phd computer science texas a&m

Texas A&M University Catalogs

Master of computer science in computer science.

The degree of Master of Computer Science (MCS)  is a non-thesis degree, designed to complement the Master of Science in Computer Science thesis degree. The MCS should be thought of as a professional degree. This degree does not include a thesis, project, or final examination. For additional information regarding the program, please visit our website .

This program is also approved for delivery via asynchronous or synchronous distance education technology.

Program Requirements

• Student's Advisory Committee

Degree Plan

Credit requirement, transfer of credit, limitations on the use of transfer, extension and certain other courses.

• Non-Thesis Option  

Student’s Advisory Committee

On-Campus and Distance Education Degree Programs

After receiving admission to graduate studies and enrolling for coursework, the student’s advisory committee for the Master of Computer Science will consist of the departmental graduate advisor. The graduate advisor will serve as the student’s committee chair or, the departmental graduate advisor may appoint/approve another departmental faculty member to serve as the appropriate chair of the student’s advisory committee. Depending on the departmental policy, additional committee members may be required. If additional committee members are deemed necessary by the department, the chair, in consultation with the student, will select the remainder of the advisory committee. The student will interview each prospective committee member to determine whether he or she is willing to serve. Only graduate faculty members located on Texas A&M University campuses may serve as chair of a student’s advisory committee. Other graduate faculty members located off-campus may serve as a member or co-chair (but not chair), with a member as the chair. The chair of the committee, who usually has immediate supervision of the student’s degree program, has the responsibility for calling meetings at any other time considered desirable.

If the chair of a student’s advisory committee voluntarily leaves the University and the student wants the chair to continue to serve in this role, the student is responsible for securing a current member of the University Graduate Faculty, from her/his academic program and located on the respective Texas A&M University campus, to serve as the co-chair of the committee. If the committee chair is on an approved leave of absence, s/he can remain as chair without a co-chair for up to one year with written approval of the Department Head or chair of the intercollegiate faculty. Extensions beyond the one year period can be granted with additional approval of the Dean.

If the chair of the student’s advisory committee is unavailable for an extended time in any academic period during which the student is involved in activities relating to an internship or professional paper and is registered for courses such as 684, 692 or 693, the student may request, in writing, that the department head appoint an alternate advisory committee chair during the interim period.

The duties of the committee include responsibility for the proposed degree plan and any professional study or project. In addition, the committee, as a group and as individual members, is responsible for counseling the student on academic matters, and, in the case of academic deficiency, initiating recommendations to the Graduate and Professional School.

The committee members’ approval on the degree plan indicate their willingness to accept the responsibility for guiding and directing the entire academic program of the student and for initiating all academic actions concerning the student. Although individual committee members may be replaced by petition for valid reasons, a committee cannot resign en masse .

The student’s advisory committee, in consultation with the student, will develop the proposed degree plan. The degree plan must be completed and filed with the Graduate and Professional School prior to the deadline imposed by the student’s college, after completion of 9 hours or the first semester.

This proposed degree plan should be submitted through the online Document Processing Submission System located on the website https://ogsdpss.tamu.edu .

Additional coursework may be added to the approved degree plan by petition if it is deemed necessary by the advisory committee to correct deficiencies in the student’s academic preparation. No changes can be made to the degree plan once the student’s Request for Final Examination or Request for Final Examination Exemption is approved by the Graduate and Professional School.

A minimum of 30 semester credit hours of approved courses is required for the Master of Computer Science degree.

A student who has earned 12 hours of graduate credit in residence at Texas A&M University may be authorized to transfer courses in excess of the limits prescribed above upon the advice of the advisory committee and with the approval of the Graduate and Professional School. Courses taken in residence at an accredited U.S. institution or approved international institution with a final grade of B or greater might be considered for transfer credit if, at the time the courses were completed, the courses would be accepted for credit toward a similar degree for a student in degree-seeking status at the host institution. Otherwise, the limitations stated in the preceding section apply. Coursework in which no formal grades are given or in which grades other than letter grades (A or B) are earned (for example, CR, P, S, U, H, etc.) is not accepted for transfer credit. Courses appearing on the degree plan with grades of D, F or U may not be absolved by transfer work. Credit for thesis research or the equivalent is not transferable. Credit for coursework submitted for transfer from any college or university must be shown in semester credit hours or equated to semester credit hours. An official transcript from the university at which the transfer coursework was taken must be sent directly to the Office of Admissions.

