MCS General Advising for Registration
MCS Urbana-Champaign, Chicago, and Online students, welcome. We are glad you are here. This page will give you guidance on registering for your first courses.
You are in a non-thesis, self-funded master's program. There is no research in this master's degree. Graduate Advising contacts designated for your MCS program are available on our website. Please reach out to them if you have specific questions.
Please review the MCS Planning Document specific for your program to help guide you on the program requirements.
Information about your first-semester enrollment procedures will be included in your Notice of Admission and other follow-up messages from the Graduate Advising Office. Urbana and Chicago MCS students who accept the admission offer will receive a course request form (for CS courses that are full).
With increased enrollments in the Siebel School of Computing and Data Science and on campus, CS courses tend to fill up quickly. We request that all new students follow the directions and register for their first semester as soon as registration is available to them.
International Students
International students must check in at the International Student and Scholar Services Office (ISSS). Check-in details and schedules are available on the ISSS website. International students must arrive on campus by the start date listed on your I-20 or DS-2019.
Registration
Registration for Spring 2026 courses is now open. We highly recommend that you register as soon. Urbana and Chicago MCS students are reminded to respond to the course request form information you will receive after the admissions offer is accepted. With increased enrollments in the Siebel School of Computing and Data Science and on campus, CS courses tend to fill up quickly so we request that you register as soon as it is possible to do so.
Steps to Complete for Course Registration
- To start the registration process, you must first setup your NetID and password. The instructions for this were given to you in your "official offer letter" from the Graduate College. If you missed the link, please go to http://www.grad.illinois.edu/quick-guide.
- Go to https://registrar.illinois.edu/registration/registration-process/ to sign up for classes. To review the courses that will be offered in computer science, please visit the Course Explorer.
- Courses at the 400- and 500-level carry graduate credit.
Number of Minimum Credit Hours
All MCS students in the on-campus Urbana program and international students on student visas enrolled in the Chicago programs are required to register for at least 8 credit hours per semester toward the degree requirements in their first two (regular) semesters. These students have up to four continuous semesters to complete the degree requirements, subject to being approved to complete a full-time internship opportunity in their third semester. If they are not approved to be on a full-time internship during their third semester, they are required to register for at least 8 credit hours toward degree requirements during the third semester. In the final semester in their program, students are only required to take any remaining course credits necessary to complete their degree requirements.
Domestic students in the Chicago MCS program and all students in the Online MCS program may enroll as part-time students. They have up to five years to complete degree requirements. International students in the MCS Chicago program who are not on student visas are advised to contact the MCS advisor for further details.
Selecting Courses
For your first semester, we recommend that you select courses that interest you and start to complete the "Breadth Requirement". In addition, we recommend that you do a mix of 400 and 500 level courses. Graduate students are free to register for any 400 or 500-level course. If there is a pre-requisite for a course, it is your responsibility to ensure you have the prior knowledge required for the course. In addition, 400-level courses are introductory graduate level courses. Many of the 400-level courses (not all) can be taken for either 3 or 4 credits.* If you select the 4 credit hour 400-level course, the faculty will usually have you do a project or paper for the extra credit hour. All 500-level courses are taken for 4 credit hours.
* Students who wish to pursue the Computer Science graduate tracks may need to enroll for four credit sections of certain 400-level courses. Please check the requirements for the specific track(s) if this is of interest.