Doctoral Degree (Ph.D.)

The Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) is the highest degree offered in the Computer Science discipline. It is intended for those who will pursue research in the field. The degree is usually required to teach Computer Science at the university level, and for employment in prestigious industrial research laboratories. Students may enter the doctoral program with a bachelor's degree or with a master's degree, provided they have adequate background in Computer Science. Since completion of the degree requires presentation of a dissertation comprising of original research, the time required is not completely predictable. Four to six years of full-time work are typical, less if the student enters with a Master's degree in Computer Science. Part-time pursuit of the degree is also possible.

The requirements for the Ph.D. include core and elective coursework, passing a Research Proficiency Examination, writing and defending a Dissertation Proposal, and completing and defending the Dissertation itself. Throughout, the focus of the program is strongly on research.

Stages of the Program

Students progress through the Ph.D. program in a sequence of three stages, each with its own focus, advising structure, time constraints, and requirements for completion. The three stages are described below. See also the Graduate School’s Summary of Ph.D. procedures .

Coursework and preliminary research

During this stage, the student completes coursework, in particular a set of Core courses intended to develop breadth of exposure to CS, and simultaneously begins to do direct research.

  • This stage culminates in the Research Proficiency Exam (RPE), which is the CS department’s version of the Comprehensive Exam required by the university.
  • In addition, the student should have completed most or all of the Core course requirement by the time they take the RPE. In particular, it is recommended that students take CS669 Scholarship Skills in the term before they take the RPE.
  • The remainder of a full-time program during this stage will be filled with electives, typically including CS601 Research courses.
  • The student will normally fulfill the university’s residency requirement during this stage.
  • During this stage, the student has a faculty advisor (ultimately their RPE advisor) and an advisory committee. In addition, an RPE committee is formed towards the end of this stage for the specific purpose of the RPE exam.
  • This stage normally takes about two years of full-time study to complete. The normal deadline for completing the RPE is at the end of a student's second year or their sixth term. Students who enter with an M.S. degree and have already taken much of their coursework may be able to complete this stage in one year. (The Graduate School allows 5-7 years to pass the Comprehensive exam, but the department’s requirement is much stricter.)

Focused research and dissertation definition

During this stage, the student confirms their choice of research advisor and focuses on finding and refining a topic for their dissertation.

  • This stage culminates in the preparation of the Dissertation Proposal and its formal oral defense. In the university’s terminology, completing this stage means the student has Advanced to Candidacy.
  • Students must also finish any remaining coursework (excluding CS 603 Dissertation credits) during this stage. In particular, no student will be allowed to advance to candidacy without having completed the Core Courses with satisfactory grades. All elective course credits (including CS 601 Research credits) must also be completed.
  • During this stage, the student works primarily with their Research Advisor. The Research Advisor is normally the RPE advisor, but a change at the beginning of this stage is still possible. The original Advisory Committee also remains active. Before the Proposal can be defended, the Dissertation Committee must be formed.
  • This stage typically takes one to three years of full-time study. The university enforces a three year maximum time limit between passing the RPE (Comprehensive examination) and advancing to candidacy.

Dissertation completion

During this stage, the student is focused entirely on completing research and writing for the Dissertation.

  • This stage culminates with the completion of the Dissertation and its formal oral defense, followed by awarding of the degree.
  • During this stage, the student works under supervision of the Research Advisor and with the input of the Dissertation Committee. When the student advances to candidacy, the original Advisory Committee is dissolved and its role is taken over by the Dissertation Committee.
  • The student’s course load during this stage normally consists solely of CS 603 or CS603C Dissertation credits. Occasionally, the student may carry other credits, e.g. if the student has an internship that requires them to register for CS 604 Internship credits.
  • This stage typically takes one to three years. The university requires a minimum of four months, and a maximum of five years to elapse between advancement to candidacy and completion of all degree requirements including the dissertation and its defense.

Ph.D. Advising

The advising structure for the Ph.D. involves a number of different faculty roles and committees, which change as the student advances through the stages of the program.

