degree must be completed to be eligible for the master’s degree, and that the degrees may be taken either sequentially or simultaneously.