Accelerated Master of Science Program

This program specifically targets at the undergraduate students majoring in Computer Science at TSU. It gives them an opportunity to complete Master of Science in Computer Science (MS in CS) degree program within two semesters upon completion of their Bachelor of Science in Computer Science (BS in CS) degree program. The existing MS in CS program requires completion of 33 credit hours of coursework. The program uses course substitutions for 9 credits hours of undergraduate courses and it allows the undergraduate students to take 9 credit hours of graduate courses during their undergraduate matriculation. The additional 9 credit hours will be in addition to the minimum 120 credit hours of graduation requirements for BS in CS program. The remaining 15 credit hours of coursework will be completed as a graduate student at TSU.

The program provides our students majoring in the BS in CS program an opportunity to complete their Master's degrees in shorter time. Therefore, enhance their careers and work on cutting-edge areas of computer science. The program is integrated with current programs at the department. Therefore, the students will be graduating with one of the three concentrations offered by the department for the MS in CS program: (1) high-performance computing and bioinformatics, (2) cyber-security and networking, and (3) data science.

Course Requirements

The existing MS in CS program requires completion of 33 credit hours of coursework (see M.S. Program of Study). The program uses course substitutions for three (3) undergraduate courses with 9 credit hours and it will allow the undergraduate students to take up to three (3) graduate courses with 9 credit hours during their undergraduate matriculation. The graduate credits will be counted toward the graduate degree only. The remaining 15 credit hours of coursework will be completed as a graduate student at TSU.

The Table below shows the list of the graduate courses that will be substituted for undergraduate coursework. Note that the student will not be allowed to enroll in a graduate course until the prerequisite requirement of its correspondent undergraduate course in the Table is fulfilled. The three (3) graduate courses with 9 credit hours can be taken from the list of M.Sc. courses depending on the preferred concentration.

Graduate Courses - Substitutes	Undergraduate Courses
COMP 5200 – Advanced Algorithms Design and Analysis	COMP 4700 – Algorithms
COMP 5720 – Cryptography and Computer Security	COMP 4720 – Cryptography Computer Security
COMP 5750 – Computer Network Management and Security	COMP 4750 – Computer Network Management
COMP 6100 – Bioinformatics and Computational Biology	COMP 4820 – Intro To Bioinformatics Comp
COMP XXXX – Course Title	COMP 4910 – Special Topics: Course Title

Note that the Department typically offers COMP 4910 – Special Topics course every semester with a different special topic in computer science. Also, COMP 4910 is typically dual listed with a corresponding graduate course. For example,

COMP 4910 – Special Topics: Mobile App Development
COMP 5600 – Mobile App Development

COMP 4910 – Special Topics: High-Performance Computing
COMP 5520 – High-Performance Computing

Admission Requirements

All students desiring to enroll for this program must apply through the Office of the Dean of Graduate Studies and Research. The application form is given below. To be admitted to the program, students should demonstrate readiness to succeed in the graduate program. To do this, students should meet the following criteria:

The applicant must be in the process of completing or already have completed 75 hours of required undergraduate coursework towards his/her BS in CS degree in the Department of Computer Science.
The applicant must have a minimum cumulative grade point average (GPA) of 3.00 on a 4.00 scale or a GPA of 3.00 on a 4.00 scale for coursework in computer science only.

The application materials of each applicant will be evaluated by a committee. The fall and spring semester admissions are allowed.

Retention Requirements

The following is a list of the retention requirements:

Students are required to maintain a cumulative GPA of 3.00 throughout the program. After completion of nine (9) semester hours of graduate work, if the student's cumulative GPA at the end of the given semester falls below 3.00, the student will be placed on probation. A student who fails to attain a cumulative GPA of 3.00 during the next semester enrolled will be suspended from the accelerated program.
Students must have a grade of B or better in all graduate core courses and may not have more than two C grades in other courses used to meet degree requirements.
Students who have repeated a graduate core course and failed to achieve a grade B or higher will be dismissed from the program.
The maximum time allowed for completion of the accelerated degree is seven calendar years. All requirements for the M.S. in CS degree must be completed within the seven-year period beginning with the student's first term of enrollment in a graduate course.
Students dismissed form the program will not be readmitted.
If the student is dismissed from the program, any graduate course has been taken from the Table above with a grade D or better while in the accelerated program can still be counted toward the BS degree only if the requirements of the BS degree of CS are fulfilled.

Graduation Requirements
The program has two tracks: (a) a non-thesis program that requires 33 hours of graduate coursework or (b) the thesis program that requires completion 27 hours of graduate coursework and a thesis. The thesis option is strongly recommended for the students who intend to pursue a doctoral degree.
The Master of Science degree in Computer Science requires the following:

Admission of all degree-seeking students to candidacy for the degree after the completion of 15 graduate credit hours in residence at the University. The student must file an Admission to Candidacy form with the Graduate School prior to the semester in which graduation is desired.
A minimum of 33 credit hours of graduate work, including 18 credit hours of required graduate core courses, with the following conditions for the Non-Thesis Option and Thesis Option:

Non-thesis Option:
The student must complete 33 credit hours of graduate computer science coursework.

Thesis Option:
The student must complete 27 credit hours of graduate computer science coursework and 6 credit hours of thesis work. A thesis is documented by a report and an oral presentation is required. A thesis committee will supervise the student's thesis work. The committee will consist of 3 faculty members including the thesis chair. At least 2 of the committee members must be computer science graduate faculty. The chair must be computer science faculty.

Apply Now by submitting an application to the Department of Computer Science.