The CS Graduate Advisor ( gccs@pdx.edu ) is the staff member responsible for administering the Ph.D. rules, tracking completion of requirements, and providing an interface to the Graduate School. For Ph.D. students, the Graduate Advisor does not generally perform academic advising, e.g. about what courses to take or which research topics to pursue; this is the role of their Faculty Advisor and various faculty committees, as described below. However, the Graduate Advisor remains a crucial point of contact for students. In particular, the Graduate Advisor makes sure that each student has a current Ph.D. Plan of Study form on file.

Faculty Advisor (FA). Responsibility for academic and research supervision rests with the Faculty Advisor. Students are assigned an initial FA upon entry to the Ph.D. program. The FA provides guidance on all academic aspects of the Ph.D. program, and approves the courses in the student’s program, including non-CS courses and courses taken outside of PSU. Normally, the FA also supervises the student’s research activities as appropriate to their program stage. FAs must be regular, full-time, tenured or tenure-track, assistant professor or higher in rank faculty members in Computer Science (including Affiliate Faculty) who hold a Ph.D. and are engaged in research.

It is not uncommon for a student to change FAs during their program, e.g. if their area of interest shifts or as they get to know other faculty in the department. Any change must be properly recorded and documented by the CS Graduate Advisor. Note that the old and new FAs must agree to the change.

Choosing an advisor. Some useful advice on picking an advisor can be found here and here .

Initial Faculty Advisor . The initial FA will usually be a faculty member who works in the student’s intended area of specialization; often, it will be someone the student has already been in contact with prior to admission. If the incoming student is being supported directly by a faculty research grant, that faculty member will be the FA.

The role of the initial FA is to help the student plan and execute their program of study for the first few terms of the degree. The FA and the student should meet regularly. The student and FA will fill out a Ph.D. Plan of Study form after the student successfully completes 9 graduate level credits, no later than 6 months before their Research Proficiency Exam (RPE) .

If the initial FA works in the student’s area of specialization, they will typically also discuss potential research projects and topics; otherwise, the initial FA will help try to connect the student to other faculty members who might be able to supervise their research and become their FA.

Advisory Committee . Ph.D. students must have an Advisory Committee (AC) by the end of their second term, consisting of their FA plus two additional faculty members, who should be CS faculty with Ph.D.’s but not necessarily in the student’s research area. The role of the AC is to monitor the student’s progress, to offer academic guidance, and to provide a resource in resolving academic or advising issues, especially if the student is uncomfortable discussing an issue with their FA.

The AC is formed by the student in consultation with the FA, and is recorded in the Ph.D. Plan of Study form .

The AC will meet with the student in the Fall and Spring terms to generate a written assessment of progress and to set goals in writing for the next term.

The AC, in consultation with the CS Director of Graduate Studies, has the authority to delay a student’s RPE date.

The committee's opinion shall have strong weight in determining whether the student should continue to receive departmental support in the form of a teaching assistantship.

The advisory committee's role is taken over by the Dissertation Committee when the student advances to candidacy.

RPE Advisor . In order to take the Research Proficiency Exam and enter the research-focused stage of their program, the student must find a faculty member who is willing to supervise their RPE research. This might be initial FA, but may be someone else, in which case the student should officially change FAs by contacting the Graduate Advisor after obtaining permission of old and new FAs.

RPE Committee. Once the student has an RPE advisor and topic, they need to form a 3-person RPE committee (which is not the same thing as the AC). The role of the RPE Committee is to sit in judgement on the RPE paper and defense. Committee members will normally be CS faculty members who hold a Ph.D. and are knowledgeable in the research area of the RPE topic. For more details on RPE Committee makeup, see Research Proficiency Exam . Note that the RPE committee does not supercede the AC, which remains in place.

