Overview

The Accelerated MA program in Computer Science allows qualified undergraduate Computer Science majors to take up to 12 credits of selected CSCI‑7xx courses and have those credits count towards both their bachelor’s degree (BA or BS) and the MA degree in Computer Science: So, whereas a student who wishes to earn both the BA/BS and the MA must ordinarily take at least 150 credits (120 for the BA/BS and 30 for the MA) and pay tuition at the graduate rate for 30 graduate credits, an Accelerated MA student may earn both degrees with as few as 150−12=138 credits and may only have to pay for 30−12=18 credits at the graduate tuition rate.

When our Accelerated MA students receive their bachelor’s degrees, they automatically transition to graduate student status and become Computer Science MA students, provided their GPA in the CSCI‑7xx courses they have taken is at least 3.0. When their transition to graduate student status occurs, the (up to 12) credits they earned for CSCI‑7xx courses are transferred into their MA program. Then, after they complete the remaining MA degree requirements, they will receive the MA degree. (Accelerated MA students whose GPA in CSCI‑7xx courses is below 3.0 when they receive their bachelor’s degrees will not automatically become Computer Science MA students, though they may in some cases be accepted into the MA program if they apply for admission.)

Students in the Accelerated MA program will normally take some or all of the four required courses of our MA program (the Core courses) while they are undergraduates. These Core courses (each of which carries 3 credits) are:

• CSCI 700: Algorithms I (which may be taken in place of CSCI 323 [1] for the BA/BS)
• CSCI 715: Distributed Computing (which may be taken in place of CSCI 344 [1] as an elective for the BA/BS)
• CSCI 722: Computability and Complexity (which may be taken as an elective [1] for the BA/BS)
• CSCI 744: Computer Architecture and Networks (which may be taken in place of CSCI 343 [1] for the BA/BS)

[1] Special rules apply to Accelerated MA students who have already taken CSCI 323, 343, 344 or 381: Computability and Complexity: For more information, contact Xiuyi Huang (xiuyi.huang@qc.cuny.edu).

Admissions

You are eligible for admission to the Accelerated MA program if you are an upper sophomore or lower junior who meets both of the following requirements:

1. You are a Computer Science BA or BS major and have completed at least 15 credits of Queens College courses that count towards the requirements of the major.
2. Your Queens College Computer Science major GPA (i.e., the GPA calculated from your grades in Queens College courses that count towards the requirements of the major) is at least 3.5.

To apply for admission: Log in to the Accelerated Degrees Online Application System using your QC username and password (CAMS account credentials, not CUNYfirst credentials) and submit an application.

Further Information

Information about the Computer Science MA program (i.e., the program Accelerated MA students will transition into after they receive their bachelor’s degrees) is provided on the MA program’s webpage. If you have questions about the MA program or the Accelerated MA program, please contact Xiuyi Huang (xiuyi.huang@qc.cuny.edu).