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Department of Computer Science
The George Washington University 801 22nd Street NW, Suite 704 Washington DC 20052 Voice: (202) 994-7181 Fax: (202) 994-4875 E-mail: cs@gwu.edu 
Graduate Student HandbookDoctor of Science programSection contents
Admission to the Doctoral Degree ProgramAdmission to the graduate program leading to the degree of Doctor of Science requires an earned baccalaureate or master's degree in an appropriate area from an accredited institution. Admission to the doctoral program is highly competetive. Students whose highest degree is a baccalaureate must present a grade-point average of at least 3.3 (on a scale of 4.0); students whose highest earned degree is a master's must present a a grade-point average of at least 3.4 (on a scale of 4.0) based upon graduate course work leading to the master's degree. Further, an applicant must submit at least two letters of favorable reference from qualified individuals, and must be adequately prepared in the basic sciences and in mathematics. In addition, the GWU Masters core courses are considered an entry requirement.Upon applying for admission, you specify your desired area of research focus or concentration. If you otherwise qualify for admission but lack some or all of the specific course requirements, you may be admitted to graduate study. You must then remedy the deficiency at the earliest opportunity by taking the given undergraduate courses, without graduate credit, and passing them with some distinction (generally, at least a B). If the deficiency courses exceed six credit hours, you will not be enrolled with graduate standing but may be enrolled as an unclassified student and must devote full study toward satisfaction of the deficiency. Upon completion of the deficiency courses, you then will normally be admitted to full graduate study. If you believe that you satisfy all admissions requirements except some or all of the specific requirements of the area of concentration, the best course of action is to apply for graduate admission. In this way, your letter of admission will specify in writing the required deficiency courses and the expected "distinction" (usually a grade of B or better). If your application is rejected upon first submission, your letter will provide a rationale for the rejection. It is possible to satisfy the perceived specific deficiency by undertaking additional study prior to applying for graduate admission. This study may be undertaken by enrolling in the Division of Continuing Education at George Washington University or by enrolling in another recognized university. Keep in mind that if you follow the latter course, you risk that the courses taken may not be appropriate, the admission requirements may change during the course of study, or your later application to GW will be rejected for a reason other than the specific deficiencies. It is therefore in your interest to confer with the department office or with a faculty member before you proceed with courses. It is best of all simply to apply for admission. If an application for admission is rejected, a reconsideration may be requested. To aid in doing this, first request the reason for the rejection. Then submit a request for reconsideration to the SEAS Admissions Office together with supporting documentation which addresses the cause of rejection. If you are assigned specific deficiency courses at the time of admission, but have, in fact, sufficent experience (perhaps in industry) in the specific fields, your academic advisor may waive any or all of these courses. A specific form is available for this purpose. A summary of the admission requirements for the doctoral program is provided below:
* Please note, international applicants and applicants requesting consideration for a fellowship or an assistantship must also submit the following materials: For international applicants: a TOEFL score of at least 213 on the computer exam or 550 on the paper exam, a financial certificate and supporting financial documents. For applicants requesting consideration for a fellowship or an assistantship: three letters of recommendation and a GRE general test score. Doctoral Program: Academic AdvisorWhen applying for graduate study, you may request on your application a specific professor in CS to serve as your academic advisor; in general the department will honor such a request. If you do not specify an advisor, one will be assigned based on your research interests and the interests of the faculty member. Your letter of admission will indicate your academic advisor.You should depend upon your academic advisor to explain all questions relating to the preparation and administration of your degree program, and to assist you in resolving problems which may arise during the course of study. In registering for courses, your advisor's signature is required only for the first time you are enrolling. On the other hand, you should feel free to consult your advisor as appropriate during your stay at GW, as that professor has the experience in the field, and at this University, to give you very useful guidance. Do not expect your advisor to serve as a tutor in coursework, however. It is important that you develop a smooth working relationship with your advisor. If for any reason you wish to change to a different, filling in a simple form will accomplish this. Doctoral Program: Program of StudyThe program of study for the Doctor of Science Degree