Dissertation Advisor. After the student passes the RPE, they begin focusing on research with the goal of choosing a dissertation topic, and writing and defending the Dissertation Proposal. To formally propose a dissertation, the student must have a FA who is willing to supervise the dissertation research. Typically, this will be the RPE advisor, but advisor changes at this stage do sometimes occur; again, the student should officially change advisors by contacting the Graduate Advisor after obtaining permission of old and new FAs. Note that the dissertation advisor is also responsible for signing off on the student’s final Program of Study at graduation, including all coursework.

Dissertation Committee . The dissertation committee passes judgement on the dissertation proposal and on the final dissertation itself. It is chaired by the Dissertation Advisor and consists of four to six faculty members who are experts in the topic of the dissertation. See Dissertation Proposal for more details on the makeup of this committee. The Dissertation Committee replaces the CS Advisory Committee as a source for general academic advice.

Curriculum

The Ph.D. program requires the following courses and credits.

Core Course Requirement (18 credits)

  • CS 669 Scholarship Skills for Computer Science & Engineering (3 credits)
  • Five courses (15 credits) from the approved list of Core courses below, with at least one course from each of these four Breadth Areas:
  • 1: Theory
  • 2: Systems and Security
  • 3: Data and Artificial Intelligence
  • 4: Programming and Applications

All these courses must be passed with a grade of B or better, and at least three of them with a grade of B+ or better.

Approved List of Core Courses 20265-276

The list of approved courses for each area may change over time; a course counts as approved if it is on the current list at the time it is taken.

AREA 1: THEORY

  • CS 578 Programming Language Semantics (3)
  • CS 581 Theory of Computation (3)
  • CS 583 Introduction to Quantum Computer Science (3)
  • CS 584 Algorithm Design & Analysis (3)

AREA 2: SYSTEMS AND SECURITY

  • CS 530 Internet, Web, & Cloud Systems (3)
  • CS 533 Concepts of Operating Systems (3)
  • CS 538 Computer Architecture (3)
  • CS 591 Introduction to Computer Security (3)
  • CS 594 Internetworking Protocols (3)
  • CS 598 Introduction to Wireless Network Protocols (3)

AREA 3: DATA AND ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

  • CS 537 Introduction to Data Mining (3)
  • CS 540 Deep Learning: Computational Structures and Programming (3)
  • CS 541 Artificial Intelligence (3)
  • CS 543 Large Language Models (3)
  • CS 545 Machine Learning (3)
  • CS 546 Reinforcement Learning (3)
  • CS 586 Introduction to Database Management Systems (3)

AREA 4: PROGRAMMING AND APPLICATIONS

  • CS 527 Introduction to Visual Computing (3)
  • CS 547 Computer Graphics (3)
  • CS 554 Software Engineering (3)
  • CS 557 Functional Programming (3)
  • CS 558 Programming Languages (3)
  • CS 563 Intro to Web Development (3)

Old Core Course Requirements (18 credits)

Prior to Fall 2026, the Core Course Requirement consisted of the following courses:

  • CS 581 Theory of Computation (3)
  • CS 684 Algorithm Design & Analysis (3)
  • CS 558 Programming Languages (3)
  • CS 533 Concepts of Operating Systems (3)
  • CS 538 Computer Architecture (3) or ECE 585 (4) & ECE 586 (4)
  • CS 669 Scholarship Skills for Computer Science & Engineering (3)

All these courses must be passed with a grade of B or better, and the student must maintain an overall GPA of 3.5 over this set of courses.

Note: Students who entered the Ph.D. program prior to Fall 2026 retain the option to fulfill these older requirements instead of the new ones. In fact, any student meeting the old requirements also meets the new ones, except possibly for the need to complete a course in Area 3 (Data and Artificial Intelligence).

Elective and Research Courses (45 credits)

These courses should be used to strengthen the program in the student's research area. Any graduate level Computer Science regular course or by arrangement course can be used, except that:

See also non-CS courses , below.

