1. General Admission Requirements. Admission to Graduate Studies (see Graduate Student Admissions).

2. Program Admission. In addition to meeting university admissions requirements for a graduate degree, admission to the M.S. in Computer Information Systems (MS-CIS) program is based on an evaluation by the program’s admission committee of the following information:

a. A resume reflecting work experience and educational background.

b. A one-page essay that states the student’s reasons for applying to the program and his or her career goals and research and scholarly interests, if any.

c. Submit official GRE or GMAT scores and have an Admissions index of 980 or higher, obtained by either of the following:

• GRE taken on or after August 1, 2011: GPA on at least the last 60 semester credit hours times 200 Plus 15 times (Verbal + Quantitative - 260)

OR

• GPA on at least the last 60 semester credit hours times 200 Plus GMAT score times 2

d. Evidence of having completed undergraduate or graduate coursework in the following areas:

• 3 s.h. of Calculus, MATH 3362 Discrete Structures, Discrete Mathematics, or MATH 3347 Operations Research 

• 3 s.h. of Statistics (MATH 3391)

• 3 s.h. of COSC 3325 Information Systems in Organizations 

• 3 s.h. of Principles of Management (MGMT 3303, or MGMT 6351)

• 6 s.h. of programming and data structures using an object-oriented programming language. Students who do not have this preparation can take the following leveling courses to replace the programming requirement.

COSC 3317 Object Oriented Programming 

COSC 3315 Application Design Using GUIs and Database

e. Documentation of prior learning which satisfies program prerequisite knowledge in part or full. The student may submit to the CIS Graduate Program Advisor a portfolio of work for evaluation for exempting one or more prerequisite/leveling courses. Such work may include non-credit or non-academic course work, certifications held and other demonstrated experience or knowledge in the subject area. Such exemption will be solely at the discretion of the CIS Graduate Program Advisor, and may involve interviews, tests, or contact of references. No such waiver for  non-academic experience will be done for any part of the 36 semester hours beyond the prerequisite/leveling courses.

3. Program Admission under the “Three-Year Bachelor Bridge Program” option. Graduates of three-year Bachelor’s degree programs who otherwise satisfy all the international admission requirements for the MS program in Computer Information Systems (MS-CIS,) and have the equivalent of a minimum 90 international undergraduate semester credit hours, will be admitted as graduate students with the additional requirement that they must complete the Bridge program that would bring their total credit hours to the 120 hours required for a UHV bachelor’s degree. Lower division coursework taken at a U.S. institution will not be used to meet the 90 semester hour requirement, nor will be used to meet selected courses by advisement bridge requirements. Lower division courses may be used to meet leveling/prerequisite requirements only. Completion of the Bridge program (Sections 1 and 3 below) is necessary before the student can enroll in more than 18 graduate hours as required in the MS-CIS, not counting prerequisite and leveling courses.

Each student must satisfy the requirements of Sections 1 and 2 in the following, either by transfer credit or by UHV course work. Lower division credit will not meet upper division requirements. If any coursework is met by international credit given in the minimum 90 semester hours, the course will be waived, but no credit given (no “double dipping”). Section 2 is the only section coursework may be waived or exempt. Students admitted into the Bridge program must complete upper division MATH or COSC courses chosen under advisement from Section 3 to meet the total requirement of 120 hours and must be completed with UHV.

The quality of a student’s work must be kept at a 3.0 grade point average or better throughout the Bridge program. Courses in which the quality of work is lower than “C” must be repeated and no more than two C’s may be applied toward the Bridge program. Courses may be repeated to achieve higher grades; in cases where courses have been repeated, both course grades remain on the transcript, but only the latest grade counts toward the grade point average for the degree. If a student’s GPA falls below 3.0 during the Bridge program, the student will be placed on academic probation. Students on academic probation will be informed by the Dean of the College of Liberal Arts & Social Sciences of any conditions for removing the probationary status.

Section 1. Required, 7 semester hours

 ENGL 3430 Professional Writing 

 COMM 3325 Professional Speaking 

Section 2. Other Program Requirements, 21 semester hours (if waived/exempt, will not receive credit)

3 s.h. of Calculus, Discrete Structures, Discrete Mathematics, Operations Research, or Management Science

3 s.h. of Statistics

3 s.h. of Information Systems in Organizations

3 s.h. of Principles of Management

6 s.h. of programming and data structures using an object-oriented programming language.

Section 3. Selected Courses by Advisement

Any additional courses needed to total a minimum of 120, taken from upper division COSC or MATH courses.