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The Graduate School provides general requirements for the Master of Science in all departments at ��ɫ��Ƶ. 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.

MSCPS Plan Options

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

Option - General Track (no subplan):

• Complete 30 credit hours of graduate coursework, according to the degree requirements listed on this page, including the following:
  • 9 hours - Bin/Breadth courses
    • You must earn a grade of ‘B’ or better to satisfy each of the three BIN/breadth course requirements.
  • 6 hours - Project courses
    • Students must complete both project courses from one project course sequence.
    • Students must earn grades of ‘B’ or better in both courses.
    • Students cannot count just one project course to the degree.
  • 15 hours - Elective courses
    • You may take up to two, approved, non-CS courses.

Option - Subplan��

• Complete 30 credit hours of graduate coursework, according to the degree requirements listed on this page, including the following:
• 9 hours - Bin/Breadth courses
  • You must earn a grade of ‘B’ or better to satisfy each of the three BIN/breadth course requirements.
• 6 hours - Project courses
  • Students must complete both project courses from one project course sequence.
  • Students must earn grades of ‘B’ or better in both courses.
  • Students cannot count just one project course to the degree.
• 15 hours - Elective courses
  • You may take up to two, approved, non-CS courses.
  • Any non-Computer Science courses that can count towards a subplan will count against the two maximum allowable non-CS classes.
• Subplan courses
  • Must complete at least 12 credit hours of eligible subplan courses with a grade of ‘B’ or better in each course.
  • Students can satisfy subplan requirements by counting eligible BIN and/or Elective courses towards the subplan requirements. This means:
    • Students may count an eligible course towards BOTH a BIN/breadth requirement AND a subplan requirement.
    • Students may count an eligible course towards BOTH an Elective requirement AND a subplan requirement.

MSCPS Subplan Options��

Available MSCPS subplans include:

• Artificial Intelligence (AIG)
• Algorithms, Network and Optimization (ANO)
• Data Science and Engineering (DSE)
• Human-Centered Computing (HCC)
• Numerical Computation (NUM)
• Robotics (RBT)
• Security (SEC)
• Software Systems and Cloud Computing (SSC)

Course Requirements

The course-based, Professional MS in Computer Science (MSCPS) requires 30 total credit hours of approved graduate-level coursework.

View the pre-fall 2019 course requirements��

Bin / Breadth requirement (9 credit hours)

Computer Science BIN/breadth requirements require all students to earn a grade of ‘B’ or better in one 5000-level CSCI course (not 6000 or higher) from each of the three Bin course lists.

• Breadth Course Bins
  • One course is required from each of the three Bin course lists for a total of 9 credit hours.
  • Students must earn a ‘B’ or higher to meet the requirement for each Bin. A grade below a ‘B’ but above a ‘C’ means the course can only count as an Elective.
  • Students may take additional courses from the Bin course lists and count them towards their Electives requirement.
  • Students are highly recommended to complete this requirement by the end of their��first year in the program.
  • Bins get updated periodically.
  • Students can, by petition to the Graduate Committee, request to transfer similar graduate-level coursework from another institution to satisfy part of this requirement.��

Pre-Fall 2019 Breadth Requirements��

Projects requirement (6 credit hours)

• Students are required to complete one of the following two options to satisfy the Projects requirement. You can learn more about each option by clicking here.
• Project Course Options
  • Option 1 – CSCI 5040 & CSCI 5050
    • Professional Masters Project 1 (3 credit hours) - Fall only
    • Professional Masters Project 2 (3 credit hours) - Spring only
  • Option 2 –�� CSCI 5340 & CSCI 5350
    • Startup Essentials: Entrepreneurial Projects in Computing 1 (3 credit hours) - Fall only
    • Entrepreneurial Projects 2 (3 credit hours) - Spring only
• Meeting the Projects requirement
  • Both options, CSCI 5040 / CSCI 5050 and CSCI 5340 / CSCI 5350, are two-semester project course sequences.
    • The first course in each sequence, CSCI 5040 / CSCI 5340, are only offered each Fall term and CSCI 5050 / CSCI 5350 are only offered each Spring term.
  • Students must earn a grade of ‘B’ or better in both courses.
    • A grade of ‘B-’ or lower means that the course cannot count towards the MSCPS degree at all.
  • Students cannot take one course from each sequence to satisfy the projects requirement.
  • Project courses need to be taken during Year 2 of the students academic tenure here.
    • Students must complete two semesters (one Fall, one Spring).
    • Summers do not count towards this eligibility requirement.
    • Students cannot start the project courses after completing only one semester in the MSCPS program.