CS 603 Dissertation Credits (27 credits)

These credits are used to cover work on the dissertation, both before and after the student has advanced to candidacy, i.e., has an approved dissertation proposal. Prior to advancement to candidacy, dissertation research can be covered by CS 603 credits or by CS 601 Research credits. Once the student has taken the maximum of 18 CS 601 credits that count towards their elective requirement, and is actively working on their dissertation, they should normally switch to using CS 603 credits. After advancement to candidacy, all research credits should be CS 603.

Once the student has advanced to candidacy and completed 27 credits of CS 603, they are eligible to enroll in CS 603C at a greatly reduced tuition cost ($10/credit + mandatory fees). This is particularly valuable for students who need to maintain a full-time course load. All students must remain enrolled for at least one credit per term after advancing to candidacy. See this description of Continuous Enrollment .

Minimum Grades

In addition to the departmental requirements, students should review the university's doctoral degree requirements .

  • Students must maintain good academic standing with a cumulative graduate GPA of 3.00 or higher in all graduate credits earned at PSU and in all courses counted toward the Ph.D. program of study. Any student who has a cumulative GPA below 3.00 at the end of a term (based on at least 9 credits) will be put on academic probation. A student who has been placed on probation and subsequently violates these GPA limits will be terminated from the University.
  • All regular courses must be graded (not P/NP) and passed with a grade of B or better.
  • CS 501/601 (Research), CS 502/602 (Independent Study), CS 504/604 (Internship), CS 505/605 (Reading and Conference), and CS 506/606 (Special Projects) credits may be graded P/NP or with a letter grade. These credits are set up independently by the student and a faculty member. These credits must be passed with a P or a grade of B or better.

Course Load and Progress

  • Full-time enrollment is 3 courses (at least 9 credits) per term.
  • Students taking fewer than 9 credits are considered part-time.
  • International students must normally take a minimum of at least 9 credits per term to maintain their status, but there are some exceptions. Information and help on this topic may be found here .
  • Teaching and research assistants are required to complete at least 9 graduate credits each quarter with a grade of B- or better, or a Pass.
  • Approval is required to register in 11 credits or more during a given term. To request this, the student needs to obtain the permission of their Faculty Advisor, complete the Overload Approval form and submit it to the CS Graduate Advisor.
  • Students must be enrolled for at least one credit in every term (excluding summer) in which they are involved in activities requiring faculty time or university facilities. In particular, students must be registered for a minimum of 1 graduate credit during the terms in which they complete the RPE (comprehensive exam), and the Dissertation Proposal Defense, and the Dissertation itself.
  • After advancement to candidacy, Ph.D. students must be continuously enrolled for at least 1 graduate credit in every term (excluding summer) through the term of graduation.
  • All Ph.D. students must satisfy the university’s residency requirement . This is assessed after the student completes the RPE and it can be satisfied in one of the following ways:
  • Three terms of full-time enrollment (minimum 9 graduate credits) during the first two years after admission (may include one or more summer terms).
  • Six terms of part-time enrollment (minimum 1 graduate credit) during the first two years after admission to the program (may include one or more summer terms).
  • A doctoral student who was enrolled in the CS M.S. program at PSU, and whose matriculation to the doctoral program immediately follows (within one calendar year) the master's degree program may fulfill the residency requirement during the period in which the student was enrolled in the master's program.
  • If a student is unable to register for any coursework during a given term, it is their responsibility to inform their Faculty Advisor, the CS Graduate Advisor and the Graduate School. For details, see the sections on Leave of Absence or Cancellation of Admission and Re-enrollment in the PSU Bulletin.

Timetable for Part-time Students

Some Ph.D. students work towards the degree on a part-time basis, which naturally lengthens the time needed to complete the three stages. In general, the department tries to be flexible in accommodating students by relaxing deadlines, e.g. for the RPE exam. However, students should be aware that the University and Graduate School’s time limits and requirements for continuous enrollment are not relaxed for part-time students, although requests for exceptions to the rules (made by petition ) may be viewed favorably by the Graduate School.

