tamu thesis requirements

Texas A&M University Catalogs

Master of computer science in computer science.

The degree of Master of Computer Science (MCS)  is a non-thesis degree, designed to complement the Master of Science in Computer Science thesis degree. The MCS should be thought of as a professional degree. This degree does not include a thesis, project, or final examination. For additional information regarding the program, please visit our website .

This program is also approved for delivery via asynchronous or synchronous distance education technology.

Program Requirements

• Student's Advisory Committee

Degree Plan

Credit requirement, transfer of credit, limitations on the use of transfer, extension and certain other courses.

• Non-Thesis Option  

Student’s Advisory Committee

On-Campus and Distance Education Degree Programs

After receiving admission to graduate studies and enrolling for coursework, the student’s advisory committee for the Master of Computer Science will consist of the departmental graduate advisor. The graduate advisor will serve as the student’s committee chair or, the departmental graduate advisor may appoint/approve another departmental faculty member to serve as the appropriate chair of the student’s advisory committee. Depending on the departmental policy, additional committee members may be required. If additional committee members are deemed necessary by the department, the chair, in consultation with the student, will select the remainder of the advisory committee. The student will interview each prospective committee member to determine whether he or she is willing to serve. Only graduate faculty members located on Texas A&M University campuses may serve as chair of a student’s advisory committee. Other graduate faculty members located off-campus may serve as a member or co-chair (but not chair), with a member as the chair. The chair of the committee, who usually has immediate supervision of the student’s degree program, has the responsibility for calling meetings at any other time considered desirable.

If the chair of a student’s advisory committee voluntarily leaves the University and the student wants the chair to continue to serve in this role, the student is responsible for securing a current member of the University Graduate Faculty, from her/his academic program and located on the respective Texas A&M University campus, to serve as the co-chair of the committee. If the committee chair is on an approved leave of absence, s/he can remain as chair without a co-chair for up to one year with written approval of the Department Head or chair of the intercollegiate faculty. Extensions beyond the one year period can be granted with additional approval of the Dean.

If the chair of the student’s advisory committee is unavailable for an extended time in any academic period during which the student is involved in activities relating to an internship or professional paper and is registered for courses such as 684, 692 or 693, the student may request, in writing, that the department head appoint an alternate advisory committee chair during the interim period.

The duties of the committee include responsibility for the proposed degree plan and any professional study or project. In addition, the committee, as a group and as individual members, is responsible for counseling the student on academic matters, and, in the case of academic deficiency, initiating recommendations to the Graduate and Professional School.

The committee members’ approval on the degree plan indicate their willingness to accept the responsibility for guiding and directing the entire academic program of the student and for initiating all academic actions concerning the student. Although individual committee members may be replaced by petition for valid reasons, a committee cannot resign en masse .

The student’s advisory committee, in consultation with the student, will develop the proposed degree plan. The degree plan must be completed and filed with the Graduate and Professional School prior to the deadline imposed by the student’s college, after completion of 9 hours or the first semester.

This proposed degree plan should be submitted through the online Document Processing Submission System located on the website https://ogsdpss.tamu.edu .

Additional coursework may be added to the approved degree plan by petition if it is deemed necessary by the advisory committee to correct deficiencies in the student’s academic preparation. No changes can be made to the degree plan once the student’s Request for Final Examination or Request for Final Examination Exemption is approved by the Graduate and Professional School.

A minimum of 30 semester credit hours of approved courses is required for the Master of Computer Science degree.

A student who has earned 12 hours of graduate credit in residence at Texas A&M University may be authorized to transfer courses in excess of the limits prescribed above upon the advice of the advisory committee and with the approval of the Graduate and Professional School. Courses taken in residence at an accredited U.S. institution or approved international institution with a final grade of B or greater might be considered for transfer credit if, at the time the courses were completed, the courses would be accepted for credit toward a similar degree for a student in degree-seeking status at the host institution. Otherwise, the limitations stated in the preceding section apply. Coursework in which no formal grades are given or in which grades other than letter grades (A or B) are earned (for example, CR, P, S, U, H, etc.) is not accepted for transfer credit. Courses appearing on the degree plan with grades of D, F or U may not be absolved by transfer work. Credit for thesis research or the equivalent is not transferable. Credit for coursework submitted for transfer from any college or university must be shown in semester credit hours or equated to semester credit hours. An official transcript from the university at which the transfer coursework was taken must be sent directly to the Office of Admissions.

