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5 Year B.S./M.S. in Computer Science Program Admission

Application Deadline and Forms

Completed application and reference letters for the Fall 2008 term must be returned to the Academic Office, 1210 Siebel Center, March 28, 2008, 4:45pm.

Note: Items postmarked on or before March 28, 2008 but received by the Academic Office after this date will NOT be considered.

• Application form in Word format(.doc)
• Letter of Reference Form in PDF format(.pdf)
• Codes for "Area of Research Interest" (.txt)

Admission Requirements

• Current UIUC Computer Science students with Junior standing with an overall grade point average (GPA) of at least 3.5/4.0 may apply for provisional admission to the program. The 5-year program is highly competitive. Admission is based on overall academic performance, letters of reference, and statement of purpose.
• The GRE General Test is not required.
• Students provisionally admitted to the program:
• are assigned a graduate academic advisor when admitted.
• must maintain an overall GPA of 3.5 through completion of the B.S. component of the program, to remain in the program.
• may register for graduate courses and earn graduate hours credit, with approval from their graduate academic advisor, even if they are more than 10 hours from completing the B.S. component.
• must earn at least 120 hours of undergraduate credit, 9 hours of graduate credit (in the three distribution courses), and satisfy all B.S. requirements to be officially admitted to the Graduate College.
• Upon successful completion of the B.S. component (including grades of B- or better in the distribution coursework), and an overall GPA of at least 3.0 in all graduate coursework, students:
• will be officially admitted into the Graduate College.
• will be issued letters of admission from the Office of Admissions and Records and the Computer Science Department, at which time they will be considered graduate students and assessed graduate tuition the following semester.
• may apply or be considered for graduate research or teaching assistantships, tuition waivers, as well as fellowships and scholarships available to graduate students.
• must continue to maintain a graduate GPA of 3.0 or better in order to remain in the combined program.
• Students in the program are eligible to apply for the Ph.D. program in Computer Science near completion of the M.S. component. If admitted, the combined degree will count as Stage 1 of the Ph.D. program, as if the student is admitted with a masters degree.

University Residency Requirements

Undergraduate residency requirements include a student spending either the first three years, earning not less than 90 semester hours, or the last year (two semesters or the equivalent), earning not fewer than 30 hours, in residence at the Urbana-Champaign campus, uninterrupted by any work in another institution. Graduate residency requirements include that half or more of the graduate hours applied toward the degree must be earned in courses counted for residence credit. Consult the University of Illinois Programs of Study book for addition details about university residency requirements.

Additional Information

Students may earn graduate hours for M.S. component distribution coursework taken during the third and fourth year, while a classified undergraduate. Students are required to perform and be graded at the (more advanced) graduate student level in those courses, or must register in the graduate level section of a course when offered.

Students who do not complete all 5-Year B.S.- M.S. degree program requirements may request by petition to have graduate hours earned, including the distribution coursework requirements converted to undergraduate hours and applied toward a traditional B.S. in Computer Science degree. Students reverted back to the B.S. degree program must earn the minimum number of hours and satisfy all degree requirements of whichever version of the B.S. curriculum appropriate Graduate credit not used to fulfill the B.S. degree requirements will remain on the transcript and may, at some future point, be considered for transfer to another degree program.

Students are strongly advised to seek faculty counsel about the 5-yr program to be sure they understand the pros and cons of pursuing a Masters degree via the 5-yr program. If their intention is to ultimately pursue a Ph.D., then it may be preferable to avoid the rapid pace of the 5-year program and instead invest time in research as an undergraduate. For admission to competitive Ph.D. programs, the expectation of publications and extensive research experience is higher for M.S. graduates. Therefore, as an alternative to the 5-year program, many top students may prefer to conduct research, possibly leading to a B.S. thesis, as a way to improve their admissions chances into top Ph.D. programs.

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Last Modified February 05 2008 12:21:24.