Online Master of Computer Science

2021

Spring B – March 15, 2021 | Application deadline: February 15, 2021
Summer 2021 – May 17, 2021 | Application deadline: April 19, 2021
Fall A 2021 – August 19, 2021 | Application deadline: July 22, 2021

A minimum cumulative GPA of 3.00 in the last 60 credit hours (last two years) of a four-year undergraduate degree. If your degree was completed in the U.S., it must be from a regionally accredited university.

Students who are applying who have previously completed graduate-level coursework must have a minimum post-baccalaureate/graduate GPA of 3.00.

Don't yet meet these admission requirements? Learn more about the pathway or a professional certification by clicking on the nondegree tab below.

Two (2) semesters of advanced math in Calculus I and Calculus II (6 credit hours of Calculus), and a background course in Discrete Math*.

Applicants with an undergraduate degree in a STEM field have likely completed the math requirement.

*Discrete Math is not always a separate class at all universities, taking a course that covers data structures and algorithms may also fulfill this requirement. If an applicant has never done algorithms, they may not have the proper background for the program.

Students joining the MCS program are expected to have programming knowledge in a variety of languages, including but not limited to: C/C++ Java, Python and HTML.

Students must also have demonstrated knowledge on official transcripts of the topics below.

CSE 230: Computer Organization and Assembly Language Programming

• Register-level computer organization. Instruction set architecture. Assembly language. Processor organization and design. Memory organization. IO programming. Exception/interrupt handling.

CSE 310: Data Structures and Algorithms

• Advanced data structures and algorithms, including stacks, queues, trees (B, B+, AVL), and graphs. Searching for graphs, hashing, external sorting.

CSE 330: Operating Systems

• Operating system structure and services, processor scheduling, concurrent processes, synchronization techniques, memory management, virtual memory, input/output, storage management, and file systems.

Principles of Programming Languages OR Introduction to Theoretical Computer Science

• CSE 340: Principles of Programming Languages — Formal syntactic and semantic descriptions, compilation and implementation issues, and theoretical foundations for several programming paradigms.

• CSE 355: Introduction to Theoretical Computer Science — Introduces formal language theory and automata, Turing machines, decidability/undecidability, recursive function theory, and complexity theory.

Are you a non-computer science undergrad?

If you don’t have these topics on your transcript but have a strong understanding of them, you can take the prerequisite knowledge exams. If you complete the exams with the grade outlined in the respective syllabi, you will satisfy that prerequisite knowledge requirement.

To access these exams and the accompanying refresher courses, click here.

As a nondegree graduate student, you can begin taking the graduate-level computer science courses without being admitted to the master’s program.*  This provides the opportunity to: establish a high graduate GPA, try out courses to decide if you’re interested in the full degree program, meet the English proficiency requirement or to earn a MasterTrack professional certification credential.

• Students who complete 9 credits (3 courses) with a cumulative GPA of at least 3.00 after the first attempt of courses will be able use this GPA when applying for the Master of Computer Science program.  
• International students who complete 9 graduate credits with a 3.00 or higher have demonstrated English proficiency. By successfully completing the pathway or professional certification, you will not need to provide additional documentation of English proficiency (such as TOEFL scores) when applying to the master’s program.

General pathway

The pathway offers you an opportunity to take a variety of courses as a nondegree student to explore the topics or meet GPA and English proficiency admission requirements for the Master of Computer Science program.

Through the pathway, you choose and complete any three 500-level courses that are part of the Master of Computer Science program. The courses you complete in the pathway with a “B” or higher will apply toward the master’s degree in computer science, if admitted within three years of completing courses as a nondegree student.

Professional certification (also known as a Coursera MasterTrack™ Certificate)

If you’re not sure you want to pursue the full degree yet or you only want to focus on a specific topic, you can pursue a professional certification for ASU credit (also known as a Coursera MasterTrack™ Certificate).

To receive a professional certification, you must successfully complete at least three courses from that topic area with a grade of “B” or better. For more information on the topics and courses for each area, please review the Courser MasterTrack Professional Certification page for each option:

• AI and machine learning.
• Big data. 
• Cybersecurity.
• Software engineering.

To apply for the general pathway or a MasterTrack Professional Certification, begin your application here:

Master of Computer Science nondegree application

The ASU graduate admission office will review the application and notify you by email if any additional steps are required upon admission. All official emails will go to your ASU student Gmail account.

Please note:

• If you don’t enroll in the semester in which you are admitted, you must submit a new application and pay the application fee.
• Completing the pathway or professional certification does not waive the requirement for all applicants to the Master of Computer Science program to demonstrate mathematics and computer science topic prerequisite knowledge.  See the admission requirements sections above for more information.  

*Students who do not have the prerequisite knowledge outlined in the master’s admission criteria for mathematics and computer science should be aware that they may not have the necessary background for graduate CSE courses and are enrolling at their own risk. Students are responsible for acquiring that knowledge before and during the course.