M.Sc. in Computer Science, Duke University

The Duke University's department offers two options for the Master in Computer Science candidates: a course-only MS (Master of Science), or a thesis or project based MS. Both require 30 hours of course credits (10 courses), but the thesis/project option requires fewer credits from graded classes.;Both require an oral exam. For the course-only option, the exam is administered by a three-person committee appointed by the Department Chair and is based on a portfolio, composed of research papers, project reports, presentations and other professional documents produced during the course of the MS.;I want to find another Master Course;For the thesis or project option, the student completes a research project under the supervision of a faculty advisor and a committee of 2 additional faculty members; a written report about the research describes the objectives of the work, the previous state of the art, the results obtained, and how to use the results of the project. The student presents the report and defends the work in a public presentation before the committee.;What you should know before applying:;The department assumes admits are prepared to excel in rigorous computer science courses in the very first semester, and in fact, Computer Science students take the same courses as PhD students.;An undergraduate major or minor in Computer Science is not mandatory, but a strong background in Computer Science is. For example, students with degrees in Math or ECE and a strong background in Computer Science often do very well.;Graduates of the Master in Computer Science program will have the skills to create software and take an industry job as a software developer, but the program emphasizes computer science rather than software engineering.