BS/MS Degree Program

Major
Minor
Bachelor's/Master's Program
View/Print All Courses
View Faculty
Printer-Friendly Version
Department Description
How to Apply

Search Go

The Computer Science Department offers a five-year combined BS/MS Program, in which students earn both Bachelor and Master of Science degrees.

Two major advantages of the program are:

1) the ability in some cases to count computer science courses for both your undergraduate and your graduate degrees and

2) being accepted into the master's program without taking the Graduate Record Examination.

CS majors who want to take advantage of this program should consider taking one or two qualifying graduate courses during their senior years. Foundations of Computer Science (91.502) and Algorithms (91.503) are good choices. Either of these can count as an undergraduate CS elective and as a master's degree course. Only credits beyond the 120 required for the BS can be double-counted.

The rules governing double-counting of courses are as follows.

• Any graduate course allowed for graduate CS credit may be taken as an undergraduate CS elective or free elective and may be double-counted.
• With the permission of the Undergraduate Coordinator, certain project-oriented pairs of graduate courses may be taken for the undergraduate project sequence, and may be double-counted.
• The double-counting of 400-level courses requires case-by-case Graduate Committee approval.

As always, students must satisfy prerequisites before they enroll in courses.

Please note that some graduate courses offered by the CS Department do not carry credit even for our own graduate students. For example, you cannot receive credit for 91.500.

To be accepted into this program, you must have good grades and apply in your junior year. There are many rules governing eligibility. Please see the Graduate Catalog.

There are advantages and disadvantages to pursuing your master’s degree at the university as your bachelor's. Please discuss this with your academic advisor or other faculty member.

This program is managed by the CS Graduate Coordinator, not the Undergraduate Coordinator.