Courses used toward a degree at another institution may not be applied for graduate credit. If the course to be transferred was taken prior to the conferral of a degree at the transfer institution, a letter from the Registrar at that institution stating that the course was not applied for credit toward the degree must be submitted to the Graduate and Professional School.

Grades for courses completed at other institutions are not included in computing the GPA.

Some departments may have more restrictive requirements for transfer work. If otherwise acceptable, certain courses may be used toward meeting credit-hour requirements for the master’s degree under the following limitations.

• Graduate and/or upper-level undergraduate courses taken in residence at an accredited U.S. institution, or approved international institution with a final grade of B or greater will be considered for transfer credit if, at the time the courses were completed, the student was in degree-seeking status at Texas A&M University, or the student was in degree-seeking status at the institution at which the courses were taken; and if the courses would be accepted for credit toward a similar degree for a student in degree-seeking status at the host institution.
• Courses previously used for another degree are not acceptable for degree plan credit.
• The maximum number of credit hours taken in post-baccalaureate non-degree (G6) classification at Texas A&M University which may be considered for application to the degree plan is 12.
• A zero credit 684 or 685 course is only allowed for non-thesis option master's students. A zero credit 681 course can be used for either thesis or non-thesis option master’s students. Other courses, including 691 (Research) hours, are not eligible for zero credit.
• A maximum of 3 hours of 684 (Professional Internship) and/or
• A maximum of 3 hours of 685 (Directed Studies), and
• Up to 3 hours of 690 (Theory of Research), and
• Up to 3 hours of 695 (Frontiers in Research).
• A maximum of 2 hours of 681 (Seminar).
• A maximum of 3 hours of advanced undergraduate courses (300- or 400-level).
• For graduate courses of three weeks’ duration or less, taken at other institutions, up to 1 hour of credit may be obtained for each five-day week of coursework. Each week of coursework must include at least 15 contact hours.
• No credit hours of 691 (Research) may be used.
• Continuing education courses may not be used for graduate credit.
• Extension courses are not acceptable for credit.
• For non-distance degree programs, no more than 50 percent of the credit hours required for the program may be completed through distance education courses.
• To receive a graduate degree from Texas A&M University, students must earn one-third or more of the credits through the institution’s own direct instruction. This limitation also applies to joint degree programs.  

Exceptions will be permitted only in unusual cases and when petitioned by the student’s advisory committee and approved by the Graduate and Professional School.

Non-Thesis Option

A final comprehensive examination is not required for the Master of Computer Science in Computer Science non-thesis option.

Additional Requirements

Foreign languages, internship or practicum, application for degree.

On-Campus Degree Program

A student must complete 12 credit hours in resident study at Texas A&M University to satisfy the residence requirement for the Master of Computer Science degree.

Students who are employed full-time while completing their degree may fulfill total residence requirements by completion of less-than-full time course loads each semester. In order to be considered for this, the student is required to submit a Petition for Waivers and Exceptions along with verification of his/her employment to the Graduate and Professional School.

See  Residence Requirements .

Distance Education Degree Program

The distance education modality does not have any residence requirement.

All degree requirements must be completed within a period of seven consecutive years for the degree to be granted. A course will be considered valid until seven years after the end of the semester in which it is taken. Graduate credit for coursework which is more than seven calendar years old at the time of the final examination (oral or written) may not be used to satisfy degree requirements.

No specific language requirement exists for the Master of Computer Science degree.

On-Campus Degree Programs

A student who undertakes a professional internship must return to the campus.  Internship hours are in addition to the required 30 credit hours.

Distance Education Degree Programs

Students in distance degree programs do not have internship or practicum related requirements.

For information on applying for your degree, please visit the  Graduation  section.

