Course Requirements

For students entering the program with a Master’s degree in Computer Science or related areas, 12-21 credits at the 600 and 700 level (at least 12 credits at the 700 level) are required. The default requirement is 21 credits, but waivers for 600 level courses may be determined in consultation with and written approval by the PhD committee based on the student's prior background in the three areas of the qualifying examinations. At most 6 credits can be Independent Study in Computer Science (CS 725 and/or CS 726). If a student takes two Independent Study courses, then they should be done with two different professors. At least 6 credits must be for lecture-based courses at the 700 level.

For students entering the program without a Master’s degree in Computer Science or related areas, 36 credits at the 600 and 700 level. At least 12 credits must be at the 700 level, and out of those at most 6 credits can be Independent Study in Computer Science (CS 725 and/or CS 726). If a student takes two Independent Studies, then they should be done with two different professors.  At least 6 credits must be for lecture-based courses at the 700 level.

Doctoral Dissertation Credits

The rules are described at: http://www5.njit.edu/graduatestudies/content/new-phd-credit-requirements/ 

CS 791: Doctoral Seminar

Full-time students are required to enroll in CS 791 every semester. Full-time PhD students are required to attend 2/3 of the weekly Wednesday departmental seminars.

Qualifying Examinations

All PhD students are required to take qualifying examinations in three areas.

One examination is in the combined area of:
Data Structures and Algorithms
Introduction to Computability and Complexity
Two examinations are in the following areas:
Operating System Design
Data Management System Design
Data Mining
Internet and Higher-Layer Protocols
Image Processing and Analysis
Artificial Intelligence
Machine Learning

PhD students are allowed to take up to four qualifying examinations and are required to pass at least three out of the four (the combined CS 610 and CS 611 examination must be among the three examinations the students pass).  If they fall short of the three examinations in the first year, then they must make up the number of missing examinations the second year and may take one more examination than the number they are required to pass.