Online Master of Computer Science
Explore the Online MCS
Complete a Master’s degree at your own pace, at your own place! Busy professionals can complete a degree online while they continue to meet their current life and career obligations. The Siebel School of Computing and Data Science has partnered with Coursera to use its massive open online course (MOOC) platform to offer the MCS to students in a more flexible and affordable way than is possible on campus. Students can earn the Online MCS in as little as one year, or in as many as five years.
The Online MCS program is a non-thesis (coursework-only) degree that requires 32 credit hours of graduate coursework, completed through eight graduate-level courses each at the four credit hour level. The MCS requires that four of these eight courses are chosen from unique "core" areas of computer science, and that three of these eight courses must be at the advanced graduate level (500-level). The Online MCS currently offers coursework in the core areas of artificial intelligence, databases, human-computer interaction, software engineering, scientific computing and high-performance computing.
Students specifically interested in a data science focus should consider the University of Illinois Master of Computer Science in Data Science (MCS-DS) Track.
Application Information
Who may apply? Applicants should hold a 4-year bachelor's degree (or equivalent). Students with a bachelor’s degree in a field other than CS are encouraged to apply, but they must have prerequisite coursework or commensurate experience in object-oriented programming, data structures, algorithms, linear algebra, and statistics/probability. The recommended undergraduate GPA for applicants applying to the Professional Master's program is a 3.2/4.0 or higher. The Siebel School of Computing and Data Science does not require GRE scores for any of its graduate programs. Applications for the MCS do not require letters of recommendation, but they will be considered if included, especially if used to justify experience in lieu of required coursework, or other irregularities.
Admission for UIUC Graduates
If you complete an Illinois degree in CS, CS+X, Mathematics & CS, Statistics & CS, Computer Engineering or a CS minor with a GPA of 3.0 or better in the last two years of your undergraduate degree and a GPA of 3.2 or better in CS courses, then you are guaranteed admission to our Online MCS or MCS in Data Science (MCS-DS) programs.
There are different conditions for guaranteed admission to our Urbana MCS and Chicago MCS programs for Illinois students due to the limited capacity in those programs.
Online MCS Degree Requirements
Printable version.
Note: Each Online MCS course is four credit hours.
Breadth Requirements
Must complete four courses (16 credit hours) each from a different area, from the following core areas with a grade of B- or higher.
|
Artificial Intelligence: |
CS 441 Applied Machine Learning |
| Database and Information Systems: | CS 410 Text Information Systems CS 411 Database Systems CS 412 Introduction to Data Mining |
| Graphics/HCI: |
CS 418 Interactive Computer Graphics |
| Parallel Computing: | CS 484 Parallel Programming |
| Programming Languages & Software Engineering: | CS 421 Programming Languages and Compilers CS 427 Software Engineering I CS 475 Formal Models Computation |
| Scientific Computing: |
CS 450 Numerical Analysis |
| Security and Privacy: | CS 463 Computer Security II |
| Systems and Networking: |
CS 425 Distributed Systems (Cloud Computing Concepts) |
| Theory and Algorithms |
CS 475 Formal Models Computation |
Advanced Coursework
Must complete three courses (12 credit hours).
- CS 513 Theory and Practice of Data Cleaning
- CS 519 Scientific Visualization
- CS 598 Foundations of Data Curation
- CS 598 Practical Statistical Learning*
- CS 598 Advanced Bayesian Modeling
- CS 598 Deep Learning for Healthcare
- CS 598 Cloud Computing Capstone*
- CS 598 Data Mining Capstone*
- * Prerequisites apply. Please see printable Online MCS Degree Requirements document.
Electives
- STAT 420 Methods of Applied Statistics
Additional Requirements
- All coursework must be taken through the Coursera MOOC platform.
- Breadth coursework must have a letter grade of B- or higher. Any other course taken for letter grade must have a grade of C or higher.
- 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 of Computing and Data Science) may be transferred and applied to the Professional MCS degree requirements.
Tuition & Fees
- Tuition: Tuition rates are posted on the Office of the Registrar's website at https://registrar.illinois.edu/tuition-fees/tuition-fee-rates/tf-rates-term/.
- Please scroll down to "Graduate and Professional" section and then click "Tuition Rates" for the relevant semester.
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Tuition rates for Online MCS and MCS-DS programs are listed under the "Grad Engineering & Engineering Related rate" as "Online Computer Science MCS - Resident" and "Online Computer Science MCS - Nonresident/International".
- ProctorU fees: Most Online MCS courses require one or more exams. Exams are proctored online through the ProctorU service, which will be billed directly to the student when an exam is scheduled, at $16.00 (60-min. or less exam), $22.00 (61-120 min. exam), $27.00 (121-180 min. exam), or $32.00 (181-240 min. exam).
- Other fees: Some courses can require additional fees, such as the Amazon Web Services (AWS) used for the cloud computing courses.
Financial Assistance
The Siebel School of Computing and Data Science does not offer research or teaching assistantships to students enrolled in our online programs, including the Online MCS. The Online MCS program is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission and enrolled students are eligible for financial assistance. See the Office of Student Financial Aid for further information.
Get Updates
If you are interested in receiving updates about the Online MCS, please complete Coursera's Interest Form.
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