Computer Science Graduate Admission FAQ

Thank you for your interest in pursuing graduate studies in Computer Science here at NMSU! Unfortunately, we get many, many requests for information, and simply cannot answer each one in detail through email. This FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) tries to answer many standard questions that we receive. I hope it will answer yours as well.

If you have already requested an application, please be patient and wait for it to arrive. If you have not yet applied and need an application form, please email csoffice@cs.nmsu.edu with your name and address, and tell them you are requesting an application.

You can find more information at the following URLs:

General NMSU information

NMSU graduate school, including domestic and international admissions.

NMSU Computer Science home page

If you are a foreign applicant, you may want to visit International Programs for more information.

The official deadline for fall semester applications is March 1 and for spring semester applications is September 1. However, we strongly recommend that international applicants get their application in as early as possible (Dec-Jan for fall applicants). International applications must go through several university offices, and the lag time until a decision can be made is thus lengthened.

NMSU will process applications after the official deadlines, but it is on an as-time-permits basis, and you should not expect a guaranteed reply quickly enough for you to enter in the desired semester. In Computer Science, we will look at late applications, but you are much more likely to receive a timely response if you get your application in before the deadline. Remember that we do not receive your application in the department until all required documents arrive at the university. Thus, for example, you might submit your application in January, but if your transcripts do not arrive until March, we will not review your application until then.

If you are wondering about whether you can apply for a graduate degree in CS, the answer is probably yes. If you have education that is basically equivalent to a Bachelor's degree, then you are probably eligible. If you are an international applicant, make sure that your degree satisfies the rules for international applications (the degree must be equivalent to a 4-year degree) -- check with CIP for this information.

Also, you can apply directly for the Ph.D. program without first having a M.S. degree. If you are intending to pursue a Ph.D. in Computer Science and do not yet have a M.S. in Computer Science, you should still mark "Ph.D." as the "first degree expected" on the application form. We want to know which applicants are planning on pursuing a Ph.D. degree, and which are planning on a M.S. degree. If you think that doing a Ph.D. degree is a possibility but you are not really sure yet, then you should just mark M.S. as the degree you plan on working for. Once you are here, you can request to be considered for the Ph.D. program whenever you finally decide that is what you want to do (even if it is a year or two later). 

We receive many applications from students who have a Bachelor's degree in some field other than Computer Science. That is Ok, and if we accept such an applicant we usually assign them course deficiencies, so that they must take some undergraduate CS courses when they get here to fill out their background in CS and prepare them for graduate courses. This makes their program of study longer, but they still have a chance to try. We do expect that applicants have at least some background in Computer Science, such as an introductory course or two. If an applicant has no visible background in Computer Science, we will generally reject them.

For admission, we do not currently require GRE scores but we do require TOEFL scores for foreign applicants from non-English-speaking countries. We may soon change our GRE policy to require GRE scores for admittance. If you are interested in an assistantship, it helps to have good GRE scores rather than no GRE scores at all. Without GRE scores it is hard for us to get a good judgment of the applicant's quality, so we usually will not offer an assistantship to an applicant without GRE scores.

If you are wondering about GRE and other scores, we can offer you these guidelines. For success in graduate-level Computer Science, a Verbal score in the high 400's is OK but not good, and 500's are better (native English speakers should score MUCH higher); the Quantitative and Analytical scores ought to be at least mid-high 600's, with 700's being better. The latest GRE statistics show a median of about 690 for the Computer Science subject test, with 15% scoring 800 or better. That should give you a guideline for what scores are good for the CS subject test. You do not have to take the subject test -- you can just take the general GRE test and have those results sent to us. For international students, we look for at least a 550 TOEFL as a minimal requirement (this translates to a 200+ score on the computer-based TOEFL). However, TOEFL scores in this low range will mean that remedial English classes will be required.

There has recently been a scandal in regards to the CBT scores, because some web sites were providing answers for students. If you did take advantage of those resources to prepare for the GRE, we do consider that to be academically dishonest, and advise you to retake the GRE in the paper-based form. We value honesty in our students. If you did not use those resources, and honestly prepared for and took the CBT GRE, then you should feel free to use those scores in your application to NMSU. It has been noted in the press that the verbal scores were the most strongly impacted. If you submit your scores and they include a very high verbal score, and we accept you and then you come here and do not have the excellent English verbal skills that would be needed to honestly achieve that high score, we may, sadly, have to be suspicious of whether you will be academically honest in your studies here at NMSU.

Our department supports graduate students with both teaching and research assistantships. We also will accept students without offering them an assistantship, and in that case it is up to the student to support themselves if they decide to come to NMSU. If you are not offered an assistantship, however, this does not mean there is no hope for financial help. Often once students are here for a semester or two they find an assistantship either in our department or on campus. Besides the departmental teaching and research assistantships, many students find assistantships in the Computing Research Laboratory or the Physical Sciences Laboratory, two research facilities here on campus that often need student help. However, we do want to stress that if you are not offered an assistantship (which is guaranteed support) when you are accepted, then then no one is required to give or find you support, and the risk is entirely yours.

Our graduate assistantships start at $13,000 for the 9-month academic year, with slight raises as one progresses through the graduate program (earn an M.S.,
pass the Ph.D. qualifiers, etc.). If you find summer support, then you can earn more than this for the whole 12-month calendar year. Nobody ever got rich going to graduate school, but it is enough to live on, especially here in Las Cruces! This web page may help in figuring out budgets and expenses.

At NMSU, graduate assistantships do not include a tuition waiver. However, they do include a reduction of the tuition rate from out-of-state (about $4153 for a 9-credit semester) to in-state (about $1296 for a 9-credit semester). Thus, they do help a great deal for students who cannot claim residency in New Mexico.

If you are wondering about the status of your application, unfortunately we cannot answer every person's request in email about whether their application was received (in whole or in part). Your application goes to a main NMSU office first, not directly to our department. We are hoping to have an application tracking system in place soon, but for now it is very difficult to know how soon a decision will be made. If you have questions about your application, please see the Graduate school page for who to contact.

Every year we get many emails with this request. Unfortunately, we do not have to time to answer every person's questions about whether they would be accepted or not, and the accept or reject decision is not as simple as just looking at those numbers. The only way to know is do send in an official application. We will not "pre-approve" anyone without an official application. Also, we cannot answer every question about how far along someone's application is. You will just have to be patient and wait for an official response. We try to process them as quickly as possible, but applications that are very early may not be processed immediately, and applications after the deadlines are only processed when time permits.

We look forward to receiving your application, if we have not received it already. Good luck!

Assoc.. Prof. Son Tran
Graduate Admissions Chair
Dept. of Computer Science
New Mexico State University
Las Cruces, NM 88003

tson@cs.nmsu.edu