Breadth Requirement

All students must complete the 4 course Breadth Requirement.

To fulfill this requirement, take 1 course from Group 1 (Systems), 1 course from Group 2 (Theory), 1 course from Group 3 (AI and Applications), and 1 more course from any of the three approved lists for a total of 4 courses.

Only the courses listed on the table below may be used for Breadth. Exceptions to the table below will not be made.

6000-level courses cannot be used for Breadth. 

The only joint-CS courses permitted are as specified, all other breadth courses must be strictly “COMS”.  Regardless of the course number, courses labeled “certificate only” or named “xxx for Data Science”, or similar, may not be applied to the MS breadth requirement.

Required track and track elective courses taken at Columbia can satisfy breadth requirements if they also appear on the approved lists below. All breadth courses must be taken at Columbia and cannot be waived. 

 

Group	Approved Courses
Systems	All COMS 41xx courses plus COMS W4995 “Engineering Software as a Service” except COMS 4121, COMS 416x and COMS 417x  All COMS 48xx courses COMS 4444 The following cross-listed courses also count toward the Systems breadth requirement: CSEE 4119, EECS 4340, CSEE 4823, CSEE 4824, CSEE 4840, CSEE 4868
Theory	All COMS 42xx courses plus COMS W4995 – “Advanced Algorithms”, “Randomized Algorithms” and CSOR 4231 (not CSOR 4246)
AI & Applications	All COMS 47xx courses except COMS 4721 and COMS 4776 All COMS 416x and COMS 417x CBMF 4761 plus COMS W4995 – “Machine Learning Theory” (Spring 2020 ONLY) & COMS 4995 “Causal Inference” (Spring 2020 ONLY)

Last updated on September 16, 2022