Professional Master's in Computer Science Degree Requirements

Table of Contents

The Graduate School provides general requirements for the Master of Science in all departments at ֱ Boulder. The following requirements specifically pertain to students pursuing a Master of Science in the Department of Computer Science. It supplements the Graduate School requirements; in all cases not specifically mentioned below, the general Graduate School requirements are understood to apply.

While pursuing the course based MS degree in CS, you may select between two options:

Course Requirements

The course-based MS requires 30 total credits of approved graduate-level courses.

View the pre-fall 2019 course requirements

Breadth courses requirement(9 credits)

Computer Science courses are listed in three bins. All students must earn a B or better (not a B-) inDzԱ5000-level course (not 6000 or higher) from each of the bins.

  • Breadth Course Bins
    • One course required from each of three bins (9 credits)
    • Highly recommended to complete this requirement by the end of your first year.
    • Bins get updated periodically.
    • By petition to the Graduate Committee, similar transferred graduate work done elsewhere may be used to satisfy part of this requirement.

Elective Courses (15 credits)

  • Up to three credits of theProfessional Internship class(CSCI 6930) counts as an elective course.
  • Any 15 credits with the following restrictions
    • No more than twonon-CS classes:Students may take no more than total 6 credits of non-CS classes and count towards their degree requirement, as long as these classes are at graduate level (5XXX and above) and are offered at ֱ Boulder.
    • Professional MS students cannot count any research related courses towards their degree - for example, CSCI 5000, CSCI 5100, CSCI 6000, CSCI 6100, CSCI 6200, or any other one credit research seminar based classes (for ex. ATLS 7000, CSCI 7772, CSCI 7412, CSCI 7422) or independent study courses towards their degree requirements.
    • CSEN students may not take NetEng Fundamentals classes (CSCI 5010; CSCI 5020 or CSCI 5030) and count towards their degree.

Projects courses (6 credits)

Total six credits of projects-based classes selected from one of the following options. All students must earn a B or better (not a B-) in these courses.

  • Option 1 –CSCI 5040 (3 credits) + CSCI 5050 (3 credits) – PMP Projectsclass: part 1 in fall of year 2and part 2 in spring of Year 2.
  • Option 2 – CSCI 5340 (3 credits) + CSCI 5350 (3 credits) – Entrepreneurial Projects class: part 1 in fall of year 2 and part 2 in spring of year 2.

Project courses need to be taken during Year 2 of the students academic tenure here.

Students may submit theonline petition to request for a waiver from this requirement under following conditions:

  • A PMP student with a minimum of 2 years of software industry experience may take 3 credits of professional internship class and request a waiver of the two-semester capstone. If approved, such students may take another 6credits of approved CS classes instead of the capstone.
  • A PMP student with a minimum of 5 years of software industry experience may request a waiver of the two-semester capstone. If approved, they may take another 6 credits of approved CS classes instead of the capstone.
  • Students who completed similar classes during their undergrad at ֱ Boulder, for exampleֱ Boulder CSEN BS and CSEN-BAMstudents completing Sr. Capstone projects also receive awaiver from this requirement. No petitions required.

Transfer Credit

Master's students may request a maximum of nine credithours taken at another University or within ֱ (either taken as a non-degree student OR taken as a non-CS student) to be transferred. All transfer requests must have departmental approval, please reach out to your graduate advisor for steps on how to request review of credits. You will need your syllabi, unofficial copy of your transcript, and a confirmation that the classes have not been used towards any other degree (Bachelor’s or higher).

Plan of Study

Students will be expected to submit a , in consultation with their departmental advisor, during their second semester of study. Changes to the plan of study must be approved by the advisor.

Thesis vs. Non-Thesis

Students opting for course based MS degree do not have the thesis option or the independent study research option, as this is a “course-only” degree. The research-oriented planis only available to research-based MS degree students.

The Graduate School requires that to receive a Master's degree a student must maintain a grade point average of at least 3.0 in all courses taken as a graduate student.

Advising

Please check the staff directory to see who your advisor is. The person in this role serves as their academic advisor throughout a student’s academic program. Students consult with their advisor to plan their course of study.

Adequate Progress

Any student who does not enroll for any course work relevant to Computer Science in any one semester (summer semesters excluded) must supply the department with a written statement describing the reasons for such inactivity and the student's current intentions concerning work towards the degree. This statement must be received by the department by the end of the eighth week of the semester in question. Failure to do so will be regarded as evidence of a lack of interest in continuing in the program. Similarly, any student who does not enroll for any Computer Science course work for three consecutive semesters (summer semesters excluded) will be regarded as showing a lack of interest in continuing in the program. In either case, the student may be asked to explain to the department why the student should not be removed from the degree program, with the department making the final decision on the removal.