By Arrangement Courses (CS 601/602/603/605/606)

Ph.D. students will typically register for CS 601 (Research) with their research advisor to obtain credit for their work preparing for the RPE and the Dissertation Proposal. A maximum of 18 credits of CS 601 can be applied to the Ph.D. Elective Course requirement, but it is common to take additional CS 601 credits to remain in full-time status as an GA and/or international student.

Students may register for CS 602 (Independent Study) , CS 605 (Reading & Conference) or CS 606 (Special Project) credits with their advisor or another faculty member who is relevant to their research. A maximum of 6 credits of CS 602/605/606 can be counted towards the Ph.D. elective course requirement.

Examples:

  • CS 601 Research: the student will conduct research under the guidance of the supervising faculty member.
  • CS 602 Independent Study: the student will define and study a topic that is not covered by an existing CS course under the guidance of the supervising faculty member.
  • CS 603 Dissertation credits are discussed here .
  • CS 605 Reading & Conference: the student will study a textbook on a particular topic; complete the end of chapter problems; and discuss/present their chapter summaries, exercise solutions, and other content with the supervising faculty member.
  • CS 606 Special Project: the student will gather and analyze data or research an agreed topic and write up their results in a presentable format under the guidance of the supervising faculty member.

Students first need to find a faculty member to supervise these credits. The faculty member can help the student to develop their idea, to ensure that it is consistent with the academic goals of the program, and to determine the appropriate course number, credit number, and project scope. They will assign the final grade at the end of the term. By Arrangement credits are normally graded Pass/NoPass, but the student and faculty member may choose to use letter grading instead.

The By Arrangement Approval Dashboard is used to register for CS 601/602/603/605/606 credits. A brief but meaningful description of the intended work is required. Either the student or the faculty member can initiate a request, and once both have approved it, the request is automatically forwarded to the Department for approval and then to the Registrar’s Office for processing.

Note: CS 501/502/505/506 can be used interchangeably with CS 601/602/605/606.

Research Proficiency Examination (Comprehensive Examination)

The comprehensive exam is a university requirement for the doctoral degree. In the CS Department, it takes the form of the Research Proficiency Examination (RPE), covering original research performed by the student and assessing their preparation within the chosen research area. The exam consists of a written paper, public oral presentation, and a public question and answer session. Passing the exam is required before a Ph.D. student can prepare and defend a dissertation proposal.

Each Ph.D. student must have an RPE Advisor, who has agreed to supervise their RPE research. It is the student’s responsibility to identify an RPE Advisor in a timely manner.

The RPE will be judged by a 3-person RPE Committee consisting of the RPE Advisor and two other faculty members. (Note: The RPE Committee is not the same thing as the student’s Advisory Committee). Committee members are invited to serve by the RPE advisor. Each committee member must formally agree to serve, after being informed of the topic of the RPE. The committee must be approved by the CS Director of Graduate Studies. Committee membership and approval must be communicated to the CS Graduate Advisor using the RPE Checklist .

RPE committee members will normally be CS faculty members who hold a Ph.D. and are knowledgeable in the research area. Other suitably qualified persons (e.g. faculty from adjacent fields, other departments or institutions, or industry experts) may serve, with the approval of the CS Director of Graduate Studies.

The RPE exam consists of a written research paper and an oral presentation:

  • The Ph.D. student conducts research on a problem and writes a paper that is in a form appropriate for publication at a conference or workshop in that research area. Standard formatting can be used as appropriate for that area.
  • The student schedules the RPE presentation with the RPE committee. Presentations can take place at any time during the academic year, and do not need to be coordinated with each other.
  • The presentation is open to all. An announcement of the presentation and a copy (or pointer to) the paper must be circulated to the full faculty a week before the presentation.
  • The presentation is 45 minutes for the talk followed by 15 minutes for questions. The format is that of a typical technical talk that first motivates the problem, then describes related work, followed by the research contributions.

