Can I master in computer science with an undergraduate degree in management information systems?

3 responses to “Can I master in computer science with an undergraduate degree in management information systems?”

1. 
   eri

   February 26, 2011 at 4:25 pm | Permalink

   Look up a few programs to see what they require as far as pre-requisites go. A major usually isn’t required, but there will be some required coursework. Sciences, math, engineering, and compsci aren’t programs you can just jump into at the masters level like an MBA or MLS. Check out some of the local state schools.

2. 
   Fatty Dave

   February 26, 2011 at 5:18 pm | Permalink

   If you have enough knowledge of CS to have your master’s thesis approved and to actually see it through the whole research process, then there’s nothing holding you back no matter what undergraduate degree you have.

   You can go look up which schools have good CS programs. Obviously the good engineering schools (MIT, Stanford, Berkeley, Illinois, CalTech, Georgia Tech etc. would all have good programs).

3. 
   Adam H

   February 26, 2011 at 5:54 pm | Permalink

   Yes you can, in fact I personally know several people who have taken this route successfully and have heard of others (not me, though: both my undergrad and grad majors are MIS.) I believe that it is fairly common, or vice versa; that is, I know some people who got an undergrad degree in CS and a Master’s degree in MIS. Be warned, though, that Computer Science will generally require more in terms of programming, mathematics, and general sciences than MIS; some grad. schools might be reticent to accept you if you do not have these kinds of courses in your academic background, and it might cause headaches with some of the courses if your skills are not developed adequately. In any event, just consult the information and prerequisite coursework listed for each individual school; it will vary.

   As far as which school to consider, here are the top 20 graduate Computer Science programs – I’m attending Carnegie Mellon for grad school in MIS, I hear that our CS program is of very high repute.

   1 Massachusetts Institute of Technology
   1 Stanford University
   1 University of California–Berkeley
   4 Carnegie Mellon University
   5 University of Illinois–Urbana-Champaign
   6 Cornell University
   6 Princeton University
   6 University of Washington
   9 Georgia Institute of Technology
   9 University of Texas–Austin
   11 California Institute of Technology
   11 University of Wisconsin–Madison
   13 University of California–Los Angeles
   13 University of Maryland–College Park
   13 University of Michigan–Ann Arbor
   16 Columbia University
   16 Harvard University
   16 University of California–San Diego
   19 Purdue University
   20 Brown University
   20 Duke University
   20 Rice University
   20 University of Massachusetts–Amherst
   20 University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill
   20 University of Pennsylvania