Grades

The Graduate School requires that to receive a master's degree, a student must maintain a cumulative grade point average of at least 3.0 in all courses taken as a graduate student. No grade lower than a C can be counted towards the master's degree. No grades lower than B can be counted towards breadth requirement or the sub-plan requirements.

Time Limit

All requirements for the course based MS degree must be completed within four years of the start of course work.

Switching to the Research-Based MS

You may switch to the research-based MS degreeoncefor genuine academic reasons on a case-by-case basis via petition to the Graduate Committee and upon recommendation from the faculty member willing to supervise/advise the researchwork. You may not switch during the term you plan to graduate. Your last term officially begins after census date of the prior term.

Process you request for the switch:

  • Look for a facutly advisor who is willing to be your research advisor. Students have many opportunities to make connections with the faculty, such as pre-research advising sessions (in Fall), research expos, research talks, attending that faculty's class, etc.
  • Reach out to the faculty and discuss your plans.
  • Facutly advisor emails the research Grad Advisor their letter of support and requests for your switch.
  • Studentthen fillsout the petition formand uploads this form to the online petitionwhen submitting. They mustupload the faculty advisor's letter with their petition.

Academic Standards

Minimum Grades & GPA Requirements

Students must complete a total of 30 credit hours of approved graduate level course work with a grade of C or better and a cumulative GPA of at least 3.00.

Any student, who fails to maintain a 3.00 grade point average or to make adequate progress toward completing a degree, as assessed by the student’s academic/research advisor, will be subject to suspension or dismissal from the Graduate School upon consultation with the major department. The final decision on suspension or dismissal will be made by the Dean of the Graduate School. See theGraduate School Rulesfor additional information.

Incomplete (I) Grades

An incomplete (I) grade is given only when students, for documented reasons, beyond their control, have been unable to complete course requirements in the semester enrolled. A substantial amount of work must have been satisfactorily completed before approval of such a grade is given. The final grade (earned by completing the course requirements or by retaking the course) does not result in the deletion of the (I) from the transcript. A second entry is posted on the transcript to show the final grade for the course. At the end of one year, (I) grades for courses that are not completed or repeated are regarded as (F) and are shown as such on the student’s transcript. Courses with grades of (I) are not included in the computation of grade point averages until a final letter grade has been awarded in that course.

Graduation Checklist

The following Graduate School forms must be submitted to the Computer Science Department for approval.

IMPORTANT: Check the Graduate School deadlines prior to the start of the semester.

MS CSEN Course basedOption

  • Apply to Graduate.Students must apply through the to graduate. This notifies the Graduate School and your department that you intend to graduate. If you do not complete the requirements for graduation, you must log back in and re-apply to graduate for the new graduation date. You must apply to graduate online whether or not you plan to attend the ceremony.
  • Candidacy Application for Advanced Degree

CLASIC Professional Master's

Visit the for information on the Computational Linguistics, Analytics, Search and Informatics degree.

Computer Science courses are listed in the three differentbreadth binsbelow.

To earn a Computer Science PhD, MS or MSCPS (Professional masters)degree, you must earn a B or better (not a B-) in at leastone5000-level course (not 6000 or higher) from each of thethreebins.By petition to the Graduate Committee, similar transferred graduate work done elsewhere may be used to satisfy part of this requirement. Below is a list of courses for each bin.

Pre-Fall 2019 Breadth Requirements

Current Breadth / BIN Courses

Bin 1

  • CSCI 5229 Computer Graphics
  • CSCI 5254 Convex Optimization
  • Probability for Computer Science
  • CSCI 5444 Introduction to Theory of Computation
  • CSCI 5446 Chaotic Dynamics
  • CSCI 5454 Design and Analysis of Algorithms
  • CSCI 5576 High-Performance Scientific Computing
  • CSCI 5606 Principles of Numerical Computation
  • Numerical Solution of Partial Differential Equations
  • CSCI 5646 Numerical Linear Algebra
  • ​CSCI 5654 Linear Programming
  • CSCI 5676 Numerical Methods for Unconstrained Optimization

Bin 2

Bin 3

  • CSCI 5135 Computer-Aided Verification
  • CSCI 5253 Datacenter Scale Computing
  • CSCI 5273 Network Systems
  • CSCI 5403 Intro to Cyber Security
  • CSCI 5413 Ethical Hacking
  • CSCI 5448 Object-Oriented Analysis and Design
  • CSCI 5523 Modern Offense and Defense in Cybersecurity
  • CSCI 5525 Compiler Construction
  • Fundamental Concepts of Programming Languages
  • CSCI 5573 Advanced Operating Systems
  • Distributed Systems
  • CSCI 5817 Database Systems
  • CSCI 5828 Foundations of Software Engineering
  • Theoretical Foundation of Autonomous System

Professional Internship Credit

As of Fall 2021, graduate students in the Department of Computer science have the option of completing three credits of professional internship credit (CSCI 6930) and count these towards their degree requirement. More information on the Professional Internship credit.