Computer Science

APPLICATION DEADLINES
Applications are accepted for both the Fall and Spring terms.

• Fall Admissions Deadline: February 1
• Spring Admissions Deadline: October 1

We do not process applications received after the above deadlines. If you have extenuating circumstances that prevent you from applying on time and would like to request approval for submitting your application late, please contact meng-admissions [at] cs.cornell.edu.

    
ADMISSION DECISION NOTIFICATIONS
Review and processing of complete applications takes approximately six to eight weeks, depending on the number of applications received.

The timeline is condensed for Spring admissions. Expect decisions for Spring about a month after the application deadline.

A bachelor's degree (BA / BS / BE) in computer science or a related technical field (e.g., electrical and computer engineering, information science, operations research) typically suffices. Applicants who have majored in these and other fields are absolutely encouraged to apply provided they have demonstrated knowledge of the following subjects:

• Object-Oriented Programming and Data Structures (e.g., CS 2110): Intermediate programming in a high-level language and introduction to computer science. Topics include program structure and organization, object-oriented programming (classes, objects, types, sub-typing), graphical user interfaces, algorithm analysis (asymptotic complexity, big “O” notation), recursion, data structures (lists, trees, stacks, queues, heaps, search trees, hash tables, graphs), simple graph algorithms. Java is the principal programming language.
• Data Structures and Functional Programming (e.g., CS 3110): Advanced programming course that emphasizes functional programming techniques and data structures. Programming topics include recursive and higher-order procedures, models of programming language evaluation and compilation, type systems, and polymorphism. Data structures and algorithms covered include graph algorithms, balanced trees, memory heaps, and garbage collection. Also covers techniques for analyzing program performance and correctness. NOTE: Although knowledge of functional programming is not essential, advanced knowledge of data structures is.
• Computer System Organization and Programming (e.g., CS 3410): An introduction to the design of embedded systems, with an emphasis on understanding the interaction between hardware, software, and the physical world. Topics covered include assembly language programming, interrupts, I/O, concurrency management, scheduling, resource management, and real-time constraints.
• Mathematical Foundations of Computing/Discrete Structures (e.g., CS 2800): Covers the mathematics that underlies most of computer science. Topics include mathematical induction; logical proof; propositional and predicate calculus; combinatorics and discrete mathematics; some basic elements of basic probability theory; basic number theory; sets, functions, and relations; graphs; and finite-state machines. These topics are discussed in the context of applications to many areas of computer science, such as the RSA cryptosystem and web searching.
• Basic Calculus and Linear Algebra Functions and graphs, limits and continuity, differentiation and integration, volume and arc length, infinite sequences and power series, parametric equations, partial derivatives, double and triple integrals, line and surface integrals, vector fields, gradients and Jacobians, matrices, determinants, vector spaces, linear systems, least squares, eigenvalues and eigenvectors, orthogonality and inner product spaces.

The courses listed above will best prepare you for the courses required to meet the CS M.Eng. degree requirements. It is essential that the material covered in these courses be familiar to you in order for you to be successful. We suggest that when taking the equivalent of the Cornell CS courses listed as pre-requisites, you ensure the courses you take cover the same material and the school where you take them is comparable to Cornell.

Unfortunately, when taking courses through MOOCs there is no official documentation of your success, so we cannot consider those courses as meeting the prerequisites.
 

Once an applicant submits all of the required application materials; applications are prepared for review. Both the processing and review take some time and we ask that you be patient as we receive close to two thousand applications each year.  The times mentioned below are estimates and will be shorter for Spring admissions and possibly longer for Fall admissions. These timelines are neither definitive nor guaranteed. 