Program in CS consists of at least 30 semester hours of courses, and at least 24 additional hours of preparation for the doctoral dissertation (which is accomplished by registering in at least 24 hours of CS399). Of the 30 hours of course work, at least 15 of these must be in the area of focus/concentration in which the student has enrolled; furthermore, three courses in this area must be selected from the 300 level courses including CS 301. There are no formal requirements for a minor area of study. In addition to coursework requirements, doctoral students must pass a written preliminary examination and a doctoral qualifying examination.Full-time doctoral students must register for a minimum of 12 hours of dissertation research (CS 399) per semester until 24 hours of work has been completed after passing the Qualifying Examination, and one hour of dissertation research each semester thereafter until satisfactory completion of the dissertation examination. Part-time doctoral students must register for a minimum of 6 hours per semester until 24 hours of work have been completed after passing the Qualifying Examination, and one hour each semester until satisfactory completion of the dissertation examination. Soon after the first semester begins, a graduate student should visit his academic advisor to plan his course of study. The specific requirements are given previously. The student should select the courses that he wishes to take in consultation with the academic advisor. The student should pay attention to the prerequisites of each course and to the offering semesters of the courses to see that they may be taken in proper sequence. Both the prerequisites and the semesters in which the course may be offered are given in the University Bulletin. Once the student and the academic advisor agree upon the specific plan of study, the student will submit a Graduate Program of Studies (Form 1) document to the advisor and to the department for approval. This document becomes, upon approval, a criterion whereby the academic progress of the student is judged, and is kept in the SEAS Student Services office. If it becomes desirable to alter the plan of study at a later date, a new Graduate Program of Studies (Form 1) must be filed as before. A student cannot graduate unless he has passed each course approved on the Form 1 with satisfactory grades. Study of a foreign language is not required for the Doctor of Science degree. A summary of the doctoral program requirements are provided below: Program of Study
Doctoral Degree: Scholarship RequirementsThe grades given for graduate credit in courses numbered 200 or greater is as follows:
A minimum grade-point average of 3.0 is required for award of a doctoral degree. A student who receives two grades of F or three grades below B- is barred from further enrollment in graduate courses and ordinarily will not be readmitted as a degree candidate. VERY IMPORTANT: Courses in which a doctoral student earns grades below B- are not counted toward the hour requirement for the degree. These courses can not be included on your Form 1. A student may not repeat for credit a course in which he or she has received a grade of C- or above, unless required to do so by the department chair. A written statement requiring the student to repeat such a course for credit must be submitted to the registrar by the department chair. Withdrawals and IncompletesYou may withdraw from a course at any time, without academic penalty, before the last day of classes. Submit a properly signed drop/add form through the proper channels. If you withdraw after the official end of the drop/add period (normally after the fourth week of classes), the grade of W will appear on your transcript. This has no effect on your grade-point average. See the Bulletin regarding the amount of tuition to be refunded. Tuition refunds are the responsibility of the University administration; the Department has no control over these.At the option of the instructor, the grade of I may be recorded if a student, for reasons beyond his control, is unable to complete the work of the course and if the instructor is informed of and approves such reasons before the date when grades must be reported. The grade is used only if the student's prior performance and class attendance is satisfactory. Any failure to complete the work of a course that is not satisfactorily explained will be graded F. If acceptable reasons are later presented, the instructor might initiate an appropriate grade change. VERY IMPORTANT: A grade of Incomplete carries with it a non-negotiable obligation to complete the course. The grade of I cannot be removed by registering for the course a second time at GW, or by taking its equivalent elsewhere. The only way to remove the I is to complete the course. An incomplete that is not removed within one calendar year is automatically changed to an F. The department recommends that a student seek to remove an incomplete grade as soon as possible. The student must submit a formal request in writing to request receiving an incomplete grade (the form is available from the SEAS Student Services Office or the CS Department). The instructor will state the work to be completed and the date by which it is to be completed in order to remove the grade of I. Only the instructor who granted the grade of I may change the grade. The grade of Z is assigned when a student is registered for a course that he has not attended and for which he has done no substantial