Requirements for the Dual Master's Degree

A student may design a program of study incorporating computer science and another graduate discipline, leading to the simultaneous award of two master's degrees. This option requires simultaneous admission into the two programs, and is not open to students already pursuing a graduate degree at BGSU. The Graduate College requires a program of study of at least 50 hours for the two degrees, including a maximum of six hours of thesis and no more than eight hours of independent study, readings, and special program registrations.

The Department of Computer Science requires that all dual degree students complete a thesis. No CS specializations are available to the student in a dual degree program. The CS requirements for the dual degree program are as follows:

• 12 hours of regular computer science course work at the 6000 level.
  
• 6 hours of thesis research, either CS 6990 or the equivalent course in the other program (see below for additional information on the thesis requirement)
• 12 additional hours of computer science course work at the 5000 or 6000 level including CS 5050. These hours may not include CS 5850 or CS 5890.

The thesis topic should demonstrate the effective integration of the two fields. The thesis developed satisfies the thesis requirement for both degrees. Enrollment in thesis research is restricted to students who have completed at least 18 hours of course work. The thesis committee must include two computer science faculty and two faculty from the other program. More information on thesis requirements is available here. Information about the thesis defense is available here.

Candidates must maintain a 3.0 grade point average overall, as well as a 3.0 average in computer science courses. See the Graduate Student Policies for more information about selection of the computer science courses.

To date, students have chosen dual programs with Psychology and with Mathematics. Other dual program choices are also possible.