Breadth Requirement
The breadth requirement includes two components, core and electives. CoreThe core consists of five (5) required areas: Every PhD student must pass all five (5) core areas, via either the course or the exam.
Every core course is offered at least one semester per academic year,
with the corresponding core exam offered both semesters. Definitive
information regarding when a course is offered can be found ONLY on the Registrar's website. Core courses/exams may not
be "imported" or "transferred" from other institutions, they must be
taken in the Computer Science Department at Columbia University. Electives Distribution
In addition to the core, all PhD students must pass a total of five (5) elective
graduate (4000 level or above) lecture courses, each three (3) or more
points. All COMS or jointly offered with COMS (e.g., CSEE, CSOR)
courses are acceptable as CS electives. At most two (2) electives may
be outside CS, and only CS courses may be "imported" from another institution rather than taken at Columbia. All electives require the advisor's approval. At least one (1) CS elective course
must be taken in each of the three (3) "broad areas" - AI, Systems and
Theory. It is the advisor's responsibility to ensure that the
distribution requirement is fulfilled. The association of a given CS
course with zero or more "broad areas" is the responsibility of the
faculty member(s) in charge of the course. The same course cannot
qualify in multiple areas for the same student. [Note: Theory
consists primarily of CS courses numbered 42xx and 62xx, Systems of CS
courses numbered 41xx, 48xx, 61xx and 68xx, and AI of CS courses
numbered 47xx and 67xx. But there are exceptions to this numbering
scheme including but not limited to multiply listed courses, whereas
Special Topics courses (4995 and 6998) are handled on an individual
basis. Click here for the current list of these courses.] "PhD Pass" Threshold
The minimum passing
grade for PhD students in both core and elective courses is B+;
the average grade across all core and elective courses must be A-
or higher. The PhD Pass threshold applies to both Columbia courses and imported
electives. Courses may be retaken in a later semester, or a different
elective substituted, with the highest grades used to compute the
average. Exams
taken in lieu of core or elective courses are graded on a pass/fail
basis, and do not contribute to the average grade computation. Satisfactory ProgressSatisfactory progress towards fulfilling the breadth requirement is defined as either at least two (2) breadth course/exam passes per semester or at least 2*N breadth course/exam passes total, where N is the number of semesters enrolled thus far in
the program, until the breadth requirement has been completed. For the purpose of
determining satisfactory progress, any courses
"imported" from other institutions do not count towards the 2 per term or 2*N
total (however, courses or exams taken here at Columbia do count towards the 2*N total even if completed prior to formal enrollment in the PhD program).
A student who has not made satisfactory progress towards the breadth
requirement is normally placed on probation at the end of the first and/or
subsequent semesters that he/she "falls behind". The student can be
immediately dismissed from the program at the end of any such unsatisfactory
semester unless the full faculty accepts a petition from the advisor for one
semester's grace.
Last updated on September 22, 2008.
|
You are using a 0 browser. MICE can only be used with IE 5.0, IE 6.0, Netscape 7, Opera
or Mozilla, not IE 4.0, Netscape 4.x or earlier browsers.
