Integrated program FAQ

A: First, meet with a departmental advisor:

• Computer engineering students
• Computer science students

To learn more about the graduate program in greater detail, please consider attending one of the graduate information sessions.

A: Yes. M.S. students can be considered for TA or RA positions. Funding is not guaranteed to M.S. students in our department.

A: You wouldn't be eligible for graduate type funding until your graduate career begins officially. If admitted to the integrated program, you would still be an undergraduate student in most respects. After you graduate from the undergraduate program is when you can apply to be a Graduate TA or Graduate RA. You would only be eligible for the undergraduate versions of these positions during your integrated senior year, which do not come with the same type of financial benefits. Undergraduate TA and RA positions would be hourly positions with no tuition and health benefits included.

Students entering their official graduate start (not the shared semesters of pursuing graduate work as an undergraduate) can apply to be a Graduate Teaching Assistant. There is no general application to apply for Research Assistant positions. Students should connect with faculty members directly to see if they have availability in their labs and check the Graduate Assistant Employment page. Fellowships and grants can be viewed on this Graduate School page. We also have some department specific funding information, but most opportunities are for Ph.D. students.

A: No. This is exclusively for the Computer Science M.S. Credits would not transfer to other programs.

A: No. You need one of these two options in order to apply. We encourage you to connect with a CS faculty member or CS instructor to see if they would support your application and act as a reference to allow you to apply.

A: No. You can apply in a future term when you have completed the required courses.

A: No. We strictly enforce the March 1st deadline for a fall start and the October 1st deadline for a spring start. You can apply next semester to be considered.

A: These are the main reasons:

• Applicants below the 3.5 technical GPA without strong support from a faculty member or instructor will be denied.
• Applicants missing prerequisite coursework will be denied but encouraged to apply later.
• Applicants with known academic dishonesty cases during their undergraduate career will be denied.
• Applicants missing materials for their application or who did not provide a strong statement of purpose may be denied.
• Applicants who will be delaying their timely graduation in order to take the additional coursework for the integrated program will likely be denied.
• We don't have the capacity in our department to admit more students to our MS program at the time of the application.

A: Transfer students are eligible to apply to the integrated program. The program should not dramatically slow down timely graduation from the undergraduate program.

A: Yes. Your only limitations are that you can only apply up to 16 additional graduate credits towards the graduate degree and you should stay on track for a four year graduation.

A: No. The integrated program allows students to take additional graduate level credits while they are undergraduates to apply to the Computer Science M.S. program. Completed 5000 level credits are not allowed to be used for both an undergraduate and graduate degree (no double dipping is allowed).

A: No. If a student has completed a course for their undergraduate degree they cannot take it again for their graduate degree.  The purpose of pursuing a graduate degree in our department is to continue education and learn new material, acquire new skills, and foster new or continuing relationships with peers and faculty.  Repeating courses you have taken while an undergraduate is not something we allow. 

A: The maximum number of credits we can transfer to the Computer Science M.S. through the integrated program is 16. You will need to take at least 15 of the 31 credits for the Computer Science M.S. program over two different regular semesters (fall and spring; not summer) on the U of M's Twin Cities campus while paying graduate level tuition rates.

A: There is no minimum number of credits students are required to transfer, but students are expected to transfer some graduate-level credits to the Computer Science M.S. degree via the Integrated Program.  The purpose of the Integrated Program is to give students a chance to finish their undergraduate degree in a timely manner while also starting to work on degree requirements for the M.S. degree at the undergraduate tuition rate.  Those who apply to and enroll in the Integrated Program should do so with the intention to transfer some amount of credits to the M.S. degree.

A: No. You may only use credits taken after you are officially admitted to the Integrated Program for transfer to the graduate degree.

A: Students should consider taking the following courses/requirements to apply toward their graduate degree as an undergraduate integrated program student (16 credits max):

• CSCI 8970 - Computer Science Colloquium (1 credit)
• Course to meet the Theory and Algorithms Breadth requirement (3 credits)
• Course to meet the Architecture, Systems, & Software Breadth requirement (3 credits)
• Course to meet the Applications Breadth requirement (3 credits)
• CSCI 5XXX level course that fits your interests and background (3 credits) or an approved graduate level elective or graduate minor course.  We recommend waiting to take CSCI 8XXX level courses for your graduate year, but this level of coursework is still available to you if you have the appropriate prerequisites.
• CSCI 5XXX level course that fits your interests and background (3 credits) or an approved graduate level elective or graduate minor course. We recommend waiting to take CSCI 8XXX level courses for your graduate year, but this level of coursework is still available to you if you have the appropriate prerequisites.

Please note that integrated program students, like other M.S. students, may only use 3 credits of independent study (5991/8991) or directed research (5994/8994) towards a Master's degree. Students can still take up to 6 credits of independent study or directed research to use towards their undergraduate degree in addition to the 3 credits that would be applied towards their graduate degree. If a student in the integrated program is more interested in research, they should consider taking 10 thesis credits through the plan A option or CSCI 8760 for the plan B option once enrolled as a M.S. student.

A: Yes, but please be sure to connect with our graduate advisors (csgradmn@umn.edu) to confirm that the courses will count in the program.

A: Students will be notified of the outcome of their application via email by December 1 for a spring start or June 1 for a fall start. In some cases, an admission decision will be put on hold until semester grades are finalized. Students will be notified if their application is on hold.

Applicants should register for additional coursework with the assumption of acceptance. Applicants who are not accepted to the program can then simply drop the additional courses from their registration prior to the start of the term. Some courses, like CSCI 8970 (Computer Science Colloquium), will require permission to register. This permission can be requested after admission to the program. Permission will not be granted prior to admission.

Current graduate students have earlier assigned registration times than undergraduate students. This means that some popular course options may be full before undergraduate students have a chance to register. We recommend that students always have some backup course options in mind that will meet their undergraduate requirements and additional graduate requirements they are adding as part of the integrated program.

A: No. The integrated program is intended for students who will go straight from their undergraduate program into the graduate program with no break.

A: Yes.

A: Yes.

A: That would be up to the other university. We cannot guarantee that another university would accept the transfer of credits taken during your undergraduate degree as part of our integrated program.

A: You can find the requirements to earn a Computer Science M.S. degree here for all plans (A, B, and C). The Plan C option is the most common plan for all M.S. students (including integrated program students) because it only requires coursework and will not require the student to find a faculty advisor to complete research or project work.

A: As long as you earn an S (the equivalent of a C- or higher) in required courses, they will count toward your undergraduate degree requirements and will not influence your technical GPA. Admission decisions for the integrated program will be made with the understanding that the Spring 2020 through Summer 2021 semesters were tumultuous for all students, and technical GPA as an admission criteria will be adjusted accordingly. 

A: You should try to study abroad prior to admission to the integrated program due to many complications that could occur related to transfer of coursework and limits connected to transfer coursework. We do not allow transfer coursework taken while studying abroad as an undergraduate to be moved to the graduate degree as part of the integrated program. Sophomore year would be a good option for many students who would also like to pursue the integrated program.