Application Procedures

Admission to the Department is done through Admissions Office at Kent State University. You can apply online here. If you experience any difficulties with the online application, please contact cs-gradcoord@cs.kent.edu.

International Applicants

When you access the online application, you will be prompted to select the academic unit (College of Arts & Sciences) of your intended major (Computer Science). Applicants should submit the following:

Three letters of recommendation
Statement of purpose
Resume
Original academic transcripts in sealed envelope
GRE (not required but strongly recommended)
TOEFL scores for applicants whose native language is not English should be sent through ETS. International applicants who have 2 years of study in the US are not required to submit TOEFL.

International applicants should send materials to:

Office of Global Education
Kent State University
106 Van Campen Hall
625 Loop Road
Kent, OH 44242-0001
USA

Domestic Applicants

Three letters of recommendation (can be sent to gradapps@kent.edu or postal mail)
Statement of purpose (can be uploaded with online application or postal mail)
Resume (can be uploaded with online application or postal mail)
Original academic transcripts in sealed envelope
GRE (not required but strongly recommended)

Domestic applicants should send materials to:

Research and Graduate Studies
Office of Graduate Services
116 Cartwright Hall
Kent State University
PO Box 5190
Kent, OH 44242-0001

Additional useful information may be found in Letter to Prospective Students.

Application deadlines

Applications without any request for assistantships are accepted on a rolling basis, although for international applications to be considered they must reach the CS Graduate Office no later than November 15th (applications for Spring semester) and no later than June 1st (applications for Fall semester).

Since it may take 3-4 weeks for our graduate office to process those applications, students should apply well in advance of the deadlines listed above. Applications for admission sent in the last few weeks before a deadline will probably not be processed in time to be considered for admission.

Financial Aid Applicants (more)

Application for assistantship must be received before the deadlines of January 31 (for Fall applications) or September 15th (for Spring applications). Applications are only considered if they reach the CS Graduate Office by that date and the student has been admitted into the graduate program by that date (i.e., the paperwork for admission must have already been processed). Since it may take 4-6 weeks for admission materials to reach our office, perhaps even longer for international applicants, and then it requires time for our office to processes those applications, students should apply for aid well in advance of the deadlines listed above. Applications for admission and aid sent in the last few weeks before a deadline will probably not be processed in time to be considered for aid.

Students at Kent State Interested in a CS Graduate Degree

For students in another department at Kent State, who are interested in getting a CS degree, there are two options:

If the student wants to totally DROP the other program and enter our Master's or Doctoral program, then a Change of Degree or Major form must be filed with both departments.
If the student wants or needs to CONTINUE in the other program while simultaneously entering our Master's or Doctoral program, then the student must apply to our graduate program in the usual manner. However, on the application a student should indicate that he or she is applying for a second degree in another discipline within the university.

In either case, the required forms are available from the CS Graduate Secretary.