Doctorate Program

General Requirements

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. 

Bachelor's to Doctorate Requirements

Applicants holding just a bachelor's degree are admitted only if an applicable faculty member judges them as exceptional and is willing to be their Ph.D. advisor from the very start of their program. All applicants are required to submit official GRE General (Aptitude) Test scores. Evidence of ability to carry out independent research and present it in written English is highly desirable. Two letters of recommendation and a statement of purpose are encouraged. Each applicant is evaluated individually.

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 23 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 an advisor 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.

Ph.D. Qualifying Exam

The student's Ph.Dd 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.

The doctorate program requires 84 hours of post-bachelor's courses. These include 30 hours of Ph.D. dissertation for students admitted directly after a bachelor's or 24 hours of Ph.D. dissertation for students admitted after a completed master's. Students may transfer, towards the required 84 hours, up to 36 hours of courses taken previously as a graduate student at a regionally-accredited institution (or equivalent international institution). Such transferred courses must be traditional courses that are not thesis, project, or dissertation. At least 60 percent of all hours, including dissertation, taken as a Ph.D. student must be at the 800-level or above.
The post-bachelor's non-dissertation coursework of all Ph.D. students must contain the following:

1. At least 15 hours of courses in the student's chosen major area of specialization. Currently available major areas are: (a) Algorithms and Software Systems, (b) Communication and Signal Processing, (c) Computer Networking, (d) Computer Systems and Architecture, (e) Control Systems, and (f) Energy and Power Systems.
2. At least 6 hours of courses in the student's chosen minor area of specialization. A minor area may or may not be from any of the above major areas.
3. At least 6 hours of courses in mathematics or statistics. Courses in each of the above three categories must be distinct. PhD students must also pass Comprehensive Examinations in their major and minor areas, the Dissertation Approval Examination, and the Final Dissertation Examination.