As you might know, all students entering the program are admitted at the same level, regardless of whether they hold a Bachelor or Master’s degree. If you comply with the program requirements and complete the 12-course requirement, you will actually be getting two degrees–MS and Ph.D.–since the (thesisless) MS requirements are a proper subset of the Ph.D. requirements.

For students who are admitted to the program with a Master’s degree, there is, however, a possibility of partially waiving the Ph.D. course requirements. That is, you can use a number of courses from your previous Master’s degree toward the 12-course requirement, but this means that you will not be getting a Master’s degree from Purdue. The rule is that you have to take seven primary courses from the table, but the remaining five can be from your previous Master’s degree. The diculty, however, is that for a non-Purdue course to be applied toward program requirements, you will need to submit a lot of paperwork to the graduate committee, not simply a transcript record. Information about each course you submit will be evaluated by the graduate committee, and if they decide that that course qualifies to be an equivalent of a Purdue CS course, it will be counted toward your degree. The graduate committee requires that you submit a course outline, textbook used, homework assignments, exams, i.e., anything you have for each course you are requesting to count towards the program requirements.

• A Ph.D. candidate is required to take 12 3-credit courses.
• Seven courses (21 credits) must be from the at least five areas in the Areas and Courses Table on the department’s website.
• The seven courses MUST include the four classes that were used to complete the Qual 1.
• No grade lower then a B is acceptable.
• The GPA of the seven courses must be at least 3.5.
• The seven courses must be completed by the end of the fourth semester.

This is an example schedule for the first 4 semesters of someone planning on doing research in the area of Security.

Information on completing the masters plan of study can be found on server ector.cs.purdue.edu in the file ~wjg/pub/MS.plan.

• Grades of A or B are expected, but one or two C’s may be accepted if they are compensated by A’s
• No other grades are acceptable
• The GPA of the courses listed on the plan of study must be at least 3.0/4.0

Information on completing the Ph.D. plan of study can be found on server ector.cs.purdue.edu in the file ~wjg/pub/PHD.plan.

• The plan must include seven courses from at least five areas the Areas and Courses Table
  • No grade lower than B is acceptable for these courses
  • The GPA in these courses must be at least 3.5
  • These courses must be completed by the end of the fourth semester
• The plan must include at least five or more 500 or 600 level courses other than independent study courses
  • These courses must be approved by your advisory committee and the graduate committee and relevant to your research
  • Grades in these courses must be A or B, except for at most six credits of C.

• The five courses at 500 or 600 level do not need to be taken in the department or even at Purdue
• They cannot have been used to satisfy requirements for an undergraduate degree
• They cannot cause your doctoral plan of study to include courses from more than one master’s program

Research is the cornerstone of completing a Ph.D. It is expected that multiple journal or top conference papers are published before someone graduates with a Ph.D. Some of these papers can also be used, in modified form, as sections or chapters in the Ph.D. thesis.

Picking someone who is a compatible adviser is very important. There is no set curriculum for completing research and publishing papers. Each faculty member works in his or her own way. It is extremely important to find someone who works at your pace and you can get alone with. Having a compatible adviser can make the difference between a pleasurable experience or a long and diffcult one.

The best way to go about picking an adviser is simply to find someone who is doing research in an area you are interested in. If you are unsure of an area then simply talking with professors you have had classes with can be a good way to establish a relationship and find an interesting area. It is also important to pick a somewhat narrow area for research. The idea is to become the world expert on a particular topic.

Another invaluable source for picking an adviser are your fellow graduate students. Talk to students who are already working with professors about their experiences and research. Simply getting to know the department as a whole is the best way to find a compatible adviser. Also, do not feel that you must work with the adviser that is assigned to you when you enter the department.