Prospective Graduate Students
A Letter to Prospective Graduate Applicants
Dear Prospective Graduate Student:
Thank you for your interest in the graduate program of the Computer Science Department at Kent State University.
The Department offers four graduate degree programs:
- A Master of Science degree program with two concentration tracks:
- A non-thesis Master's degree program that supports the needs of persons seeking graduate education for entry into non-academic careers or to enhance and expand their career options.
- A thesis Master's degree program that fosters close collaboration between research and academic needs. It is designed for students who seek academic careers or positions in industrial research and development (R&D), or students who want to continue their education into the PhD program.
While the latter requires writing a thesis, the former does not require writing a thesis, but the student is required to complete a project and take an oral examination.
- A Master of Art degree program that provides students with the technical knowledge and skills necessary for success within the information and high technology industries. The program emphasizes breadth of knowledge in advanced computer science topics to augment the student's baccalaureate degree.
- A PhD degree program that promotes research, discovery and integration. It is designed for students interested in becoming professional scholars, college and university teachers, or independent research workers in private, industrial or government research institutions.
- A Combined Baccalaureate and Masters (4+1) degree program which is a fast-track to graduate education. It is designed primarily as an option for advanced students in our Baccalaureate program.
The Computer Science Department has 17 faculty members, approximately 150 graduate students and approximately 300 undergraduate students. The department covers nearly every aspect of computer science, including:
- database systems, data mining,
- distributed systems, parallel processing, interconnection networks,
- graphics, scientific visualization, image processing,
- software engineering,
- algorithms and computational theory, computational intelligence,
- communication networks, wireless and sensor networks, and multimedia networking,
- web-based applications, symbolic computation, multimedia languages,
- information security, and network security.
Students entering our Master's program are generally expected to have a Bachelor's degree in computer science or a related discipline, with a grade point average of 3.0 out of 4.0. GRE is not required but recommended for admission and used as one of the criteria for financial aid consideration. A minimum TOEFL score of 527 (paper base), 197 (computer base), 6.0 (IELTS), or 71 (IBT) is required for International applicants.
We expect applicants to our program to have mathematical proficiency through Linear Algebra and Discrete Mathematics, and to have taken computer science course work that minimally includes Data Structures, Structure of Programming Languages, Operating Systems, and Computer Architecture.
Several types of Graduate Assistantships are available on competitive basis. The assistantship normally carries tuition scholarship plus stipend. Applications for financial assistantship must be received before the deadlines of January 31 (for Fall applications) or September 15 (for Spring applications). Students who receive awards will be notified by late March, or late October, respectively. Unfortunately, due to the large number of requests, we can only notify applicants who will be awarded an assistantship. All graduate applicants will automatically be evaluated for graduate assistantship.
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.
If you are interested in our program, please apply electronically through the Admissions Office at Kent State University. Please refer to FAQ to find answers to some typical questions about the graduate program. If you have any further questions, please contact cs-gradcoord@cs.kent.edu.
We appreciate your interest in our program, and we look forward to considering your application!
Graduate Coordinator
cs-gradcoord@cs.kent.edu