Courses used toward a degree at another institution may not be applied for graduate credit. If the course to be transferred was taken prior to the conferral of a degree at the transfer institution, a letter from the Registrar at that institution stating that the course was not applied for credit toward the degree must be submitted to the Graduate and Professional School.

Grades for courses completed at other institutions are not included in computing the GPA.

Some departments may have more restrictive requirements for transfer work. If otherwise acceptable, certain courses may be used toward meeting credit-hour requirements for the master’s degree under the following limitations.

• Graduate and/or upper-level undergraduate courses taken in residence at an accredited U.S. institution, or approved international institution with a final grade of B or greater will be considered for transfer credit if, at the time the courses were completed, the student was in degree-seeking status at Texas A&M University, or the student was in degree-seeking status at the institution at which the courses were taken; and if the courses would be accepted for credit toward a similar degree for a student in degree-seeking status at the host institution.
• Courses previously used for another degree are not acceptable for degree plan credit.
• The maximum number of credit hours taken in post-baccalaureate non-degree (G6) classification at Texas A&M University which may be considered for application to the degree plan is 12.
• A zero credit 684 or 685 course is only allowed for non-thesis option master's students. A zero credit 681 course can be used for either thesis or non-thesis option master’s students. Other courses, including 691 (Research) hours, are not eligible for zero credit.
• A maximum of 3 hours of 684 (Professional Internship) and/or
• A maximum of 3 hours of 685 (Directed Studies), and
• Up to 3 hours of 690 (Theory of Research), and
• Up to 3 hours of 695 (Frontiers in Research).
• A maximum of 2 hours of 681 (Seminar).
• A maximum of 3 hours of advanced undergraduate courses (300- or 400-level).
• For graduate courses of three weeks’ duration or less, taken at other institutions, up to 1 hour of credit may be obtained for each five-day week of coursework. Each week of coursework must include at least 15 contact hours.
• No credit hours of 691 (Research) may be used.
• Continuing education courses may not be used for graduate credit.
• Extension courses are not acceptable for credit.
• For non-distance degree programs, no more than 50 percent of the credit hours required for the program may be completed through distance education courses.
• To receive a graduate degree from Texas A&M University, students must earn one-third or more of the credits through the institution’s own direct instruction. This limitation also applies to joint degree programs.  

Exceptions will be permitted only in unusual cases and when petitioned by the student’s advisory committee and approved by the Graduate and Professional School.

Non-Thesis Option

A final comprehensive examination is not required for the Master of Computer Science in Computer Science non-thesis option.

Additional Requirements

Foreign languages, internship or practicum, application for degree.

On-Campus Degree Program

A student must complete 12 credit hours in resident study at Texas A&M University to satisfy the residence requirement for the Master of Computer Science degree.

Students who are employed full-time while completing their degree may fulfill total residence requirements by completion of less-than-full time course loads each semester. In order to be considered for this, the student is required to submit a Petition for Waivers and Exceptions along with verification of his/her employment to the Graduate and Professional School.

See  Residence Requirements .

Distance Education Degree Program

The distance education modality does not have any residence requirement.

All degree requirements must be completed within a period of seven consecutive years for the degree to be granted. A course will be considered valid until seven years after the end of the semester in which it is taken. Graduate credit for coursework which is more than seven calendar years old at the time of the final examination (oral or written) may not be used to satisfy degree requirements.

No specific language requirement exists for the Master of Computer Science degree.

On-Campus Degree Programs

A student who undertakes a professional internship must return to the campus.  Internship hours are in addition to the required 30 credit hours.

Distance Education Degree Programs

Students in distance degree programs do not have internship or practicum related requirements.

For information on applying for your degree, please visit the  Graduation  section.

M.S. in Biology

Application deadline for admission for Fall 2024: March 1, 2024 . You can apply through the Texas A&M University Graduate CAS .

We offer non-thesis and thesis Master of Science degrees in Biology that are tailored to the student’s individual career goals.

