1. Overview of MS Program Requirements

The academic requirements for the Master of Science degree in Computer Science consist of two components: (1) completion of the course requirements (a total of 48 units) and (2) the capstone experience, which can be fulfilled through a comprehensive examination, project, or thesis. MS students must also complete a course that satisfies the professional development requirement. The remainder of this section outlines these requirements. For a complete description of the MS program requirements, please refer to the UCR General Catalog. 

Course Requirements

The course requirements consist of 48 units of graduate or upper-division courses. These courses need to meet three specific requirements:

• Core Requirement (8 units). Certain CS courses are designated as core courses and are grouped into three Core Areas: (1) Hardware Design Principles, (2) Theoretical Foundations, and (3) Software and Systems. Two courses from two different areas are required.

• Breadth Requirement (8 units). The CS graduate courses are grouped into 8 Major Specialty Areas numbered A-H. MS students need to take 2 breadth courses. These two courses, together with two core courses, need to cover four different Major Specialty Areas.

• Electives (32 units). These need to be graduate or upper-division courses in Computer Science. Students who choose the thesis or project option of the MS degree can use some number of research units towards the elective requirement. 

The list of allowed courses and the details of the course requirements can be found in the UCR General Catalog. In justified cases, exceptions from the degree requirements may be considered: some students may transfer courses from previously attended institutions (see the section with information for new students), some may be allowed to get credit for courses outside Computer Science, or for courses taken at other UC campuses. For more information, contact your Graduate Program Coordinator.

MS Capstone Experience

All students must complete a capstone experience that synthesizes and integrates the knowledge and skills acquired throughout the MS program. There are three options for the capstone experience: Comprehensive Examination, Project, or Thesis. The default option, chosen by most students, is the Comprehensive Examination. For the Project or Thesis option, the student must have a faculty advisor. It is the student's responsibility to find an advisor willing to supervise a project or thesis. Students who have a faculty advisor and decide to switch to the Project or Thesis option must notify their Graduate Program Coordinator during the first week of their third quarter in the program.

• Comprehensive Examination Option (Plan II) 

  The Comprehensive Examination is the default option for all MS students in Computer Science. Up to 12 units of approved CSE undergraduate technical electives (see the UCR General Catalog) may be counted toward graduate elective units, but only toward the elective requirement.

  To fulfill the Comprehensive Examination requirement, MS students must pass three capstone experience problems (CEPs) within their core courses. Each quarter, two CEPs will be offered as part of the final exam in each core course. Students may take the CEPs without completing the course or taking the entire final exam, but this must be arranged with the instructor in advance and will be approved on a case-by-case basis. Students are allowed only two attempts per set of core course CEPs, and these attempts are not cumulative (meaning students may use results from only one attempt).

• Project Option (Plan II) 

  In the project option, students complete a research project under the guidance of a project advisor, who must be a faculty member associated with the CSE Department. This option requires both an oral presentation and the submission of a written report. For the presentation, the student must nominate a committee of at least two faculty members. During the project, students can enroll in CS 297, with 4 units of CS 297 counting toward graduate elective course requirements.

  Students in this option complete the MS – Project Committee Nomination form and submit it to the Graduate Program Coordinator at least three weeks before the oral presentation to nominate their project committee. The project committee must consist of at least two faculty members, with at least one member affiliated with the CS department as a CS faculty, cooperating faculty, or adjunct faculty. After completing the presentation, students submit the fully approved MS – Project Presentation form to the Graduate Program Coordinator to report the outcome.

  If multiple students collaborate on a large project, each student can use their contributions to satisfy the M.S. project requirement. However, each student must submit a separate report and deliver an individual project presentation. It should be clearly stated in both the written document and the presentation which portion of the overall project was completed by the student being examined.

  PhD students pursuing the M.S. degree along the way to their PhD, with the project option, are not permitted to submit previous research papers used in their oral, written, or dissertation proposal exams to fulfill the project written report requirement.

• Thesis Option (Plan I) 

  In the thesis option, students undertake a substantial research project under the guidance of a faculty advisor, who must be a CSE faculty. (This  includes faculty who have adjunct or cooeparating status in the CSE Department.) The thesis must represent original research and demonstrate the student's ability to master the knowledge of a research area and contribute novel findings. Typically, thesis research requires three quarters to complete. The thesis must be presented to and approved by a committee of at least three faculty members, with at least one member being a regular faculty member of the CSE Department. While working on their thesis, students can enroll in either the CS 297 or CS 299 course. Students who choose the thesis option can count up to 12 units of CS 297 or CS 299 toward their elective course requirements.

  Before the defense, students must officially nominate their committee and obtain approval. Committee nominations are specified on the Application for Candidacy for Master's Degree form, which is available in R’Grad. MS thesis defenses are public events. Students are required to inform their Graduate Program Coordinator about their scheduled defense at least two weeks in advance, providing the following information: the date, time, and location of the defense, as well as the title, abstract, and name of the faculty advisor. After completing the thesis defense, students must submit the Final Defense Master’s Form via R’Grad to report the defense results. 

  The formatting of the MS thesis must adhere to the guidelines found on the Graduate Division website. A format review must be completed before the final draft of the thesis can be submitted to the Graduate Division.

Professional Development Requirement

MS students must complete one of the following courses (1 unit) to meet the professional development requirement: CS 287, GDIV 301, GDIV 403, and CS 298I. Other courses with professional development content may be approved as substitutes.

2. Related Regulations

M.S. Candidacy Status

The advancement to candidacy is an intermediate step toward a graduate degree. For MS students, this step occurs after they complete a certain number of course requirements, and their focus shifts towards satisfying their chosen capstone experience requirement: a comprehensive examination, a project, or a thesis. Students need to submit a petition to advance to candidacy no later than in the first week of the quarter in which their degree is expected to be awarded. The deadline for submission is published on the Graduate Division website under Master's Advancement and Graduation Forms. If the application is not received by the deadline date, the degree may be deferred until the following quarter.

Residency Requirements

The minimum academic residency in the University of California is three quarters, two of which must be spent at the Riverside campus. Registration in at least 4 units of 100 or 200 level coursework is necessary for each quarter of academic residence.

Letter of Completion, Transcript and Diploma

Students are notified by mail of their formal degree award at the end of the quarter in which the degree is conferred. Once all degree requirements are completed, students may request a Letter of Completion if they need immediate proof of degree completion before the transcript and diploma are available. This letter can be used for employment and career advancement purposes, but it is not an official document and does not replace the transcript or diploma, which are the only official proofs of degree completion. Once the official documents are available from the Registrar's Office, the Graduate Division will no longer issue a Letter of Completion.

The official transcript showing that the degree has been awarded will be available about one month after the conferral date.

Once the diploma is ready, it will be mailed directly to the student's permanent address and should be received 8-10 weeks after the end of the graduation term.

For more information go to the Graduation Procedures website.

Duplication of Higher Degree (Second MS) 

Permission to pursue a second MS degree may be approved if there is minimal overlap in content between the two degrees. Duplication of an MS degree within the same field is not permitted.

Proceeding Toward the CS PhD Degree 

MS students interested in pursuing the PhD degree may request a change in their degree objective to PhD. For such requests to be considered, they should have strong recommendations from CSE Department faculty members and have a research advisor interested in supervising their PhD dissertation. Such requests will be reviewed in the same manner as a regular PhD application to our graduate program and they will be subject to the Graduate Division and department admissions guidelines. International students must submit a new letter verifying financial support before final approval can be granted by the Graduate Division.