The RPE committee assesses the two components of the exam (paper and oral presentation) independently. For each component, the committee chooses one of the following outcomes:

  • Pass. This outcome requires unanimous agreement by the RPE committee.
  • Retake. The student needs to address the committee's feedback and retake this component of the exam. The retake must take place no sooner than three months and no later than six months after the original exam. Only one retake of each component is allowed.
  • Fail, without the possibility of a further retake.

Timing considerations:

  • The RPE must normally be attempted by the end of the student’s second year at PSU, counting from the term in which the student enters the Ph.D. program.
  • Extensions to the two-year period may be granted by a Ph.D. student's advisory committee in consultation with the CS director of graduate studies.
  • Part-time students may routinely obtain an extension to three years. Note: the university limit is 5 years if entering with a M.S. degree and 7 years otherwise.
  • Students must be registered for a minimum of 1 graduate credit in each term they are taking or preparing for the RPE.

Relevant Forms

Dissertation Proposal and Committee

After passing the RPE (comprehensive exam) and identifying a dissertation research topic, the student proceeds to develop, write and defend a Dissertation Proposal, under the guidance of their Faculty Advisor. This section describes key aspects of the proposal; consult the Graduate School’s detailed Dissertation Proposal rules for further information.

The dissertation proposal:

  • Identifies the general research field (e.g. networks) and presents an annotated bibliography of literature relevant to the particular dissertation topic (e.g. verification of network routing protocols).
  • Describes the research problem.
  • Describes the proposed approach to solving the problem, including specific methods to be tried.
  • Gives a timeline for completing the work.

The dissertation proposal and eventual dissertation are judged by the student’s Ph.D. Dissertation Committee. This committee is proposed by the student and their Faculty Advisor using the GO-16 form, and must be approved by the CS Director of Graduate Studies and by the Graduate School. Ph.D. dissertation committees must consist of at least four and not more than six faculty members. The Dissertation Advisor is chair of the dissertation committee, and must be a regular, full-time PSU instructional faculty member, tenured or tenure track, assistant professor or higher in rank. The other three to five committee members may include non-tenure track or adjunct faculty and/or members of the OHSU faculty. At least one of the committee members must be from Computer Science; the others may be from Computer Science or may be PSU faculty from another department or OHSU faculty. If it is necessary to go off campus for a committee member with specific expertise not available among PSU faculty, a CV for that proposed member must be submitted with the GO-16 form; this off-campus member may substitute for one of the three to five regular committee members. Members with a courtesy appointment will count as PSU faculty members in terms of determining PSU vs. off-campus membership, but the majority of the committee members must be PSU employees. All committee members must have doctoral degrees.

No proposal defense shall be valid without a dissertation committee approved by the Graduate School. The GO-16 form should be submitted to the Graduate School a minimum of six weeks in advance of the estimated date of the dissertation proposal meeting. The student must deliver a draft of the dissertation proposal to all members of the approved committee no fewer than 14 days before the proposal defense. The abstract and date for the defense must be submitted to the CS Graduate Advisor at least two weeks in advance of the date of the defense. Upon satisfactory agreement, the student will publicly present and defend the proposal. The presentation begins with an oral talk, after which the dissertation committee will question the student privately.

If the Proposal Defense is successful, the student is advanced to candidacy upon Graduate School approval of the GO-23 form submitted by the CS department.

Dissertation Completion and Defense

Under the direction and consultation of the dissertation committee, Ph.D. candidates must complete a dissertation consisting of original research. The student will prepare, revise, and correct a draft of the dissertation as directed by the dissertation committee until it meets their approval. The work is expected to be of a quality to merit publication in refereed journals or conferences.

After preparation of the written dissertation, a candidate’s dissertation committee will conduct a dissertation defense. Detailed Graduate School requirements on the timing and conduct of the Dissertation Defense may be found here . The candidate is expected to prepare an oral presentation on the research methodology and results. The abstract and date for the defense must be submitted to the CS Graduate Advisor at least two weeks in advance of the date of the defense. The final, approved dissertation should be submitted to csoffice@pdx.edu for posting.

