The Honors B.S.-M.S. Degree Program in Computer Science

Summary

Rationale

• help attract outstanding undergraduate students to come to Rutgers;
• encourage undergraduate students who may not have considered going to graduate school to consider this option;
• encourage good students to plan earlier on going to graduate school, whether or not they end up following this program;
• identify students with strong research potential and provide an opportunity for them to start research sooner, during their undergraduate career, on projects led by Rutgers faculty. Such students may be expected to go on to earn a Ph.D. degree, either at Rutgers or elsewhere.

• provides a clearer path of integration between the undergraduate and graduate study program at Rutgers, which allows students to complete the M.S. degree one semester sooner, on the average;
• facilitates entry into the graduate program by relying on the faculty's evaluation more than standardized exams, such as GREs;
• designates membership in it as an honor

Admission

1. completion of at least 80 graduation credits (counting towards a general Bachelor's degree)
2. completion of all but two of the required courses for the B.S. degree in Computer Science
3. a GPA of 3.75 or better in these Computer Science courses

• a completed application for graduate studies (two pages available here)
• three letters of recommendation (form available here)
• a clear statement, about one page in length, outlining the reasons why the applicant wishes to pursue graduate study in computer science
• a transcript of academic work at the university level.

Continued participation in the program is subject to finishing the B.S. degree requirements in the fourth year of undergraduate studies, and obtaining a grade of 3.0 or better in the two graduate CS courses (198:5xx) required to be taken in the fourth year (see below).
 

Advising

Tuition and Financial Aid

Degree Requirements

• completion of the CS Major
• 120 credits of course work
• any additional requirements for the College or Honors Program of which they are a member.

• 30 credits of course work, none of which should have or will be counted towards the B.S. degree. (The M.S. thesis option is also available to participants in this program.)
• The A/B area distribution and grade requirements for Computer Science graduate courses, as specified in the Graduate Catalog, availlable at http://www.cs.rutgers.edu/cs/academics/graduate/node6.html

• completion of 198:431, Software Engineering;
• completion of an independent study course directed by a member of the DCIS faculty, including a public presentation of the results
• completion of two graduate level courses (198:5xx), one each from category A and B .

Study Plan

• Taking courses that count toward CS graduate credit in the 4th year or summer. Normally, these would be graduate courses that do not require other graduate courses as prerequisites, and up to two undergraduate courses that have been approved for graduate credit. (The complete list of such courses is available in the graduate catalog, and includes 198:431.)

The sample schedule below indicates 4 such courses in the 4th year. There is however no reason for students not to take as early as possible undergraduate courses which would count toward graduate credit.
• Using the summers and/or additional courses in some terms to take 6 courses to earn 18 non-CS credits that help satisfy the B.S. requirements. (Some students may wish to take these in the early summer terms, leaving 3rd and 4th year summers for industry internships or research, such as NSF-sponsored Undergraduate Research Experience.)

This plan assumes that students will take at least two general electives with labs, which count for 4 credits (marked with * below). Students are cautioned about taking on too much work in any term, in view of the stringent GPA requirements. In particular, graduate courses consume considerably more work, so students are strongly cautioned about taking additional courses during the fourth and fifth year of the program.

The Computer Science aspects of this schedule can be speeded up in the case of students who have AP in calculus, for example, by taking 198:205 in the Spring of Year One, thereby moving up 198:206 and the first CS elective by one term. In addition, students may consider staying over the summer after 5th year to do independent study, or in fact take 3 semesters to complete the M.S. degree, taking 2 courses each semester.