Ph.D. Program

Oklahoma State University

Entrance Requirements

Minimal entrance requirements are:
  1. A bachelor's degree from a recognized university;
  2. Proficiency in computer related mathematics, including at least 10 hours beyond calculus.
  3. A grade point average of 3.5 or higher.
  4. Course work in theoretical foundations of computing, operating systems design and implementation, organization of programming languages, and computer organization with grades of "B" or better; a student who does not meet this requirement, but otherwise qualifies for admission, may be admitted with deficiencies listed.
  5. The Graduate Record Exam (GRE): Applicants must take the general test and the advanced computer science test.
  6. A TOEFL score of 550 or better for international students;
  7. Three letters of reference from individuals competent to judge the applicant's potential to complete the Ph.D.

Individuals may strengthen their applications with supporting materials such as a strong transcript, higher GPA, strong recommendation letters, and/or written support from members of the Computer Science Department Graduate Faculty.

Students who have master's degrees in other areas will be admitted based on their potential to perform Ph.D. level work as perceived by the committee on graduate admissions. Requirements for admission in this case are similar to the entrance requirements stated above, but are adapted to individual cases by the committee on graduate admissions.

Deadlines for application to CS graduate study are March 15  for fall semester, August 15 for spring semester and January 15 for summer semester.

Guidelines for the Ph.D. Degree

  • Restrictions on courses that can be included in the Computer Science Plan of Study are:  
     
    • CS 3363, 3613, 3423, 4323, 4343, and 4154 cannot be put on any plan of study of a Computer Science graduate student.  This means that required prerequisites and certain other courses can no longer be counted as electives toward a graduate degree in Computer Science at OSU. This may mean that it will take longer for a student for whom prerequisite courses are required to complete a graduate degree than it has taken in the past.
    • For a course from any OSU department other than Computer Science to be included on a plan of study for a Computer Science graduate student, the course must carry graduate credit and be numbered 5000 or higher.
    • New graduate students should not assume that any required prerequisite course will be waived just because they have passed a course with a similar name.  The specification of required prerequisites is entirely at the discretion of this department, and specified prerequisites will be waived only in rare circumstances.  
Each doctoral student must satisfy the following requirements:

A. Course guidelines:

  • 24 credits (the core) including 5113, 5313, 5323, 5413, either 5443 or 5553,  5423, 5653, and 5663;
  • 12 credits (the specialty) in one area at the 6000 level, excluding 6000 (dissertation research);
  • 6 credits in one area of CS at the 6000 level outside of the major specialty;
  • 18-30 credits (electives): These must include the sequences corresponding to the area in which the dissertation will be written,  these may be any approved graduate level courses;
  • 18-30 credits (dissertation research) of 6000;
  •  60 hours beyond a master's degree or  90 credit hours beyond the bachelor's degree.

B.  Emphasis in the program is placed on development of competence rather than total course hours:

  • Only minimum course hour requirements are listed in this document;
C.  Areas of doctoral level study in CS, by courses:
  • Information systems: 5413, 5423, 6400;
  • Computer organization and operating systems: 5113, 5253, 5323, 6240, 6253, 6350;
  • Programming languages: 5313, 5333, 6300;
  • Theoretical computer science: 5653, 5663, 6600;
  • Numerical analysis and optimization: 5013, 5543, 5553, 6023, 6500;

D.  Dissertation:

  • The dissertation must describe the results of the candidate's research, a comprehensive examination,  which is an original contribution to knowledge in the computing field.

E.  Ph.D. program examinations:
  • Ph.D. students are required to pass a diagnostic examination, a comprehensive examination,  a qualifying examination, and a final oral examination. These examinations are described in detail in the next section of this document.

F. Deviations from any of these requirements may be granted by the graduate faculty.

Description of Ph.D. Examination  

A. DIAGNOSTIC EXAMINATION

The student's Ph.D. committee (also known as the Ph.D. dissertation committee) will be in charge of the Diagnostic Examination for each Ph.D. student.

The committee will give the student one expository research question, which may involve analysis, programming, and/or computation as well as a literature search. This question must not be based on the student's previous master's degree thesis work, if any, or on the student's professional experience.

The student will be given two weeks to prepare a research presentation dealing with the given topic. At the end of the two weeks, the student will make a half-hour presentation of her/his findings. The committee will then question the student on the topic of the presentation.

Depending on the student's undergraduate and master's degree institutions, the field of her/his master's degree, her/his GPA, her/his pursuit of a Ph.D., any discontinuity in her/his higher education, etc., at the discretion of the committee there might be oral questions over the OSU M.S. core courses and their prerequisites following the presentation. The student will be notified well in advance as to whether or not her/his Diagnostic Examination shall involve course work questions.

The presentation part of the diagnostic examination is a public event and it must be announced at least five days before it is held.

The result of the Diagnostic Examination will be a "pass" or a "fail" given for the entire presentation as well as the oral examination, as applicable.

The student will have two chances to pass the Diagnostic Examination.

For a student entering the Ph.D. program with a master's degree already earned in Computer Science or a closely related area, the Diagnostic Examination must be taken within one calendar year. For a student entering the Ph.D. program without such a master's degree, this examination must be taken within one year of having completed twenty-four hours of course work beyond the bachelor's degree.

B. COMPREHENSIVE EXAMINATION

Each student's Ph.D. committee will be in charge of the Comprehensive Examination for the student.

The student shall submit to her/his Ph.D. committee at least one paper published in a peer-reviewed and refereed journal or conference (or an official letter or e-mail showing the acceptance of such a paper) in an area not necessarily the same as the dissertation. The student must be the sole author or the principal author of the paper. The results will be presented for a period of 30 to 45 minutes. The Dissertation Committee will judge the results of the paper as well as the quality of the targeted journal or conference.

The comprehensive examination is a public event and it must be annouced at least five days before it is held.

The result of the Comprehensive Examination will be a "pass" or a "fail" given for the entire presentation as well as the oral examination, as applicable.

The student will have two chances to pass the Comprehensive Examination.

C. The Ph.D. student will conduct, or continue to conduct, her/his dissertation research and present a prospectus/proposal. Officially, this constitutes the Qualifying Examination (as required by the Graduate College).

D. The Ph.D. candidate will defend her/his dissertation. The timing constraints of the Graduate College apply.

The oral presentations in parts C and D are open to the public and will be announced to the faculty, all graduate students and to the general public. ====================================================================== 09/18/2003

For more information, try:
Send any requests for more information to: csgradinfo@a.cs.okstate.edu


Computer Science Department