Admission Requirements
To be admitted to a master's program, all applicants must meet Graduate School requirements, as well as Computer Science Program requirements.
Graduate School Requirements
The Graduate School requires that the applicant holds a bachelor's degree from an accredited institution or have completed all undergraduate degree requirements prior to the beginning of the classes for the term for which admission is sought. The applicant must have earned a grade point average (GPA) of 2.70 or better (A = 4.00)*. Applicants to master's degree level study may begin the admissions process when they need no more than 32 semester hours beyond the credit shown on their transcript at the time of application to complete all requirements for the bachelor's degree.
An applicant who is a U.S. citizen or permanent resident and whose GPA is below 2.70 may be admitted as an unclassified student and may later apply to a degree program when 12 or more semester hours of graded graduate work at SIU have been completed. A minimum GPA of 3.00 is required in courses for which grades of A, B, C, D, F have been assigned.
Any applicant who has completed 12 or more semester hours of graded graduate work at an accredited U.S. educational institution, and who has a GPA of 3.00 or better on all graduate work, may be exempted from the 2.7 undergraduate grade point average requirement.
Any student with fewer than 12 hours of graduate work may be admitted to the Graduate School on the basis of undergraduate GPA only.
International students must submit TOEFL score. Applicants should have minimum TOEFL score: 550 (paper), 213 (computer), 80 (iBT); or minimum IELTS score 6.5.
* on last 60 hours of undergraduate coursework.
*Domestic students (U.S. Citizens and Permanent Residents)
Program Requirements
The evaluation of applicants for admission is based primarily on the student's academic record with particular attention being given to past performance in relevant undergraduate coursework. In most cases, it would be expected that the applicant has completed coursework listed below prior to admission. Normally, a GPA of at least 3.0/4.0 is required of the Computer Science Program.
Relevant Undergraduate Coursework
Any applicant to the Computer Science Program master's degree should meet the prerequisites (or their equivalents as determined by the Illinois Articulation Initiative or the CS Graduate Program Committee) as listed below:
Required
CS 202 - Introduction to Computer Science
CS 215 - Discrete Mathematics
CS 220 - Programming with Data Structures
CS 306 - Linux/UNIX Programming
CS 311 - The Theory and Implementation of Programming Languages
CS 320 - Computer Organization and Architecture
CS 330 - Introduction to the Design and Analysis of Algorithms
MATH 150 - Calculus I
Recommended
MATH 250 - Calculus II
GRE (no minimum set)