PSU has an elaborate set of Dissertation Guidelines that describe the format and content requirements for the dissertation.

Graduation Procedures

Transferring coursework

Students may transfer coursework from other institutions to meet some course requirements for the Ph.D. In particular, students who already have an M.S. degree in Computer Science can typically meet most course requirements in this way.

All transfer courses must be approved by the CS department and the Graduate School. To request credit, the student should fill out a GO-21D form (Proposed Transfer Credit) in consultation with their advisor and submit it to the CS Graduate Advisor. Students should submit the GO-21D form during the first term of enrollment in the program, so there is sufficient time to complete any additional coursework that may be necessary. Any transfer credits must be approved before the student advances to candidacy.

All transfer courses must ordinarily be in Computer Science (but see Non-CS courses , below). They must have been taken for a letter grade, and received a grade of B or better. There is no particular limit on how long ago the course was taken.

Approved transfer courses may be applied without limitation towards the Elective Courses requirement (up to 45 credits).

An approved transfer course may be applied towards the Core Requirements only if its content closely matches that of a PSU course on the list of approved Core courses. The determination of whether the course matches will be made by the Course Advisor for the PSU course.

The student should be prepared to provide a syllabus or other description of the proposed transfer course if requested. The grade on the transferred course will be used when checking the minimum grading requirements for Core courses.

In rare cases, a student who transfers in most or all of their CS course requirements may have to take additional course credits in order to meet the university’s residency requirement for the Ph.D.

Pre-Admission Credits

Courses taken at PSU prior to formal admission to the Ph.D. program can be used to meet Ph.D. course requirements with approval by the faculty advisor via the Ph.D. Plan of Study. The student must submit the signed plan to the CS Graduate Advisor to prompt a DARS adjustment.

Non-CS Courses

Courses from fields other than Computer Science, including transfer courses, can be applied to the Elective Course requirement with permission of the student’s advisor. This should be documented in the student’s Program of Study.

Using OHSU joint campus credits also requires advisor permission; furthermore, they are considered transfer credits and so must be listed on the GO-21D.

Commonly Needed Forms and Links

Combining Master’s & Doctoral Degrees

It is not uncommon for students in the M.S. program to enter the Ph.D. program directly after obtaining their M.S. degree, or transfer to the Ph.D. program even before receiving their M.S. degree. Conversely, Ph.D. students sometimes wish to obtain an M.S. degree if they leave the Ph.D. program early, or as an intermediate credential while they continue working towards the doctorate.

Formally, the M.S. and Ph.D. programs are separate, and transferring from one program to another or adding an additional program on top of an existing one requires the student to submit the GO-19 Request for Change of Program Form with the Graduate School and obtain permission from the CS department. The CS Graduate Advisor can assist with this process. Adding or moving to the Ph.D. program from the M.S. requires going through the usual selective Ph.D. admission process, but the path can be eased if the student has a confirmed faculty advisor who advocates for admission. Adding or moving to the M.S. program from the Ph.D. is normally permitted without going through an admissions review process.

In general, the same coursework can count towards requirements for both degrees, provided that the M.S. degree is awarded prior to or concurrent with the Ph.D. degree. However, students should be aware of some subtle differences between requirements.

Moving from M.S. to Ph.D.:

  • The minimum grade that counts towards the M.S. is B-. The minimum grade that counts towards the Ph.D. is B, and 3 of the 6 core courses must be at least B+.
  • Ph.D. students must complete the 6 Core course requirements, including CS669 Scholarship Skills, with at least 3 B+ grades.

Moving from Ph.D. to M.S. (or adding M.S.):

  • CS 501 Research and CS 502 Independent Study courses do not count toward the M.S.
  • The Ph.D. allows any number of (approved) pre-admission, transfer, and non-CS credits, whereas the M.S. limits the total of such courses to 15 credits.
  • The M.S. requires Theory and Programming Practice courses and completion of a 3-course track; while a typical Ph.D. student’s program will satisfy these requirements, some programs might not.