graded work. A grade of Z appears on the transcript but does not affect the grade-point average. If you unexpectedly receive a Z in a course, contact the instructor, as this may have been caused by a misunderstanding or paperwork error. Doctoral Degree: The Preliminary ExaminationBeginning in the fall of 1999, all doctoral students must pass a written, in class, closed book examination. This Preliminary Examination will be based on the Masters program core courses in Computer Science. The Preliminary Examination will be offered once each fall and spring semester. The Preliminary Examination must be taken no later than the 4-th semester after the initial registration in the doctoral program. Students may take the Preliminary Examination a second time. A student who has not passed the Preliminary Examination after the 4-th semester shall have his or her doctoral status terminated. (For students who started prior to Fall 1999, they must pass the Qualifying Exam Part 1 within 6 semesters of starting their doctoral program.)A summary of the preliminary examination procedures are provided below: Preliminary Examination
Doctoral Degree: Qualifying ExaminationAfter passing the Preliminary Examination but before the submission of the dissertation proposal, the student shall take the Doctoral Qualifying Examination (DQE). The Qualifying Examination has two parts - DQE Part 1 and DQE Part 2. The Qualifying Examinations shall have a written and an oral component.Normally a student, having passed the Preliminary Examination, completes the course work required for the doctoral degree before applying for the Qualifying Examination. Application for the Qualifying Examination may be made at the Department Office. An appropriate form is available for this purpose. Doctoral Qualifying Examination, Minor AreaThe requirement for a minor area qualification examination has been deleted. No examination in a minor area is required.Doctoral Degree: Dissertation ResearchDuring your course of his study, you should give some thought to selection of a Research Advisor for his dissertation. The Research Advisor directs and guides the research leading to the dissertation, reviews the dissertation for presentation to the Dissertation Examining Committee, and serves as your Advocate to that committee. You will usually work closely with the Research Advisor and may look to him for financial support. The Research Advisor need not be the same individual as the Academic Advisor.The principal criterion for selection of the Research Advisor by the student is that the area of research in which the advisor works should be of interest to you. Carefully consider the research interests of the faculty in your area of concentration. Having decided that an individual faculty member has a suitable research interest, you may ask the individual to serve as his Research Advisor. The individual is not obliged to accept, in which case you may select another. Normally the Research Advisor is a member of the faculty in the Department of Computer Science; some other individual may serve as Co-Advisor with a Full Time Dapartment Faculty. The Department Chair must approve all Co-Advisor request. Normally, you complete the course work and the Qualifying Examination before beginning research for the dissertation. If circumstances warrant, you may begin research for the dissertation earlier in the program. To do so, first obtain permission from your Research Advisor and from the Department. A form for this purpose is available in the Department Office. Soon after a Research Advisor is selected, an advisory committee for the dissertation may be formed. The committee monitors the progress of the student's dissertation and may give advice to the student and the Research Advisor in the research. The several members of the advisory committee are normally faculty from the Department but may include other faculty and appropriate individuals outside the university. Members of the advisory committee are initially contacted by the student or the Research Advisor to solicit their participation. During the period of research, you are required to enroll in the appropriate research course (EE 399 or CSci 399). Full-time doctoral students must register for a minimum of 12 hours per semester until 24 hours of work has been completed after passing the Qualifying Examination, and one hour of dissertation research each semester thereafter until satisfactory completion of the dissertation examination. Part-time doctoral students must register for a minimum of 6 hours per semester until 24 hours of work have been completed after passing the Qualifying Examination and one hour each semester until satisfactory completion of the dissertation examination. Dissertation Writing Guidelines Doctoral Degree: Dissertation DefenseThe Research Advisor, with the advice offered by the Advisory Committee, may decide that the research achieved by the doctoral student is sufficient to satisfy the requirement of the degree. The dissertation should embody the results of an extended original study and include material deemed worthy of publication in recognized scientific and engineering journals. It provides evidence of your ability to perform significant original scholarly research and to present and interpret the results. You are solely responsible for the content of the dissertation.Upon acceptance of the dissertation by the advisory committee, an Examining Committee is formed for the purpose of administering