• The processing of applications by the Computer Science M.Eng. Office begins about two weeks before the application deadline.
• Applications received after the deadline will not be reviewed. Please ensure you have submitted your online application by the posted deadline.
• Approximately three weeks after the deadline, applicants will be able to check the status of their application on the Activity page in College Net. The notes section will indicate if anything has yet to be received. (The timeline is more condensed for Spring admissions due to a smaller pool of applicants. Expect approximately 3 weeks of processing time.)
• Should an application be deemed incomplete at processing, a reasonable time will be allowed for the applicant to supply the missing materials.
• *SPECIAL NOTE: Your name on your application should be the same as the name used to register for all required tests. Inconsistent names result in the inability of our system to accurately match your TOEFL/IELTS scores to your application, cause much confusion, and may prolong the processing and review of your application unnecessarily.
• Applicants should check their online application status page for information on what materials are missing.
  • Once an application has been processed and found to be complete the status will be changed from "In Progress" to "Complete."
  • If your application says "Incomplete", check the "notes" section for what is missing.
  • If nothing is missing and the status still reads "Incomplete", your application has not yet been re-checked for missing information and will be soon.
  • Occasionally the admissions committee will request additional information from an applicant to more accurately assess their credentials. Decisions in these cases will take additional time, however, the notification procedure is the same.
• Review of complete applications takes approximately five to six weeks after processing, depending on the number of applications received, (the timeline is condensed for Spring admissions. Expect decisions for Spring about a month after the application deadline.)
• Once the applications have been reviewed and decisions have been made, applicants who are being offered admission will receive their admission offer letters via e-mail with instructions on responding, information about Cornell and the CS M.Eng. Program, and resources to help make a well-informed decision.
• All correspondence will be sent via e-mail to the address indicated on the admission application. Please make sure the e-mail address you report on your application remains valid until the admissions process is complete.
• We do not provide admission decisions over the telephone or in response to third-party inquiries. No exceptions.
• Once an admission offer is made, applicants will have approximately 1 month to respond to the offer. (The timeline is condensed for Spring admissions. Response to an admission offer is required within two to three weeks of notification.)
  • The response includes completing an online response form (with the required deposit), and for international students, financial certification documents.
• If an applicant has been declined an offer of admission they will be notified after all admission offers have been made. These applicants will receive their decision via e-mail.
  • No admission decisions will be provided over the telephone. NO EXCEPTIONS!
  • It is not practical for us to comment on individual applicants as to why they were not offered admission. Please refrain from asking for feedback on why your admission was denied.
     

Upload transcripts after grades from your most recently completed semester/term are posted. You will want the admissions committee to see your most recent grades.

Please make sure your transcripts can be shared as an upload before submitting your application.

Scan or upload each transcript into the online application system. The transcript must be legible and oriented correctly. (Some secure digital transcripts are not legible once uploaded.)  

Before matriculation, you will be asked to have an official electronic version of each transcript sent to the Graduate School records office. Cornell undergraduates will not be required to follow this step.

To learn more, visit Prepare Transcripts.

International Credentials
If you are an international student, please visit the Graduate School International Degree Equivalencies for more details.

All applicants are required to submit their most current resume or CV with the application.

• Two letters of recommendation are required
• Recent graduates should provide at least two letters of recommendation from an instructor, professor or another academic contact.
• Current Cornell Computer Science students need only one letter of recommendation. Please enter a "filler" for the second contact.
• It is also acceptable to provide letters of recommendation from intern/employment supervisors, team leads, and managers.
• Letters should be submitted only through the online application system.
• Please do not check the "Letter will be mailed" box as this prevents the system from sending a request out to the reference.
• If you choose to use the Interfolio service: Interfolio assigns a "custom document e-mail address" to each letter, which gets used IN PLACE OF the recommender's e-mail address on the ApplyWeb application. To find this custom document e-mail address, open your Interfolio account, click on the name of your letter/document, copy the email address, and paste that into your ApplyWeb application (in place of the recommender's personal e-mail address). 

A successful statement of purpose should address the following topics and should be limited to no more than 1,000 words:

• ​Identify areas of computer science that are of particular interest and explain why.
• Explain why you are interested in the CS M.Eng. Program at Cornell University.
• Review what makes you qualified for our program.
• Discuss how the CS M.Eng. program will help you meet your future goals.

