Computer Science, M.S.

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(30 units)

Admission to Graduate Standing - Conditionally Classified

Students must meet the CSU requirements for admission to a master’s degree program. Please consult the Graduate Admissions section in this catalog for complete information. In addition, to qualify for admission with conditionally classified standing, applicants must meet the following departmental requirements:

Minimum GPA of 2.5 for applicants graduated from domestic (U.S.) institutions with undergraduate degrees in engineering or computer science.
Minimum GPA of 2.5 for applicants graduated from ABET-accredited international institutions with undergraduate degrees in engineering or computer science.
Minimum GPA of 3.0 for applicants graduated from domestic (U.S.) institutions with undergraduate degrees other than engineering or computer science.
Minimum GPA of 3.0 for applicants with undergraduate degrees from non-ABET-accredited international institutions.

Students without an undergraduate degree in computer science must have completed at least one course in computer programming with a grade of at least “B-” within the past 2 years.

Classified Graduate Standing

Achieving this status requires all of the following before competing more than 13 units of study plan courses:

For students without a bachelor’s degree in computer science, satisfactory completion of the courses listed below or their equivalents. These courses may also have prerequisites, and students without preparation in a closely related degree may have additional work to complete. Please refer to the catalog description for each course: CPSC 120 , CPSC 121 , CPSC 131 , CPSC 240 , CPSC 323 , CPSC 335 , CPSC 351 , CPSC 362 and MATH 270A , MATH 270B , MATH 338 .
For all students, approval of a formal study plan (see description below) by the Computer Science Graduate Adviser and the Associate Vice President, Academic Programs (or designee).
For all students, competency in written English demonstrated by a passing score on the California State University Examination in Writing Proficiency or by completing CPSC 311 (or other equivalent writing course approved by the Graduate Adviser) with a “B” (3.0) or better.

Study Plan

Prior to admission to classified graduate standing in Computer Science, each student, with the aid of the Graduate Adviser, shall prepare and submit for approval a formal study plan consisting of 400-level and graduate coursework.

Required Courses (12 units)

Required Elective (3 units)

Electives (15 units)

Nine of the 15 units must be at the 500 level.

At least 15 of the total units shall represent courses offered by the Department of Computer Science. Courses offered by other disciplines, not listed here, and related to the student’s objectives in Computer Science may be approved by petition to the Department of Computer Science.

Additional Information

All coursework in the study plan must be completed with a GPA of at least 3.0.

Graduate Student Advisement

The graduate program adviser provides overall supervision of the graduate program. The individual student chooses an adviser for the thesis or project from the Computer Science Department’s full-time faculty on the basis of the student’s particular interests and objectives.