This dual degree program is designed to provide students with skills in Computer Science and Journalism to prepare them for new digital-media oriented careers in journalism. Students will earn Master’s degrees in Computer Science and in Journalism.
Students will enroll for a total of four semesters. In addition to taking classes already offered at the Journalism and Engineering schools, students will attend a seminar and workshop designed specifically for the dual degree program. The seminar will teach students about the impact of digital techniques on journalism; the emerging role of citizens in the news process; the influence of social media; and the changing business models that will support newsgathering. In the workshop, students will use a hands-on approach to delve deeply into information design, focusing on how to build a site, section or application from concept to development, ensuring the editorial goals are kept uppermost in mind. Students will also engage in projects supervised jointly by professors in Computer Science and Journalism to give them hands-on experience.
1. ADMISSIONS REQUIREMENTS
- Official Transcript(s)
- Three letters of recommendation
- GRE General Test
- GRE Subject Test is not required
- TOEFL scores (International applicants for whom English is not their first language)
- Autobiographical essay & Professional essay
- Resume/CV
- Writing samples
- Writing Test (Administered by the J-School)
- Application fee: $100
Deadline to apply for the program is January 15.
For more information about the admissions requirements, please visit the Journalism website.
Admissions inquiries should be directed to the Graduate School of Journalism Admissions Office, and gradvising@cs.columbia.edu in the CS Department.
2. OVERALL CS OVERVIEW
Computer Science courses are organized into three categories—core, required, and electives. Core classes are meant to ensure a strong computer science foundation for all graduates, required courses allow students to branch out and learn advanced topics in depth, and electives are often seminar or project-based courses that allow more freedom within a topic. See below for details for each category.
To help students manage their registration and course requirements, the Journalism and Computer Science advisors will meet with dual degree students twice per year—in early April and late October—to plan the next semester’s schedules.
In addition, Track Graduation Documents should be completed and submitted to gradvising@cs.columbia.edu one week after this meeting.
Who should you contact?
If you have questions about picking courses to take or the requirements, please contact Prof. Eugene Wu at ew2493@columbia.edu.
If you have questions about the Computer Science registration process, please contact gradvising@cs.columbia.edu. The staff is best equipped to help with these issues.
If you have questions about the Journalism part of the program, please visit the Journalism website to see journalism requirements, or contact Emily Bell.
Registration notes
Please keep in mind that:
- Some popular courses may be impacted due to high demand. In these cases, dual degree students are treated similarly as regular Computer Science masters students.
- Some instructors manage their waitlists manually. In these cases, it is completely up to the instructor in terms of who can enroll in the course.
Waiving core requirements
Core Computer Science courses may be waived in lieu of other computer science courses if you have taking an equivalent course in the past. If so, you must receive approval from the instructor teaching the Columbia course. You may also “test out” of core courses by taking the final exam and performing above a B+.
If you have taken a Columbia CS course that has not counted towards a prior degree at Columbia, then please contact gradvising@cs.columbia.edu to learn more about how to transfer the points
toward the Dual Degree by applying for Advanced Standing.
Equivalent courses
Some topics have multiple equivalent courses that you may take. For example, COMS W4771 and COMS W4721 have significant content overlap and either can be taken to fulfill Machine Learning required track course. To assess whether a course you are interested is equivalent to a required course, please consult the CS masters track webpages. http://www.cs.columbia.edu/education/ms/
3. OVERALL CS REQUIREMENTS
Dual-degree students are required to:
- Earn total of 27 Computer Science points.
- Maintain at least a 2.7 overall GPA for CS coursework.
A. CORE REQUIREMENT
Students take four courses from the following six:
| Course ID |
Course Title |
| COMS W4111 | Introduction to Databases |
| COMS W4115 | Programming Language and Translators |
| COMS W4156 | Advanced Software Engineering |
| COMS W4170 | User Interface Design |
| CSOR W4231 | Analysis of Algorithms |
| COMS W4701 | Artificial Intelligence |
B. REQUIRED TRACK COURSES
Candidates are required to complete three of the following 4xxx-level courses. If you are interested in a 4995 topics course, please consult the “Journalism+CS” column http://www.cs.columbia.edu/education/ms/topics-courses/. Courses with an “x” have been pre-approved. Courses with “no” have been explicitly not approved. In all other cases, please contact the CS advisor to ensure the course is applicable for the degree.
Courses that satisfy Core requirements are also acceptable for the Required Track.
| Course ID |
Course Title |
| COMS W4112 | Database Systems Implementation |
| COMS W4118 | Operating Systems I |
| CSEE W4119 | Computer Networks |
| COMS W4160 | Computer Graphics |
| COMS W4162 | Advanced Computer Graphics |
| COMS W4172 | 3D User Interfaces and Augmented Reality |
| COMS W4180 | Network Security |
| COMS W4705 | Natural Language Processing |
| COMS W4706 | Spoken Language Processing |
| COMS W4731 | Computer Vision |
| COMS W4771 | Machine Learning |
| COMS W4772 | Advanced Machine Learning |
| COMS W4999 | Computing and the Humanities |
| COMS W4995 | Topics in CS (if focus is appropriate, needs approval from track advisor) |
C. ELECTIVE TRACK COURSES
Candidates are required to complete two of the following 6xxx-level courses. If you are interested in a 6998 topics course, please consult the “Journalism+CS” column http://www.cs.columbia.edu/education/ms/topics-courses/. Courses with an “x” have been pre-approved. Courses with “no” have been explicitly not approved. In all other cases, please contact the CS advisor to ensure the course is applicable for the degree.
Courses that satisfy Core or Required Track requirements are also acceptable for the Elective Track.
| Course ID |
Course Title |
| COMS E6111 | Advanced Database Systems |
| COMS E6113 | Topics in Database Systems |
| COMS E6125 | Web-Enhanced Information Management |
| COMS E6175 | Interaction Design |
| COMS E6176 | User Interfaces for Mobile and Wearable Computing |
| COMS E6184 | Anonymity & Privacy |
| COMS E6733 | 3D Photography |
| COMS E6734 | Computational Photography |
| COMS E6735 | Visual Databases |
| COMS E6901 | Projects in CS |
| ELEN E6850 | Visual Information Systems |
| COMS E6998 | Topics in CS with appropriate focus |
| other classes can count as elective, subject to track advisor approval | |
If you have any questions about the CS requirements, please contact Prof. Eugene Wu.
4. JOURNALISM REQUIREMENTS
Please visit the Journalism website to see journalism requirements. If you have any questions, please contact Emily Bell.
5. GRADUATION
Candidates preparing for graduation should submit a track graduation form/Checklist to gradvising@cs.columbia.edu (an example of a completed form is available).
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