Possible tracks: (1) Pre-professional; (2) Microbiology; (3) Cellular, Developmental, & Molecular Biology; (4) Ecology and Evolutionary Biology; (5) Neurobiology; (6) Bioinformatics; (7) Practice of Biology

Non-Thesis MS Degree: A one-year non-thesis M.S. degree entails formal coursework, with no research requirement. This one-year professional degree is designed to prepare students for specialized careers on the track they choose.

Requires up to 33 credit hours of course work and up to 6 hours of directed studies, with the total number of credit hours not exceeding 36. Students will enroll in BIOL 685 (Directed Studies) during their final semester in order to complete their final exam. The final exam is a comprehensive written paper on a topic of interest that connects to course work done over the year.

Thesis MS Degree: Thesis M.S. degree requires significant laboratory research, and a written thesis. The degree will take 2 years to complete. The research option helps students develop scientific research skills for improved preparation for entry into PhD programs, or for direct employment in research laboratories in academia, government, and industry.

Thesis Masters: Requires 32 credit hours, including at least 8 hours of research and 24 hours of coursework. A thesis committee is required by the end of the first Fall semester and the thesis proposal needs to be approved by the committee in Summer Year 1. For thesis students, Year 1 courses outlined for the nonthesis master program can be distributed over Years 1 & 2. Additional coursework required will be relevant to your research area and will be approved by your P.I. and thesis committee by the end of Spring Semester.

*A maximum of 12 credit hours in electives may be taken outside of the department.

REQUIREMENTS FOR ADMISSION

Applicants should have completed an undergraduate degree in one of the life sciences, with at least 3 semesters of Biology, 4 semesters of Chemistry, including Organic Chemistry, 1 semester of Biochemistry, 2 semesters of Physics, and one advanced Mathematics course beyond algebra and trigonometry.

Applications from students lacking any of the general requirements will be considered, but any deficiencies must be resolved before completion of the program. Qualified students are admitted to the Biology M.S. program under the non-thesis option.

For consideration, applications must be received by March 1, 2024.

Submit online in the Texas A&M University Graduate CAS application portal.

In addition to the online application, you will need to submit the following:

• For students applying to the Non-Thesis Option , the statement of purpose should then explain why you want to pursue graduate studies, your future goals, and how you believe this program will help reach your goals.
• For students applying to the Thesis Option , the statement of purpose should then explain why you want to pursue graduate studies, why you are applying to our department, your research interests, and a description of your previous research experience.
• Transcripts can be sent directly to the Texas A&M Office of Admissions (address below). You can upload unofficial transcripts to CAS; however, if you are admitted to the biology program, you must have official transcripts sent to the Office of Admissions before the start of the fall semester .
• Two letters of recommendation should be submitted through CAS.
• Have TOEFL scores (for international applicants) sent to the Texas A&M Office of Admissions. The Institute Code for Texas A&M University is 6003 (there is no department code needed).
• IELTS scores need to be sent electronically to Texas A&M University (College Station and Galveston). Texas A&M University only accepts scores submitted electronically by the IELTS test center. No paper Test Report Forms will be accepted.
• C.V.: Upload your resume or C.V. to CAS.
• Applicants should visit the Faculty Research Interests page to identify the most suitable labs and contact the faculty directly.
• Additional Information: We no longer take the GRE.

Please do not send any materials directly to the Department of Biology. Everything should go to the Office of Admissions or uploaded through CAS.

Biology master’s students are eligible for teaching assistantships through the Department of Biology. In order to placed on a list to receive a teaching assistantship, students must enroll in and successfully complete BIOL 697: Methods in Teaching Biology Laboratory. The course will take place in the two weeks prior to the start of the fall semester.

Biology master’s students will teaching three sections of a biology lab (e.g. BIOL 111 Lab, BIOL 112 Lab, etc.). The assistantship will give students in-state tuition and pay a monthly salary of $3,000.

MASTERS TRACKS

Track 1: Pre-professional —This track will provide students with experience in the types of subjects covered in professional schools (e.g., medical school, dental school, veterinary school) and helps students be successful in these environments.

Fall Year 1

BIOL 613                              Cell Biology (3 cr. hr.)

BICH 606                             Biochemistry (3 cr. hr.)

BIOL 683                              Experimental Design (3 cr. hr.)

BIOL 405                              Endocrinology (3 cr. hr.)

