Students who demonstrate exceptional academic performance in the undergraduate bachelor of science program (B.S.) in computer science (CS) at Rutgers-Camden can apply to an accelerated program that will permit a completion of a joint B.S.-M.S. in a total of five years. To qualify for admission into this program, an undergraduate student in the B.S. program must meet the following requirements by the end of the fall semester in the third (junior) year:

Completion of at least 80 credits toward the B.S. degree with a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or better;
Completion of all the computer science requirements for the B.S. degree (except possibly 50:198:476 Theory of Computation and two CS electives) with a GPA on the completed computer science courses of 3.3 or better.

Students who meet the above requirements may apply to be admitted to the five-year joint degree program by providing the following documentation in the spring semester of their junior year:

Complete transcripts until the end of the fall semester of the junior year.
At least two letters of recommendation from faculty members at Rutgers.
A personal statement (of at most two pages) on academic interests, graduate school plans, and career goals.
Optionally, other supporting information, such as work or research experience and special skills.
The GRE General (Aptitude) Test requirement will be waived for the accelerated undergraduate admission.

Once admitted, it is the student's responsibility to finish the remaining B.S. degree requirements in the fourth year of undergraduate studies and ensure that the overall GPA on all CS undergraduate courses remains above 3.3 at the end of the fourth year. Among the CS courses taken in the senior year, up to two CS courses that are also cross-listed for graduate credit in the program may be double-counted (i.e., they count for both undergraduate and graduate credit). The student (in consultation with the graduate program director) will devise a course plan that will ensure that he or she completes the individual requirements of both degree programs.

A student who has been admitted to the accelerated program but subsequently fails to meet the above requirements by the end of the senior year will not be able to double-count any courses for the graduate and undergraduate programs; also, in that case the student must submit GRE General (Aptitude) test scores showing satisfactory performance no later than the end of the ninth semester.

Program Contacts

Sunil Shende
Computer Science Graduate Program Director
gradcompsci@camden.rutgers.edu
Tel: 856-225-6439

Department of Computer Science 322 BSB
227 Penn Street
Rutgers University-Camden
Camden, NJ 08102
Tel: 856-225-6077 | Fax: 856-225-6624