Computer Science, B.S./M.S. (Accelerated Program)

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Accelerated Bachelor of Science/Master of Science with a major in Computer Science

The accelerated Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degree with a major in Computer Science program is designed to accelerate a student’s education so that both BS and MS degrees can be earned in approximately five years of full-time study.  The accelerated program enables well-qualified undergraduate students in their senior year to take approved master’s level courses and to earn credit by examination for advanced undergraduate courses in their undergraduate degree plan.  Students apply for the accelerated program and the graduate program before their senior year upon the recommendation of the Graduate Coordinator.  Qualified students may earn up to 9 graduate semester credit hours their senior year that satisfy requirements for the master’s degree.  Students in the program will sign up to earn Credit by Examination for up to 9 undergraduate semester credit hours in approved courses.  (Note: Credit by examination may not be used to satisfy the minimum residence requirements for degrees or for honors awarded at graduation.)  Students must maintain grades of B or better in the graduate courses they take in their senior year to remain in the accelerated program.  So, for example, an undergraduate in the accelerated program who passed 9 semester credit hours of approved graduate coursework would have only 21-24 semester credit hours of graduate coursework still needed to complete the MS degree.

Students accepted into the combined program begin the Master of Science coursework in their undergraduate senior year.  Students are required to take CMPS 5153 - Advanced Software Engineering and two courses from below that count toward the MS degree and for which Credit by Examination may be earned:

CMPS 5143 - Advanced Operating Systems

CMPS 5133 - Advanced Computer Architecture

One approved graduate CMPS course for 3 hours of an undergraduate advanced CMPS elective course

If students take CMPS 4103 - Introduction to Operating Systems, CMPS 4453 - Computer Architecture, or CMPS 4113 - Software Engineering, and count them toward their BS degree instead, they forfeit those hours as they will not count toward the MS.  However, they may take an approved substitute graduate course in those areas to count toward the MS only.  Each semester thereafter, accelerated undergraduate students must consult the Computer Science Graduate Coordinator on their graduate courses, which will follow the requirements for the traditional Master Degree with a major in Computer Science at Midwestern State University.

The qualifications necessary to enter the program, the requirements to complete the program, and the procedures to be followed by students in the accelerated program are described in the graduate catalog.