Doctorate Program

Admission into the School of Computing doctorate program requires a completed master's or bachelor's degree, with a grade point average of at least 3.250 in computer science, data science, or a related field. GRE is not required. 

The School of Computing tries to offer Graduate Teaching Assistantships (GTA) to all its eligible doctorate students. All domestic students automatically qualify for these assistantships. In order to be eligible for these assistantships, all international students must already have one of the following:

• A score of 22 or higher on the Speaking component of TOEFL, OR
• A score of 7.0 or higher on the Speaking portion of IELTS, OR
• A score of 50 or higher on the Test of Spoken English (TSE). The TSE/SPEAK test can be conducted on the WSU campus.

Please note that PTE or Duolingo scores are not acceptable for GTA positions.

In addition, a few Graduate Research Assistantships (GRA) are sometimes available. They are always awarded by individual faculty, and a student needs to contact their doctorate advisor to check for availability. These assistantships do not have any TOEFL/IELTS/TSE score requirement.

In addition to the College of Engineering's doctorate requirements, the School of Computing requires the following:

Advisor

Each student is encouraged to secure a faculty advisor from the School of Computing to supervise their Ph.D. dissertation research as early as possible, preferably before completion of their first academic year in the program.

Plan-of-Study

A Ph.D. Plan-of-Study should contain a minimum of 72 total credit hours, beyond undergraduate study, with the following requirements:

• Twenty-four (24) credit hours of CS 976 PhD Dissertation.
• Thirty-six (36) credit hours of coursework, including a maximum of 24 credit hours that can transfer from a master's degree. All these credits should be relevant to the School of Computing (i.e., offered by graduate programs in computer science, data science, or a related field).
• Twelve (12) credit hours of additional coursework, CS 976, or a combination of both.
• At least 60% of all hours on a Plan-of-Study (i.e., at least 44 hours) must be at the 800-level or above.

The Plan-of-Study also includes names of the student's Ph.D. advisory committee members.  This committee is composed of the advisor, 3 faculty members from within and one faculty member from outside the School of Computing.

Ph.D. Qualifying Exam

The student's Ph.D advisory committee, at the request of the advisor, conducts a Ph.D. Qualifying Exam to evaluate the student's research readiness to eventually complete the dissertation requirements. The committee determines whether the student has demonstrated a preliminary understanding of the research literature relevant to the intended research direction.

The Qualifying Exam is scheduled only after an approved Plan-of-Study is on file. The student is encouraged to complete the Qualifying Exam within the initial two academic years in the program. A link to the Qualifying Exam Form to be filled is below.

The advisor, in consultation with the committee, may require the student to retake the Qualifying Exam, if there are significant changes in the student's studies since the last successful attempt (e.g., original advisor, or committee, or dissertation-direction changes).

Ph.D. Dissertation Proposal Exam

The Dissertation Proposal Exam is required to ensure that the student's proposed research outcomes and publication plan qualify as a Ph.D. dissertation. The Dissertation Proposal Exam is scheduled only after the Qualifying Exam has been successfully cleared.

A Ph.D. student completes their program by passing the Final Dissertation Defense.  This is an oral presentation and defense of their Ph.D research and dissertation document.  It is carried out in front of the advisory committee and is open to public.  At least 5 months must elapse between the Dissertation Proposal Exam and the Final Dissertation Defense.