Graduate

You apply through the Hunter College Graduate Admissions website.  The site also has application deadlines, tuition/fees rates and various other useful pieces of general college information. Note that deadlines are significantly earlier for international students.

We accept applications for both fall and spring semesters.

Late applications might be accepted, but contact the graduate director.

Decisions are made on a rolling basis, and we cannot make a decision without your recommendations. To ensure timely consideration, it is recommended to have all required materials submitted by the application deadline, especially for spring entry, where the timeline is particularly tight.

Yes! All our master’s courses are evenings only (after 5 pm), with a few occasional exceptions.

Please contact the graduate student financial aid office for information about loans and work-study. Some of our students also work in NYC industries, and a few students are employed at Hunter.

No, 2 year degrees are not sufficient. However, if you are an international student and your degree is considered equivalent to a 4-year degree, you are eligible.

Yes, if you have sufficient mathematics and computer science preparation. This consists of the following courses:

• MATH 15000 – Calculus I
• MATH 15500 – Calculus II
• MATH 16000 – Matrix Algebra or MATH 26000 – Linear Algebra (preferred)
• STAT 21300 – Statistics
• CSCI 23500 – Data Structures
• CSCI 15000 – Discrete Mathematics
• CSCI 26000 – Computer Architecture II or CSCI 34000 – Operating Systems

Several of these courses have additional prerequisites that you will either have to take or learn by yourself before taking.

If you feel that you already know a course but haven’t taken a formal course on it, contact the graduate director at csgrad@hunter.cuny.edu to figure out a suitable alternative method to verify that you have sufficient knowledge. In some cases, a test-out exam may also be possible.

As you are not allowed to take undergraduate courses after you join the master’s program, please contact the graduate director if you feel that there are undergraduate courses you need.

Yes. However, you may apply if you are currently taking the last of these. If you are still a course or two away from completing these, you may wish to contact the graduate program director for additional alternatives.

No, but you should take the same subject at an equivalent college (e.g., another CUNY senior college). Some students also have taken bridge programs at other colleges.

But you may wish to first contact the graduate director to ensure that they are equivalent.

You can take them as a non-degree student.  If you happen to be affiliated with another CUNY college, you can also take them through the E-Permit system (contact your department or advisor).

Yes, if the courses are at a comparable university, and subject to limits.

Not exactly. The CUNYs are independent, so there is no concept of transferring. But you can apply to Hunter as normal. See previous question too.

Yes, you can apply as a non-degree graduate student. However, you will register after existing students do, and some courses may have filled. If you get a satisfactory grade (B or higher), the course will count towards master’s degree requirements.

The CUNY Graduate Center offers a PhD program, and most of our faculty are also members of the doctoral faculty there. The Master’s program is an excellent intermediate step towards the PhD program, and you may even be able to take a first step towards your doctoral research as part of your master’s program.

Contact the computer science graduate program director at csgrad@hunter.cuny.edu

Please refer to the graduate catalog for more information.

You will pick between a research and applied concentration, for 30 total credits as follows:

Electives are generally in the research areas of department faculty. Those offered in the recent past and/or likely in the near future include: Software Engineering, Artificial Intelligence, Formal Methods, Cybersecurity, Big Data, Graph Theory, Networks, Machine Learning, Advanced Discrete Structures, Programming Languages, Deep Learning, Parallel Programming, Computational Linguistics, Mathematical Logic (Math), Cloud Database Security and Integrity, Computer Vision, Numerical Analysis (Math), Reactive Programming, Augmented/Virtual Reality, Computer Ethics (CS Ed), and Visualization.

All courses currently are 3 credits (so, there are 10 courses total including project/thesis).

If you are considering a PhD, the research option is strongly recommended. Whichever option you select, you should find a mentor as quickly as possible.

A minimum GPA of 3.0 is needed to maintain status in the program. Note that CR/NC is not allowed for graduate students.

It depends on how many courses you take per semester.  Most students take 3 per semester (9 credits), but those that have jobs or other commitments sometimes take less and a few take 4. There is also a limit of 4 years to fulfill all requirements. Please note that additional requirements may result from visa and/or financial aid rules.

There are no summer courses; however, many students continue their project/thesis over summer, if acceptable to their mentor.

The project is 1 semester long and generally involves writing a large program under the direction of your mentor. The thesis involves a research effort over 2 semesters. As a master’s thesis, the research will be lower in scope than a doctoral thesis, but may be appropriate as a first stage in a doctoral thesis if you decide to go down that path (more information).

You should be talking to professors in your areas of interest to identify a suitable mentor. Do this as soon as possible after entering the program! If you are unsure, talk to the graduate program director who can guide you to candidate mentors. The director is also your mentor of record until you find one.

Before each semester starts, you will get email from the graduate advisor with an “Academic Progress Form”. This form also serves for you to specify which courses you want to take. After the filled-in form is processed, you will be able to register for the courses.

You should decide which courses in consultation with your mentor, who needs to approve your choices.

No. Hunter rules do not allow the taking of undergraduate courses for graduate credit. But note that some undergrad courses are combined (i.e., same time/room/professor) with a graduate course. For combined courses, the graduate version involves additional work as decided by the instructor.

Yes, you may take up to 6 credits of non-CS courses, subject to approval of both departments. Our department is normally flexible if we don’t offer an equivalent course and you can justify the course to your mentor.

Yes, through the E-Permit system (this option is not available your first semester or if you are on probation). You also need approval of both departments (see previous question). We are normally flexible with CS courses, though some courses that are more IT or MIS rather than CS might not be appropriate (i.e., talk to the director ahead of time).

Yes, if you did not use it to meet another requirement such as your undergraduate degree (i.e., no double dipping). Note that if it was a combined undergrad-grad course, you can only transfer it if you took it at the graduate level. You will have to formally apply for transfer credit (make sure you read the rules there).

The graduate catalog is the place to look. This includes information about grades/GPA, retaking courses, probation, etc. Most likely, you will be interested in the Policies⟶Academic Policies & Regulations section.

You need to apply for graduation (the process and deadlines are the same for undergraduates and graduate students). Note that the deadline for this is early in the semester.

If you are not taking courses this semester, but are finishing graduation requirements (e.g., finishing an incomplete on a project/thesis), you also need to have a maintenance of matriculation form filed for the semester you are graduating (there is a significant fee for this).