• Your personal statement should be 1,000 words or less
• It should provide the admissions committee with a sense of you as a whole person, and you should use it to describe how your background and experiences influenced your decision to pursue a graduate degree.
• Additionally, it should provide insight into your potential to contribute to Cornell’s collaborative problem-solving environment.
• We recommend using this space to highlight any experiences or interactions that have significantly shaped or serve to demonstrate your problem solving, communication, collaboration and teamwork, leadership, maturity, endurance, and/or resilience.

International applicants must demonstrate competency in the English language. You must have your official scores sent by Educational Testing Services to Cornell before our application deadline. Scores should be sent to Institutional Code 2098, the department code is not required.

TOEFL: The Graduate School mandates that applicants meet the following minimum scores in order to be considered for admission:

Writing (>=20), Listening (>=15), Reading (>=20), and Speaking (>=22).

• CS M.Eng. requires that applicants meet the above section minimums. Most admitted applicants have exceeded the minimum.
• Scores should be sent directly by the testing service to Cornell University Graduate School (institution code 2098) Department code is not required. Additional information on TOEFL requirements is provided by the Graduate School.

IELTS: is also accepted as a test of English Language Proficiency. An overall band score of 7.0 or higher is required. 

• Please see information about English Language Proficiency Requirements on the Graduate Admissions webpages including how to send IELTS scores, exemptions, and timelines.

No tests other than IELTS and TOEFL are accepted as proof of English Language Proficiency at this time. 
 

GRE Scores are no longer required as part of an application to the CS M.Eng. Program. Submitting scores will have no impact on the admission committee's decision.

To qualify for the M.Eng. Early Admit Program, you must:

• Be a Cornell student in their final semester of undergraduate study.
• Have at least one (1) but no more than eight (8) credits remaining in their final undergraduate semester to complete all undergraduate degree requirements.
• Have a cumulative undergraduate GPA of 2.7 or better. Please note that this is a minimum requirement to apply; most admitted applicants have a GPA substantially higher.

Cornell undergraduates wishing to apply to the M.Eng. Early Admit Program should follow the timeline outlined below:

• May 15: Online application and petition due for those graduating in December with their undergraduate degree.
• November 1: Online application and petition due for those graduating in May or August with their undergraduate degree.

• Students must apply to have their "unused" courses pre-approved to count towards their future M.Eng. degree requirements.
  • At least 10 credits must be taken toward M.Eng. requirements in the early M.Eng. semester if you intend to complete the M.Eng. degree requirements in one additional M.Eng. semester. The maximum number of credits allowed per semester for M.Eng. is 20.
• Any M.Eng. credit-eligible courses taken that are not applied to the bachelor's degree and that are pre-approved (5000 level or higher), can be counted towards M.Eng. degree requirements. A Maximum of 15 credits can be counted towards the M.Eng. degree requirements during the Early Admit Semester.
• Students may not take advantage of this option if they have more than eight or less than one credit remaining to complete their undergraduate degree requirements.

To be considered, you will need to complete these two required steps by the M.Eng. program’s deadline:

1. Complete the online Early Admit petition form 

For this form, it is important to have the following information available:

• The names of your major advisor(s) and undergraduate coordinator(s)
• The number of undergraduate credits you have remaining for your final undergraduate semester
• The course names and titles for your undergrad course(s) and your proposed M.Eng. courses for your final undergraduate semester (best guess)
• The course names and titles for any graduate-level course(s) you wish to have considered for transfer credit (maximum of 9 credits)
   

2. Complete an application for admission to the M.Eng. degree program online through the Graduate School ↗. Please make sure to specify on the application that the requested admission term is the semester AFTER your Early Admit semester, i.e., your full M.Eng. semester.

Pre-approval of these courses counts for the CS M.Eng. degree only. If you wish to apply to another field, you should speak to their M.Eng. Office regarding their procedure for Early M.Eng.

Pre-approval is for the Ithaca campus CS M.Eng. only. Cornell Tech does not accept Early M.Eng. credits.

If you are admitted, it will be contingent upon successful completion of your undergraduate degree.