CSCI Graduate Course Planning: Spring 2004

Last updated Dec 5, 2003

This is a summary of how to plan for and enroll in courses for graduate study in Computer Science at Indiana University. The file is located at http://www.cs.indiana.edu/Academics/graduate/orientation/advising.jan04.html. It includes registration guidelines, where to find useful resources for course planning, highlights of academic policies, and a table of Spring 2004 graduate courses. The table is primarily based on the file Spring '04 Computer Science Courses, which may have more recent schedule changes. Insite has the official schedule of classes information for all IU courses.

To facilitate long-term planning, the course list includes some information about courses likely to be offered in Fall 2004, but that information is not official and is subject to change. The course planning guide for Fall 2003 is still available as a reference.

For any questions, please contact David Leake, Director of Graduate Studies, or Sherry Kay, Graduate Administrator.

Continuing Student Registration begins October 23. The Registrar's Office web site for second semester registration is http://registrar.indiana.edu/Registration/203reg.html.

Registration guidelines: What to register for:

• Three CS Courses. You should choose three courses (typically 3 hours each) that count towards your intended degree. Note that:
  • Students with CS department teaching assistantships are required to take and successfully complete at least 9 credits of CS courses contributing towards their degree requirements each Fall and Spring semester. See the CS support page for all policies concerning aid.
  • Students with research assistantships must secure their RA supervisors' advance permission to take any outside courses in addition to the required 9 credits of CS courses contributing towards their degrees.
  • Students must enroll in three courses even if they are making up incompletes from a previous semester. Students are expected to maintain a normal load as they make up incompletes.
  • International students should note that SEVIS regulations are now extremely stringent about having a full course load.
• English Course(s). Any International Student who received a form requiring English courses (Ling T101) must enroll in all the courses checked.

Procedures for independent study courses:

• What to sign up for: Y790's are taken before applying for candidacy; Y890's are allowed after candidacy, for dissertation research. G901 is only allowed after the required 90 credits have been completed for the PhD.
• How to sign up: The independent study or research courses, the Independent Research Permission Form, ( PDF), ( Postscript). must be signed by the research supervisor and turned in to the Graduate Administrator to obtain permission to register. This applies to any Y790, Y890, or G901 section. All Y790's in a given semester have the same section number, and likewise for Y890 and G901. For the current section numbers, please see the table below. Please be sure to allow enough time to get the instructor's signature before the deadline, to avoid late registration fees.
• Approvals for Y790's for R,T,or S options for the MS:If you wish to take a Y790 to count towards the R, T, or S option for the MS degree, you must discuss your plans with the research supervisor and secure the supervisor's approval before signing up for the course.
• Y790's with supervision outside CS: If your supervisor is outside of the CS Faculty, you will need to find a CS faculty member to co-supervise the project and co-sign the form.
• Time limits on G901: Students are only allowed 6 semesters of G901. If you are out of G901's you must register for Y890. Please make sure you are eligible for the G901 registration before submitting your form to the Graduate Administrator.

Useful Resources for Choosing Courses:

A Master's work sheet is available in either Postscript or PDF format to help Master's students plan their courses.
A corresponding PhD work sheet is available in Postscript or PDF format to help PhD students plan their course requirements. (Students who entered before Spring, 2001, should use the pre-2001 PhD course work sheet ( pdf ).)

See Spring 2004 Course Information for details about times, section numbers, and discussion sections for all courses in Computer Science. See also the CS Schedule of Classes for historical information about previous semesters.

A good way to find out about courses in detail is to consult the course home pages. Links to course descriptions and available home pages are provided on the IU Computer Science Department Courses page.

Academic Policies:

Graduate Course Grades: Students should be aware that page 7 of the University Graduate School Bulletin stipulates that courses completed with grades below C (2.0) do not count towards degree requirements; however, these grades (e.g., C-, D+, D, D-, F) are counted in calculating the grade point average, which must be a B (3.0) or above to continue in graduate study.

Deficiencies: If you have not completed an undergraduate degree in Computer Science, you must at least take or know the material covered in C241, A592(C212), and A594(C343). It is desirable to have taken or be familiar with the material in the basic five core undergraduate courses: C241 (Discrete Structures for CSCI), A591 (C211: Intro to Computer Science), A592 (C212: Intro to Software Systems), A593 (C335: Computer Structures), and A594 (C343: Data Structures); the sixth core course, A596 (C311: Programming Languages), is also highly recommended if you do not plan to take the graduate course, B521 (Programming Language Principles), instead.

Transferring courses: According to the Bulletin of the University Graduate School, PhD candidates may transfer up to 30 hours of courses from another graduate institution, and MS candidates may transfer up to 8 hours, subject to various conditions. For details, see the Academic Regulations section of the Graduate School Bulletin.

Curricular Practical Training: International Students planning summer employment under the CPT program must enroll in Y798 and complete the arrangements with International Services and the Computer Science Department outlined in the Curricular Practical Training Y798 Authorization Form, ( PDF), ( Postscript). All related forms (including those requiring an advisor signature) should be submitted to the Graduate Administrator, Sherry Kay. Y798 is not allowed with an RAship or AIship, due to the departmental policy that AIs and RAs are not allowed to take additional employment.

A caution for international students concerning graduation dates: For visa purposes, the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), considers international students to have completed their degrees as soon as they have completed the degree requirements, regardless of whether they have filed for the degree. Consequently, it is important to make sure that post-graduation visa arrangements are in place before that time. International Services can help on possibilities.

Spring 2004 Course Offerings:

The table below summarizes Spring 2004 graduate course offerings in CSCI, as well as courses from other departments that can be applied to the MS degree. In the table, PhD Qualifying Exam preparation courses are B501 or B503, and P536. These are marked below by "Qual IA", "Qual IB", and "Qual II", respectively. Details on the qualifiers are available from the qualifiers implementation page.

CSCI Graduate Courses Spring 2004