In past catalogs, students needed to
choose six areas (out of eight) in which to take courses to receive a "breath" of content, and then three courses within one area to receive a "depth" in one area. Also students needed to take at least 15 units at the 600 level.
It was often difficult to get the required courses within a two year period as scheduling of courses in areas and in the 600 level was not consistent. In addition, the graduate school has recently changed the number of required 600 units to 18.
The new CSCI program instead requires everyone to take four core Masters courses. Each of the core will be at the 600 level, and each will be offered at least once a year. For Distance students, two will be offered live in Fall 2002 and the other two live in Spring 2003. These will be archived for future use. Hence availabilty of required courses and 600 level courses will improve (by the end of Spring 2003, a full Master's program will be available through archived courses). The remaining elective courses required within the program can be chosen freely by the students from the additional 500 and 600 level courses offered in the department.
The new Core Master's Courses also are used if one chooses to take the Examination Option for the culminating Master's experience. Specifically, a student can choose to do a project, thesis, or examination. The examination is a one day test offered on a specific day in the year/semester and covers these 4 courses. Since all graduate students will have had the 4 core courses, it might be an easier option for some to take the test than to write a project or thesis.
For more information on the program, see the
catalog copy.
It should be noted students that start the Master's program before Fall 2003 but finish after that date, have a choice as to which catalog they want "rights" under. Students that start after Fall 2003 must take the core courses. It should also be noted that these new courses can be used as 600 level courses to satisfy previous catalogs for specific areas as specified here.