Welcome to BU Computer Science!
We are delighted to have you enrolled in our program. As you get started on campus, there are a few administrative tasks that you will need to take care of. Please read and follow the instructions below, so you are well prepared for the start of the fall semester.
Things to do:
The Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (GRS) has a page that is dedicated for incoming first year PhD students. This page has a list of things to do before you arrive on campus, as well as a list of resources on campus. We encourage you to read through the page carefully and complete each task.
All students are required to have a BU login and email. During your time as a student, BU will only be contacting you through your BU email, so you will need to regularly check it. Please follow the instructions on the Getting Started section to set up your BU login and email.
All students are required to have a Terrier Card. It is the official BU student and staff identification card and also allows access to our building on campus. Students are responsible for their own Terrier Card. Please follow the instructions on the Terrier Card website to upload your student ID photo.
Students also must submit final transcripts from their previous institution to GRS. Please follow the instructions on the Final Transcripts section.
International students are required to check in with the International Students and Scholars Office (ISSO) during the start of the semester. ISSO recommends doing so immediately after your arrival in the US or your arrival on campus. Please follow the instructions on the ISSO website. If you have any questions about your visa in the meantime, please contact ISSO (issogac@bu.edu) and include your UID in the email.
In order to work on campus, all students must complete the I-9. Please follow the instructions on the Student Employment website to first complete section 1 online. After arriving on campus and completing section 1, they must visit the department in person with the required identification documents in order to complete section 2. The department will email students with a list of dates and times to drop by to complete section 2.
Orientation:
There are two student orientations that incoming first year PhD students should be aware of. These orientations generally occur before the first week of class in the fall semester. Please plan to attend both orientations, if you are able to.
The Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (GRS) conducts an orientation for all PhD and MFA students. This orientation will provide general information about being a PhD student at BU. Please RSVP with GRS at this page.
The department also conducts an orientation for incoming first year PhD students. This orientation will provide more details about the CS PhD program. More details and a RSVP form will be sent out to students over email.
CS account:
Once you have your BU account, CS departmental user accounts are activated automatically for all students enrolled in a CS degree program. CS accounts allow access to most systems and applications in the department, including remote access to csa1, csa2, and csa3, which are the department’s general-purpose Linux login servers.
Research labs:
Many of the research groups within the CS Department maintain specialized research labs with equipment and resources appropriate to their areas of research. Access to these labs is restricted to members of those research groups. Speak with your research advisor about any such resources that you may need access to as part of your work.
Your research advisor is responsible for providing you with all the equipment you need in order to do your research. If you have an assigned research advisor, please speak with them about your equipment needs. Many of the faculty already own a pool of machines they can assign to their students. If they opt to purchase something new for you, please contact the CS IT team at support@cs.bu.edu for assistance.
Technology resources:
For answers to many common questions about accessing and using the available computing resources, including personal web pages, email, printing, computational and storage resources, and other topics, please refer to the User Help Pages on the CS Department wiki site at https://cs-wiki.bu.edu/. Note that this site is only accessible from on campus or via VPN, and that much of the site requires you to log in first; see the link on the left side of the page. If you get an error message the first time you attempt to log in, please wait a few seconds and try again. If you have any technology questions that are not answered on the wiki, please contact the CS IT team at support@cs.bu.edu.