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Master of Computer Science

The Master of Computer Science (MCS) should be thought of as a professional, terminal degree. This degree does not include a thesis, project or final examination.  This is a STEM program.

The Master of Computer Science degree can be pursued either in-person or remotely. For information about our remote program, please see the online Master of Computer Science  page.

Advisory Committee

MCS students will have a default advisory committee consisting solely of the graduate advisor as chair.

Degree Plan

Requirements for the MCS degree include:

• At least 18 credit hours of graded computer science and engineering (CSCE) graduate coursework (excluding CSCE 681, 684, 685 and 691). 
• Three breadth CSCE courses, one selected from each of these sets: Theory (627 and 629), Systems (605, 611, 613, 614 and 678) and Software (604, 606, 634, 655, 656, 670, 671, 672 and 713). These must be passed with a grade of B or better. These count toward the requirement of 18 hours of graded CSCE graduate coursework.
• At most one three-credit 400–level CSCE undergraduate course approved by the graduate advisor. This course does NOT count towards the 18 hours of CSCE graded graduate coursework.
• Up to six credit hours of non-CSCE graded graduate coursework (excluding 681, 684, 685 and 691).
• One credit hour of CSCE 681 (Graduate Seminar).
• Up to three credit hours of CSCE 685 (Directed Studies).
• A total of at least 30 credit hours satisfying the above requirements.

Courses That Cannot Be Used on Any Degree Plan

• In CSCE, we do not allow 601, 602, 603, 701, 705, 706, 707, 708 and 709.
• In ECEN, we do not allow 714 and 749.
• In STAT, we do not allow 624 and 654.
• In MATH, we do not allow 679.
• In CYBR, we do not allow 601.
• Any course that contains material required of our undergraduate computer science (CPSC) or computer engineering majors.
• CSCE undergraduate courses 481, 482 and 483.  

Other Degree Plan Information:

• Texas A&M undergraduates  who have taken 410 cannot use 611 on their degree plan. If the Texas A&M undergraduate receives an A in 410, they satisfy the Systems breadth requirement for the CPSC degrees.
• Texas A&M undergraduates who have taken 431 cannot use 606 on their degree plan. Texas A&M undergraduates who receive an A in 431 satisfy the Software breadth requirement for the CPSC degrees.
• Texas A&M undergraduates   who have taken 420 cannot use 625 on their degree plan. This course is not stacked normally but overlaps by about 2/3rds.
• Texas A&M undergraduates   who   receive   an A in 411   satisfy   the Theory breadth requirement.
• 401/701 (always)
• 402/702 (always)
• 403/703 (always)
• 410/611 (sometimes)
• 413/713 (always)
• 421/633 (always)
• 433/627 (always)
• 435/735 (sometimes) 
• 440/640 (sometimes)
• 445/656 (always)
• 447/679 (always)
• 451/652 (always)
• 452/752 (always)
• 463/612 (always)
• 469/614 (always)
• 477/703 (always)
• Texas A&M undergraduates can receive credit for both courses in an undergrad/grad course pair under Fast Track.
• Prerequisites listed for CSE graduate coursework are given to inform students of the knowledge they are expected to have to be successful in the graduate course. While the department does not block registration based on prerequisites for graduate courses, students are still responsible for ensuring they are prepared to meet course prerequisites. If students have concerns regarding preparation for a particular class, they should contact the instructor of the graduate course for more information regarding expectations.

CSCE 684 Hours:

• Any international student, who wishes to go on curricular practical training, must have one credit hour for each semester they are on the internship of CSCE 684 on their degree plan. Any CSCE 684 hours are in addition to the required total credit hours of the degree plan.
• If you are an international student, we recommend you place at least one credit hour of CSCE 684 on your degree plan when you submit it. This way if you receive an internship offer, you will not be rushing to have 684 added to your degree plan.
• Domestic students do not need to register when they are on an internship. However, if they are gone for a year without registering, they must apply for a leave-of-absence. Otherwise, they will need to reapply for admission.

For additional information and clarification, please see the graduate catalog and the department’s graduate program webpages .

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