Graduate Admissions
Application Deadlines
- For Fall Semester (or Summer) 2008: December 15, 2007
- For Spring Semester 2008: September 1, 2007
For Spring admissions, applications are requested ONLY for the online I2CS distance learning program and on campus MS Bioinformatics. For all other on-campus degree programs, applications are requested for Fall admissions only.
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Application Procedures
To apply, use the university's on-line application system,
which is available at:
http://www.grad.uiuc.edu/admissions/apply/program.htm
The university's application fee is $60 for US citizens and
permanent residents and $75 for all other applicants, payable to
the University of Illinois. The fee must accompany the application
either by credit card payment with a web application or by check
as a follow-up to a web application or attached with a paper
application. Please do not send the application fee to the
department because it will delay the payment process, and if
processed past the application deadline, will cause your
application not to be reviewed for the term originally indicated
on the application. Furthermore, all parts of the application,
including application fee must be received by the application
deadline; no application will be considered without the fee. Late
applications will not be accepted. Application fees are
non-refundable.
Applicants must send official copies of transcripts for all completed university course work and certification of degree for all completed degree programs directly to the department. Letters of recommendation and statement of purpose are part of the online application form. TOEFL scores are required as indicated below. See the checklist below.
GRE General. The Graduate Record Examination
(GRE) general aptitude tests (Verbal, Quantitative, and Analytical)
are no longer required. In some cases, GRE scores may provide
helpful supporting information; therefore, it is recommended that
the scores are reported if the applicant has taken the exam. A photocopy of the scores may be sent directly to the department if the applicant wishes to have them considered.
GRE Subject/Advanced.
The GRE (Subject/Advanced) test is not required when applying to a CS graduate program. If a student has taken a GRE Subject exam in the areas of Computer Science, Mathematics, Engineering or other Sciences, they may submit their score to the department, however, it is not mandatory. A photocopy of the test result may be sent directly to the department.
TOEFL.
All applicants whose native language is not English are required to have the Educational Testing Service (ETS) officially submit the results of the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) before they can be admitted to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. A graduate applicant is exempt from this testing if, within five years of the proposed term of enrollment, he or she has completed at least two academic years of full-time study as defined by the home institution, or completed a graduate degree, in a country where English is the primary language and in a school where English is the primary language of instruction.
TSE, TOEF iBT, and IELTS.
All applicants whose native language is not English are required to submit the results of the Test of Spoken English (TSE, new exams no longer offered), TOEFL iBT or IELTS scores. This requirement is regardless of US citizenship or permanent residency and is for financial aid consideration, specifically the award of a Teaching Assistantship, the most common form of financial aid for incoming CS graduate students at UIUC. A passing score on the TSE is 50/60. A passing score on the TOEFL iBT (spoken portion of the exam only) is 24/30. And, a passing score on the IELTS (on the spoken portion of the exam only) is 8. Passing scores on these exams (spoken portions) is not required for a Research Assistantship (RA) but will restrict the department from giving full financial aid consideration. SPEAK scores taken on a US campus other than UIUC are not eligible to fulfill the requirement at UIUC. A passing score does not guarantee an assistantship offer. The department has no authority to waive this requirement.
All credentials must be received by the application
deadline. Incomplete applications are subject to
denial.
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Application Checklist
- Official copies of transcripts of all university course work and certification of degree of all completed degree programs.
-
Three letters of recommendation. These may be submitted via the
Apply Yourself application (perferred) However, a letter of
reference PDF form is available at http://www.grad.uiuc.edu/forms/admission/LetterOfReference.pdf which may be mailed or faxed to the department.
-
Scores from the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL,
TOEFL iBT, or IELTS) if required (see above). Uncertified
copies are acceptable pending official scores.
-
Score from the TSE, TOEFL iBT or IELTS (spoken portions of the
latter exams only) if required (see above). Uncertified copies
are acceptable pending official scores.
-
Interest Form http://webapps.cs.uiuc.edu/services/academic/app_interest.php. Please complete this online interest form. You will need your Apply Yourself User ID (PIN) number to complete the form.
-
Financial Certification Form(PDF) for international applicants
only http://www.grad.uiuc.edu/forms/admission/CertofFinances.pdf. US immigration laws require that international applicants who are not offered financial aid from the department must be able to prove they have adequate financial resources for the duration of the degree program for which they are applying. Again, the department has no authority to waive this requirement. The restriction does not apply to US citizens and permanent residents. Certification of financial ability must be submitted at the time of application.
