The PhD requirements are organized in two stages.

Stage 1. Qualification Stage

  1. Breadth Requirement: Satisfied by completing six graduate courses that carry breadth-requirement credit. At least one course must be taken from the following areas: Algorithms, Systems, Software, and Theory of Computation. Additionally, at least one course must be taken from any of the following areas: Artificial Intelligence, Computer Graphics, Cryptography and Security, or Data Science. Each of the six courses must be passed with a grade of B- or higher, with an average of at least 3.5 for all six courses. A list of specific courses that satisfy each area is available at the PhD Breadth Requirement page.
  2. Qualifying Depth Exam: Satisfied by having students pass an in-depth written depth exam in a designated area of Computer Science. One or more depth exams will be available in each area. The syllabus for a depth exam and its format are designed by faculty members that specialize in that subject. Students must register for a depth exam before October 15 of each academic year. Exams are held within 6 weeks of that date and results are available by the end of the Fall semester.
  3. Qualifying Oral Exam: The purpose of this requirement is to demonstrate ability to conduct research on a topic chosen by the student and approved by a research advisor. A qualifying oral exam requires the formation of a qualifying oral exam committee, which is a precursor to the dissertation committee. This is equivalent to a master’s thesis defense and could be used to award terminal master’s degrees to students judged unable to complete a PhD by the oral examination committee.

Stage 2. Dissertation Stage

  1. Dissertation Prospectus: The purpose of this requirement is to provide students with early feedback on their proposed thesis. A dissertation prospectus must be approved by an official thesis committee (1st, 2nd, and 3rd readers). The first reader (Major Advisor) must be a CS faculty member.
  2. Final Dissertation Defense.

Milestone Deadlines

The following are the deadlines for achieving the various milestones described above. These deadlines are not to be construed as expected times to complete the various milestones, but rather as “worst-case” times. In other words, a student in good standing will typically meet these milestones earlier (and hopefully much earlier) than the bounds specified below. Please take note!

PhD Timeline (Post-BA)

  • Breadth Requirements: at most 4 semesters (2 years)
  • Qualifying Depth Exam: at most 6 semesters (3 years)
  • Qualifying Oral Exam: at most 8 semesters (4 years)
  • Dissertation Prospectus: at most 10 semesters (5 years)
  • Final Dissertation Defense: at most 12 semesters (6 years)

PhD Timeline (Post-MA)

  • Breadth Requirements: at most 4 semesters (2 years)
  • Qualifying Depth Requirements: at most 4 semesters (2 years)
  • Qualifying Oral Exam: at most 6 semesters (3 years)
  • Dissertation Prospectus: at most 8 semesters (4 years)
  • Final Dissertation Defense: at most 10 semesters (5 years)