Shaped by advanced coursework and research.
Learn about degree requirements, course planning, and important milestones to successfully complete the Master of Computer Science (MS) program.
Planning your curriculum.
Required courses and enrollment
Your path to the master’s degree includes 34 credit hours of study, with a focus on computer science courses (minimum 14 credits) and your thesis research (CS 7999- 6-12 credits.)
At least 14 credits must be earned through CS coursework and taken for a letter grade receiving a C or higher.
- (CS 7999 and seminars cannot be used.)
- All CS courses must be 4000-level or higher.
- Students must complete at least four CS courses that are at the 5000 level or higher and one of these must be at the 6000-level.
Students are required to have an outside minor and to have a Minor Field Member on their Thesis Committee.
- The outside minor requirement typically involves 2-3 courses and is determined by the outside minor field.
- Non-CS courses and courses not associated with the outside minor can also be used to fulfill the 34 credit hour minimum. These courses must be approved by the Director or Associate Director,, but typically graduate -level courses in any field are acceptable if they relate to the student’s educational objectives
Course enrollment is done through your Student Center and is done electronically four times a year. Once at the start of each semester and once in the middle of each semester as pre-enrollment for the subsequent semester.
When planning your courses,, please consult Courses of Study (new Cornell course catalog) to view all course descriptions and the Course Roster to explore what is being offered during the current semester.
Your special committee
Master’s students must have at least two (2) members of the graduate faculty on their special committee — one in the major subject (the chair) and one in the outside minor subject.
Overview
Your thesis committee will guide your research journey and ultimately evaluate your work. While you need a minimum of two (2) members — your primary advisor from CS and a minor member from outside the field — many students benefit from adding additional faculty to their committee. Here's what you need to know:
Timing
The committee must be formed no later than the end of the second semester. If you do not have your committee selected before your third semester, you will have a hold placed on your registration by the Graduate School.
Core Requirements
• Minimum two (2) members
• Chair: Your primary research advisor (CS field)
• Minor Member: Faculty from outside CS representing your minor field
Committee Structure in Student Center
Example of minimum committee setup:
- Chair - Professor Smith - Systems. Note: Always specify the exact concentration (e.g., "Artificial Intelligence," "Systems") rather than general "Computer Science"
- Minor Member - Professor Jones - Applied Math
Recommendations
- Consider expanding beyond the minimum
• Additional members provide:
- Extra research guidance
- More recommendation letters
- Broader perspective on your work • Can include:
- Multiple faculty from same area
- Non-field members
- External experts (as ad-hoc members)
Your thesis journey
Working closely with your Thesis Advisor, you'll complete 6-12 credit hours of thesis research (CS 7999).
- CS 7999 can be taken multiple times, i.e., thesis research can be spread over several semesters.
- All CS 7999’s must be taken for a letter grade and only if the grade is B or better can it count towards the fulfillment thesis research requirement.
- The volume of work associated with the thesis is determined by the Thesis Advisor. The thesis itself will typically be between 20-50 pages in length.
- A 30-50 minute oral presentation of thesis results is required.
Maintaining good standing
To maintain good academic standing and continue in the program, you'll need to meet key academic benchmarks and teaching standards throughout your studies.
- A cumulative grade point average of at least 3.0 must be maintained to continue in the program.
- You must be considered a strong TA in the courses that you act as a TA. This will be evaluated at the end of each term.
- A student who receives a course grade less than C or a CS 7999 grade less than B may be asked to leave the program.
- To be in good standing after the first, second, and third semesters, it is necessary to have completed at least 8, 16, and 24 credits hours of work respectively.
Guidelines for the MS Exam
A master's thesis defense is an oral examination where students present their research to faculty committee members. This formal presentation serves as a final requirement for thesis-based master's degrees.
You are responsible for submitting your schedule form WITH approvals seven (7) days prior to the exam. The Graduate School is very strict with this deadline. If it’s a weekend, plan accordingly. If you do not make this deadline you will need to reschedule the exam for a later date.
In addition to submitting your forms seven (7) days before your exam, please send the announcement of your exam seven (7) days prior to CS field members and master's students. Exams will be given either in-person or remotely. Students giving exams in-person must provide a Zoom link in the exam announcement so that anyone unable to attend in person may do so remotely.
On the Day of your M exam, please fill out the M exam results form.
Students receive email notifications of each approval (GFA, committee members) and receive a final notification when all members of the committee and the DGS have approved informing them that the schedule form has been submitted to the Graduate School for processing.
- Students and GFAs can track the approval process via Dynamic Forms link provided in the email notifications sent once each has signed and submitted the form.
- Both the student and GFA receive an email from the Graduate School when the schedule form has been processed and approved.
- Students are responsible for ensuring committee approval and sign off so please encourage them to track the progress if it appears to be stalled.
If you need another faculty member to sit in for one of your committee members because they are unable to attend your exam remotely, email approvals from your committee members are fine to submit with the form.
You will also need to submit a General Petition. Email approvals from your committee members are fine to submit with the form. You do not need official signatures.
Visit the Graduate School to download the forms.
Post-Graduation Information
- Cornell Access: Please See: " IT Services Available with Your New Relationship to Cornell"
- Data left at Cornell will be deleted in time, please back up or relocate it to a space you control.
- Students can work with their advisor to sponsor a NetID extension or re-locate data
- @CS address is forwarded to Cornell NetID, the current CIT policy is to continue the forward to their NetID email indefinitely. If you would like to change your mail forwarding, please refer to "Cornell Email Delivery Options (Alumni)"
- If they were provided/made use of a dept web space, they will lose the ability to edit that space once their NetID is transitioned. They should go in ahead of time to “close out” the space.
Computer: You will need to turn in your department issued computer(s) to ITSG. If you would like to retain your computer, please contact Becky.
- Please be aware of Cornell policies concerning Data Stewardship and Use of IT Resources