the Dissertation Examination (Defense). The committee of examiners must consist of no fewer than five members, at least three of whom will normally be full-time faculty members with scholarly specialties within the area of concentration; at least one member will normally be from an academic specialty outside the area of concentration. The department requires the practice of inviting an external examiner from another university or from a company or governmental laboratory. The Research Advisor serves on the Examining Committee both as Advocate and as a Committee member. The Committee will elect its own chairman, who should not be the Research Advisor, as its first order of business. The dissertation examining committee must be approved by the department chairperson prior to the data of the defense. You must submit to each member of the Examining Committee, no later than one month prior to the defense, a copy of the dissertation. At the same time, you must provide an abstract and other information to the Department Office, for the purpose of preparing an announcement of the defense. A packet of forms and information is provided by the department to prepare for the defense. A dissertation defense is an oral examination, which is open to the public. You must demonstrate a mastery of the area of concentration and of the materials and techniques used in the research. When the examining committee is convinced of the high quality and originality of the candidate's contribution to knowledge, the committee recommends you for the degree of Doctor of Science. The Chairman of the Department holds the recommendation until such time as conditions placed upon the dissertation by the Examining Committee have been fulfilled. When the dissertation is accepted as complete, you must submit to the Department three complete copies of the dissertation and an abstract of fewer than 350 words no later than the date specified by the Registrar's Office. One copy of the abstract and the dissertation is sent to University Microfilms, Inc., for reproduction; one copy is sent to the University Library, and one copy is held as the official Departmental copy. Detailed instructions for the format and reproduction of the dissertation are available in the Department Office. A dissertation fee is required from you before receiving the degree to pay the expenses of printing the abstract and of the services of University Microfilms. Residence and Continuous EnrollmentAll work for the degree must be done in residence (that is, in the Washington area and registered at GW) unless a special exception is granted by the department chair.In addition, you are expected to be continuously enrolled in the School until the degree is conferred. In special circumstances such as:
If you are taking no courses for a semester (for example, because you have already taken 24 hours of dissertation work but are still finishing your dissertation), then he must enroll in the "Continuing Research" course (code number is available from the CS Department) for 1 credit hour. This credit hour does not count toward the degree requirements. If you have completed all degree requirements before a given semester, and are awaiting graduation at the end of that semester, you must register for "Continuous Enrollment." The course and code numbers are available from the CS Department or the SEAS Student Services office. VERY IMPORTANT: Do not, under any circumstances, simply "disappear" before you have completed graduation requirements. This will cause you much more paperwork than the alternatives, and is academically very risky, because a student who "breaks registration" (neither takes any courses, nor enrolls in an inactive status)is dropped from University rolls and must apply for readmission to the degree program under whatever conditions and regulations are in force at that time. Doctoral Degree: Time LimitThe Qualifying Examination must be completed within five years of the date of admission. The Doctoral Degree Program must be usually be completed within seven years. The time period for completion of the degree will be adjusted for an approved leave of absence.Doctoral Degree: Changing Areas of ConcentrationTo change your area of concentration, complete the necessary form available in the CS office. The procedure for admission to a new area of concentration is similar to that for admission for the first time, because you could possibly fail to satisfy the specific admission requirements for the new area of concentration. In that case, you may still enroll in the new area but may be required to pass the specific deficiency courses without graduate credit.After switching to a new area of concentration, you must, of course, complete a new Graduate Program of Studies (Form 1) for the new area. Doctoral Degree: GraduationVERY IMPORTANT: You must apply to graduate.Application forms may be obtained from the SEAS Student Services Office (Tompkins 102), and are due October 1 for graduation at the end of the Fall semester, and February 1 for graduation at the end of the Spring semester. Before applying, contact SEAS Student Services to ascertain that all graduate courses have been completed satisfactorily. This is done by comparing the list of all graduate courses taken, with grades, to the list of courses appearing on the Graduate Program of Studies (Form 1) on file with the records office. Discrepancies will hinder the graduation process. |
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