MCS Degree Requirements

The MCS program is a coursework-only degree consisting of 32 credit hours with no GRE required for admission. Students learn from world-class faculty and will master in-demand skills. 

View the Data Science Track

Breadth requirement: 12-16 credit hours

Must complete four different courses, each from a different area, from the following core areas with a grade of B- or higher.

Courses in bold italics are available online. Always confirm course availability with your advisor when planning your schedule.

Area	Available Courses
Architecture, Compilers, Parallel Computing	CS 426, 431, 433, 483, 484, 526, 533, 534, 536
Artificial Intelligence	CS 440, 441, 442, 443, 444, 445, 446, 447, 448, 540, 542, 543, 544, 545, 546, 588, 598 Deep Learning for Healthcare
Bioinformatics and Computational Biology	CS 466, 581, 582
Computers and Education	CS 500
Database and Information Systems	CS 410, 411, 412, 470, 510, 511, 512, 514
Interactive Computing	CS 409, 415, 416, 417, 418, 419, 445, 465, 467, 469, 519, 565, 567, 568
Programming Languages, Formal Methods, Software Engineering	CS 421, 422, 427, 428, 474, 475, 476, 477, 521, 522, 524, 527, 576, 584
Scientific Computing	CS 450, 482, 554, 555, 556, 558
Security and Privacy	CS 461, 463, 507, 539, 562, 563
Systems and Networking (includes real-time systems and security)	CS 414, 423, 424, 425, 434, 435, 436, 437, 438, 439, 461, 463, 498 Cloud Computing Applications, 523, 525, 537, 538, 541, 563
Theory and Algorithms	CS 473, 475, 507, 571, 573, 574, 579, 580, 583, 586

Advanced coursework: 12 credit hours

• Must be computer science courses numbered CS 500-590 or 598.
• One 4 credit hour CS 597 course or an approved non-computer science 500-level course may be permitted only for students in the Urbana-Champaign and Chicago programs. 
• All courses counting toward this requirement must be passed with a grade of C or higher.

Elective courses: 4-8 credit hours

• Graduate (400- and 500-level) coursework from Computer Science, other Grainger College of Engineering Departments, MATH, STAT, or PHYS are pre-approved as elective courses. All other courses must receive prior approval from the Siebel School of Computing and Data Science Graduate Advising Office in order to satisfy degree requirements.
• Subject to all Additional Requirements listed below.

Additional Requirements

• Only 500-level and 400-level (when offered for graduate credit) coursework may be counted toward degree requirements.
• A minimum of 24 computer science credit hours must be taken from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
• A minimum of 12 credit hours taken at the 500-level overall.
• A maximum of 4 hours of CS 491 and CS 591 may be applied toward the degree, though note that these courses are not available for students in the online program.
• Any course taken for letter grade must have a grade of C or higher. A grade of B- or higher is required for the Breadth coursework.
• The minimum program GPA is 3.0.
• Up to 12 credit hours of previous graduate coursework that is approved by the Siebel School of Computing and Data Science (including non-degree graduate courses completed within the Siebel School) may be transferred and applied to the degree requirements.
• All students must maintain sufficient academic progress. General guidelines are below, but students are responsible for confirming their requirements with their advisor.
  • MCS Urbana-Champaign is a full-time program. Students have up to four semesters to complete degree requirements. 
  • MCS Chicago and MCS online can be taken part-time. Students have the ability to take up to five years to complete their studies, though that is dependent on full-time/part-time status.