Project Courses Waiver

• Projects Waiver Requirements
  • Students may submit the online petition to request for a waiver from the projects requirement under one of the conditions below.
  • MSPCS students with an approved waiver are required to complete an additional 6 credit hours of Elective coursework.
  • A project course waiver does not reduce the total number of credit hours required for the MSCPS degree - it only waives the requirement to complete the project courses.
• Project Waiver Options
  • Waiver Option A: 2 years of full-time work experience in software development and 3 credit hours of CSCI 6930
    • MSCPS students with a minimum of 2 years of full-time work experience in the software development industry who complete 3 credit hours of CSCI 6930 Professional before their first project course may request a waiver.
    • If approved, the student must take another 6 credit hours of approved Elective coursework.
  • Waiver Option B: 5 years of full-time work experience in software development
    • MSCPS students with a minimum of 5 years of full-time work experience in the software development industry may request a waiver of the two-semester project courses.
    • If approved, the student must take another 6 credit hours of approved Elective coursework.
  • Waiver Option C: Students who completed similar classes during their undergraduate Computer Science program at ��ɫ��Ƶ automatically receive a waiver from this requirement.
    • This means ��ɫ��Ƶ Computer Science undergraduate students, including those in a Computer Science BAM program, who successfully complete one of the following two-semester Senior Capstone course sequences automatically receive a waiver from the MSCPS projects requirement.
      • CSCI 4308 & CSCI 4318 Software Engineering Project 1 & 2
      • CSCI 4348 & CSCI 4358 Entrepreneurial Projects 1 & 2
      • CSCI 4368 & CSCI 4378 Multidisciplinary Projects 1 & 2
    • No petitions are required for this waiver option.

Elective courses requirement (15 credit hours)

• 15 credit hours of graduate-level coursework (5000 level and above) offered at ��ɫ��Ƶ with the following restrictions:
  • No more than two non-CSCI classes:
    • Students may take no more than 6 total credit hours of non-CSCI classes and count them towards their degree requirement, as long as these classes are at graduate level (5XXX and above) and are offered at ��ɫ��Ƶ.
  • Exactly three (3) credit hours of the��Professional Internship class (CSCI 6930) can count as an Elective course.
    • Students who complete less than 3 credits of CSCI 6930 may not count it as an Elective course.
    • Students who complete more than 3 credits may not count any additional credits of CSCI 6930 towards any degree requirement.
  • Professional MSCPS students cannot count any research-related courses towards their degree:
    • CSEN MS / PhD Research courses (for ex., CSCI 5000, CSCI 5100, CSCI 6000, CSCI 6100, CSCI 6200).
    • Any other one-credit research seminar-based courses (for ex. ATLS 7000, CSCI 7772, CSCI 7412, CSCI 7422).
    • Independent study courses.
  • MS / MSCPS students may not take Network Engineering Fundamentals classes (CSCI 5010; CSCI 5020; CSCI 5030) and count them towards their CSEN MS / MSCPS degree.
  • MS / MSCPS students may not take courses for students in the MS Data Science (DTSC) program. Credits from the following courses DO NOT count towards any CS graduate degree requirements:
    • DTSC subject code courses (e.g., DTSC 5501 Cybersecurity for Data Science).
    • DTSC-specific courses with a CSCI-subject code (e.g., CSCI 5122 Neural Networks and Deep Learning for Science, CSCI 5612 Machine Learning for Data Science).
    • DTSC-reserved sections of CSCI-scheduled courses (e.g., example, section 872 of CSCI 5502).
      • DSC-reserved sections are typically numbered with 872, 873, etc. and will clarify that they are reserved for DTSC students in their��.

Transfer Credit

• Master's students may request a maximum of nine credit hours taken at another University or within CU (either taken as a non-degree student OR taken as a non-CS student) to be transferred to count towards their degree.
• All transfer requests must have departmental approval.
  • Please reach out to your graduate advisor for information on how to request departmental review of transfer credits.
  • You will need a syllabus for each course, an unofficial copy of your transcript with the final grade, and confirmation that the classes have not been used towards any other degree (Bachelor’s or higher).
• To learn more, please review the Graduate School Rules for��Transfer Credits.

Plan of Study

• Students are expected to submit the form by the end of their second semester in consultation with their departmental advisor, during their second semester in the MSCPS program.
• Changes to the Plan of Study must be approved by the advisor.
• Students may resubmit the Plan of Study form as often as they would like.

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 plan is only available to research-based MS degree students.

Advising

• Students in the MSCPS program are advised by Daniel Adams. Your advisor serves as the academic advisor for current MSCPS students throughout their entire academic program. You can contact your advisor by clicking here.
• Your advisor should be consulted when planning your course of study.
• ��ɫ��Ƶ and application questions should be routed to csgradinfo@colorado.edu.

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.
• Graduate students who have completed at least one semester at ��ɫ��Ƶ, may request a Leave of Absence if they have extenuating circumstances that prevent them from taking coursework for a certain amount of time. Click��here��to learn more about Leave of Absence at ��ɫ��Ƶ.

Grades

• The Graduate School requires that to receive a master's degree, a student must maintain a cumulative (overall) grade point average (GPA) 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 a 'B' can be counted towards the BIN/ breadth requirement or the subplan 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 MSCS

• You may request to switch to the research-based MS degree once for 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 research work.
• You may not switch during the term you plan to graduate. Your last term officially begins after Census Date of the prior term.
  • Therefore, the deadline to officially switch to the research-based MSCS program is Census Date of the term before your graduation term (this is usually Census Date of Fall of your 2nd year).
  • You can look up the Census Date of a given term on the��Registrar’s website.
• Process for requesting to switch to the research-based MSCS is��available here. The most important item to complete is securing a faculty advisor.

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 the��Graduate School Rules for 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.
• Click��to learn more about Incomplete Grades.

Graduation Checklist

• The following Graduate School forms must be submitted to the Computer Science Department for approval.
• IMPORTANT: Check your email for messages from the Graduate School with deadlines. These are usually sent out prior to the start of the semester.
• 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.
  • Click��here for more information.
• Candidacy Application for Advanced Degree
  • This notifies the department to confirm your eligibility to graduate for the Graduate School.
  • Click��here��for more information