BIOL 681                              Department Colloquium (1 cr. hr.)

XXXX XXX                             Elective (3 cr. hr.)

Spring Year 1

BIOL 456                              Medical Microbiology (4 cr. hr.)

BIOL 454                              Immunology (3 cr. hr.)

BIOL 696                              Ethics and RCR (1 cr. hr.)

XXXX XXX                             Electives (6 cr. hr.)

Summer Year 1

BIOL 685                              Directed Studies (5 cr. hr.)

Track 2: Microbiology —This track will provide students with in-depth knowledge of microbiology with courses focusing on both bacteria and viruses and on design of microbiological experiments.

Fall Year 1*

BIOL 647/650/651         Bioinformatics (3 cr. hr.)

BIOL 622                           Microbial Physiology (3 cr. hr.)

BICH 606                          Biochemistry (3 cr. hr.)

BIOL 689                           Biology of Viruses (3 cr. hr.)

BIOL 681                           Department Colloquium (1 cr. hr.)

XXXX XXX                         Elective (3 cr. hr.)

BIOL 606                           Microbial Genetics (3 cr. hr.)

BIOL 661                           Antimicrobial Agents (1 cr. hr.)

BIOL 696                           Ethics and RCR (1 cr. hr.)

XXXX XXX                         Electives (9 cr. hr.)

BIOL 685                           Directed Studies (5 cr. hr.)

*To be successful in this track, students should have previously taken microbiology course(s) that cover the following learning objectives.

• Explain the central dogma of molecular biology;
• Diagram DNA replication, transcription, and translation indicating the players involved in each;
• Identify structures and components in a prokaryotic cell;
• Compare and contrast prokaryotic and eukaryotic organisms;
• Analyze experiments in primary literature articles and provide criticisms of the articles’ findings;
• Analyze the effects of DNA mutations (e.g., silent mutation, missense mutation, nonsense mutation or frameshift mutation) on gene expression / translation;

If the student has not taken a course that meets these learning objectives, the student should take BIOL406 in the Fall semester in place of an elective.

Track 3: Cellular, Developmental, & Molecular Biology —This track will provide students with in-depth knowledge of cell, developmental, and molecular biology with a focus on eukaryotic systems.

BIOL 613                           Cell Biology (3 cr. hr.)

BIOL 611                           Developmental Genetics (3 cr. hr.)

BIOL 650                           Genomics (3 cr. hr.)

BIOL 685                           Directed Studies (6 cr. hr.)

Track 4: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology —This track will provide students with in-depth knowledge of evolution and ecology with a focus on the use of genomic data.

BIOL 647/651                  Bioinformatics (3 cr. hr.)

BIOL 610                           Evolution (3 cr. hr.)

BIOL 698                           Behavior, Genes, and Evolution (3 cr. hr.) (not currently taught)

XXXX XXX                         Electives (6 cr. hr.)

Track 5: Neurobiology —This track will give student an in-depth knowledge of the workings of the nervous system and its study.

BIOL 611                              Developmental Genetics (3 cr. hr.)

BIOL 627                              Principles of Neuroscience I (3 cr. hr.)

XXXX XXX                             Elective (6 cr. hr.)

BIOL 628                           Principles of Neuroscience II (3 cr. hr.)

BIOL 644                           Neural Development (3 cr. hr.)

Track 6: Bioinformatics —This track is appropriate for those interested in further the understanding of complex life science data using computer science skills.

BIOL 651                           Bioinformatics (3 cr. hr.)

BIOL 683                           Experimental Design (3 cr. hr.)

XXXX XXX                         Elective (6 cr. hr.)

BIOL 609                           Molecular Tools (3 cr. hr.)

BIOL 647                           Digital Biology (3 cr. hr.)

BIOL 696                           Ethics and RCR (1 cr. hr.)

XXXX XXX                         Electives (2 cr. hr.)

BIOL 685                           Directed Studies (3 cr. hr.)

Track 7: Practice of Biology —This track is appropriate for those interested in biological research but not interested in completing a thesis, for instance students who are currently working in industry or biotechnology.

BIOL 686                           Biomedical Therapeutics Dev (1 cr. hr.)

BIOL 685                           Directed Studies (7 cr. hr.)