2024-2025 Academic Catalog 
    
    Jul 02, 2024  
2024-2025 Academic Catalog

Computer Science, MS


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The Master of Science in Computer Science integrates fundamental theoretical concepts with sophisticated practical applications. Graduates will be prepared for employment in the field, and, for those students who are so interested, for further studies in computer science. Students must have the necessary prerequisite knowledge to undertake the study of advanced computer science topics.

Special Program Requirements


  1. No more than six credits of coursework with a grade of ‘C.” “B” average must be maintained.
  2. All courses taken as a temporary (non-degree) student must post grades of B- or better.
  3. Plan of Study submitted to Student Advisory Committee before the end of nine semester credits; must be approved by the Graduate School before the student registers for the semester in which the degree is to be awarded.
  4. No more than two transfer courses (6 credit hours) accepted from other institutions may be used on a Plan of Study. Transfer courses must have a grade of B- or better to be eligible for transfer, and must be approved by the student’s graduate advisor and the chair of the graduate program. Courses used toward a degree at another institution do not qualify for transfer. Please refer to the section on graduate study for other regulations governing graduate study at Purdue Northwest.
  5. A maximum of 6 non-Computer Science credit hours may be accepted towards the degree only if they are in a related area as approved by the C.S. faculty. Courses must be graduate level courses taken as graduate credit with a grade of 3.0 or higher.

Degree Requirements


The Computer Science program is available in either a thesis or non-thesis (coursework only) option.

For students choosing the coursework only option:

  • The coursework only option consists of 9 credit hours of required core courses, and 21 credit hours of electives elective courses, for a total of 30 credits. Students in the coursework only option need at least 24 hours of lecture based courses in the 30 total hours of required coursework. (Only 6 hours of independent study or similar courses would be allowed to count toward the 30 credits.)

For students choosing the thesis-option:

  • Students will complete nine (9) total credit hours of thesis research work, in addition to 21 credit hours of coursework. The thesis option consists of 3 credit hours of CS 69010 Seminar in Computer Science, and 6 credit hours of CS 69810 Research MS Thesis, for a total of 30 credits. If students elect to change to coursework only, the 3 credits of CS 69010 can be used toward the 30 hours of coursework requirements.

Total 30 Credits Required


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