Computer Science (CMSC)

Abstract

The Computer Science Department's graduate program is ranked among the top in the nation and in the top ten among public universities. Both M.S. and Ph.D degrees are offered, and almost all full-time students receive financial aid in the form of assistantships, fellowships, and grants. The Department has strong research programs in the following areas: artificial intelligence, computer systems and networking, database systems, programming languages, software engineering, scientific computing, algorithms and computation theory, computer vision, geometric computing, graphics, and human-computer interaction.

Admissions Information

Admission and degree requirements specific to the graduate programs in computer science are described on our website, http://www.cs.umd.edu/Grad/catalog.html. A strong background in mathematics and theoretical computer science is necessary. The general Graduate Record Examinations (GRE's) are required. The subject GRE is recommended, but not required.

Application Deadlines

Fall

Spring

Domestic Applicants:
U.S. Citizens and Permanent Residents

Domestic Applicant Deadlines

Applications must be received by December 15 (December 1 preferred) .

Only students attending UM for the fall Semester may be considered for the spring semester. Applications must be received by October 15 (October 1 preferred) .

International Applicants:
Applicants from Outside the U.S. or U.S. Citizens / Permanent Residents with Non-U.S. Credentials

IMPORTANT: International Applicants and U.S. Applicants with Non-U.S. Credentials must follow the domestic deadlines above if they are earlier than the deadlines listed below.

Applicants seeking admission under F (Student) or J (Exchange Visitor) visas

February 1
If Domestic Deadline is after Feb. 1

June 1
If Domestic Deadline is after Jun. 1

Applicants seeking admission under A, E, G, H, I, and L visas and immigrants

May 1
If Domestic Deadline is after May 1

October 1
If Domestic Deadline is after Jun. 1

U.S. Citizens and Permanent Residents with foreign credentials

May 15
If Domestic Deadline is after May 15

October 31
If Domestic Deadline is after Oct.31

Application Requirements

GRE General
GRE Subject highly recommended
3 Letters of Recommendation

	Fall	Spring
Domestic Applicants: U.S. Citizens and Permanent Residents
Domestic Applicant Deadlines	Applications must be received by December 15 (December 1 preferred) .	Only students attending UM for the fall Semester may be considered for the spring semester. Applications must be received by October 15 (October 1 preferred) .

International Applicants: Applicants from Outside the U.S. or U.S. Citizens / Permanent Residents with Non-U.S. Credentials IMPORTANT: International Applicants and U.S. Applicants with Non-U.S. Credentials must follow the domestic deadlines above if they are earlier than the deadlines listed below.
Applicants seeking admission under F (Student) or J (Exchange Visitor) visas	February 1 If Domestic Deadline is after Feb. 1	June 1 If Domestic Deadline is after Jun. 1
Applicants seeking admission under A, E, G, H, I, and L visas and immigrants	May 1 If Domestic Deadline is after May 1	October 1 If Domestic Deadline is after Jun. 1
U.S. Citizens and Permanent Residents with foreign credentials	May 15 If Domestic Deadline is after May 15	October 31 If Domestic Deadline is after Oct.31

Degree Requirements

Master of Science (M.S.)
The master's program offers two options: 1) 24 hours of coursework and completion of a thesis, or 2) 30 hours of coursework, a comprehensive examination, and completion of a scholarly paper.

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
The program milestones include a ten-course qualifying sequence, a preliminary oral examination on a proposal for a dissertation and reading list in three related areas, and the dissertation defense. The number and variety of courses offered each semester enable students and their advisors to plan individualized programs.

Facilities and Special Resources

The department is located in the A.V. Williams building. Each office has one or more wall plates, which contain ethernet, fiber optic, and telephone outlets. Most larger offices and labs have dedicated ethernet switches installed in the room, with two or more ethernet cables to each desk. Ethernet and fiber outlets are connected to ethernet switches running at 100 Mbit and Gigabit ethernet speeds, and running on a gigabit ethernet backbone. Cisco routers connect the building switches to the campus network and the internet via gigabit ethernet. The campus has a wireless ethernet network covering the entire building and much of campus, allowing mobile computing users to remain connected to the network while in meetings, conference rooms, hallways, visiting other offices, or roaming certain parts of the University of Maryland campus. The wireless network supports the 802.11a, 802.11b, and 802.11g standards. Current research facilities include workstations running Sun Solaris, Redhat Linux, Apple OSX, and Microsoft Windows. There are over 100 terminals on graduate student desks that provide a choice of Redhat Linux, Microsoft Windows, or Sun Solaris as their native desktop operating system. Four public laser postscript printers with integrated black and white scanners, a color scanner, and a color laser printer are available for use. A public workstation is available for burning CD and DVD discs.

Financial Assistance

Financial aid, in the form of teaching assistantships, research assistantships, and fellowships, is offered to qualified applicants. Almost all full-time students receive some type of financial aid.

Contact Information

For information on degree programs and graduate assistantships contact:

Graduate Office
1151 A.V. Williams Building
MD 20742
Telephone: (301) 405-2664
csgradof@cs.umd.edu

http://www.cs.umd.edu/Grad

Courses: CMSC

Related Programs and Campus Units

Engineering: Systems Engineering
Neuroscience and Cognitive Science
Behavior, Ecology, Evolution and Systematics