Most information is submitted through the university's on-line application system. If necessary, some items may be mailed to:
- Director of Graduate Admissions
- Department of Computer Science
- University of Illinois
- 201 N. Goodwin, 1210 Siebel Center
- Urbana, IL 61801
- UNITED STATES
FAX: 217 244-6073
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Admission Decisions
Admissions and financial aid decisions are coordinated by the Fellowship, Assistantship, and Admissions (FAA) committee, comprising of a number of faculty members and senior graduate students.
- Applications are carefully evaluated by members of the FAA and may additionally be reviewed by faculty affiliated with the Department of Computer Science.
- Please note that applications lacking required credentials will not be forwarded to the FAA committee for review until they are complete.
- Applicants will be notified of the status regarding the completion of their file via email. Admission decisions may be sent either by regular mail or by email with attachments. Please do not call or email the department; no information concerning an applicant's file or admissions decision are given to telephone or email inquiries.
Admission decisions are typically announced by November 1 for spring admissions and by March 15 for fall admissions. In some cases, however, decisions may be reached much earlier.
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Particular Program Requirements
Most applicants to the M.S. or Ph.D. program hold a
bachelor or master degree in computer science, computer
engineering, or a related area with a sufficient computer science
component. Strong applicants from other areas may be considered; however, they must demonstrate outstanding ability to complete the required background on their own accord.
Applicants trying to decide between applying to the M.S. vs. Ph.D. should consider the degree that represents their most likely stopping point at the University of Illinois. The admissions criteria for either are equivalent, and an M.S. is not required to apply to the Ph.D. For current graduate students, there is a petition process to transfer from Ph.D. to M.S. and vice-versa; however, such transfers are not granted automatically. Therefore, it is in the applicant's best interest to try to estimate the best match at the time of application. This enables the department to provide the best guidance possible to the graduate students.
Applicants with a B.S. or M.S. in virtually any discipline may apply to the Master of Computer Science (M.C.S.) degree program provided they have sufficient background in computer programming, algorithms and data structures, computer organization, and theory of computation (Comparable to CS 125, CS 225, CS 231/232, and CS 173/273 at UIUC).
Applicants to the joint degree programs M.C.S./MBA; M.C.S./LAW; M.C.S./Arch
should have the same sufficient background in computer science as
indicated above. To enter a joint program, students must be admitted separately to both programs. All supporting documents must be sent directly to the appropriate departments. Applicants are responsible for meeting the deadlines of each department and must be offered admission by both departments in order to participate in the joint program.
Students may decide to apply to the joint program after already enrolling in one of the two departments. In that case, they should notify both departments during their first semester in residence to inquire on application procedures, which are different than described below. Students may not apply to the joint program if they have already completed all requirements for either degree.
Applicants to the M.S. degree program in Bioinformatics
may come with undergraduate training in one of the following three areas: (a) mathematical and computer sciences, (b) chemical, physical, and biological sciences, (c) engineering sciences. The bioinformatics program is designed to complement training in each of these areas with expertise from the other two areas. Students entering the program must have at least four hours of biology (MCB 150 or equivalent), eight hours of undergraduate general chemistry (CHEM 101, CHEM 102, or equivalents), at least sixteen hours of introductory
mathematics (through MATH 242, either MATH 225 or MATH 315, MATH 285,
and either MATH 463 or both STAT 100 and MATH 461, or equivalents), and
at least thirteen hours of undergraduate computer science (through CS 225 and CS 273 or equivalents).
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University Requirements
Applicants to the graduate programs must have been awarded (or are about to be awarded) a 4-year bachelors degree equivalent to that granted by the University of Illinois. Their GPA for the last 45 - 60 semester-hours (junior and senior years) of undergraduate study must correspond to a "B" or at least 3.0 out of 4.0 (international GPAs are systematically converted). If an applicant also holds a graduate degree, the GPA for that degree must also be at least a "B". This represents the minimum GPA required by the Graduate College of this university. Please note that the average GPA of applicants recommended for admission by the department is much higher than these minimum requirements.
Applicants who hold masters degrees in computer science or
computer engineering whose degree requirements are equivalent to the M.S. or M.C.S. degree in CS at UIUC should not apply for a second master degree. The Graduate College of the University of Illinois will not award degrees which are duplicate in content, if not name, to one already awarded. These applicants may, of course, apply to the doctoral program.
Applicants whose undergraduate degree is a three year (3) year program are not eligible for graduate level admission consideration at the University of Illinois. As stated previously, the degree must be equivalent to bachelor degrees awarded by this university. If the applicant has a 3 year undergraduate degree and a graduate master degree the combination would fulfill the equivalency requirement of the bachelor degree only.
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Last Modified November 29 2007 09:24:58.
