Courses

The Master of Science in computer science program at Charleston Southern University consists of 33 credit hours.

Graduate courses are numbered at the 500 and 600 level and may include online and blended classroom delivery. Graduate students must perform at a substantially higher level of academic rigor to receive graduate credits. This higher performance involves additional practical and/or research activities approved and supervised by the assigned faculty member.

Prerequisite

Course Code	Course Name	Credit Hours
CSCI 315	Data Structure/CSCI 325 Java	4
CSCI 330	Architecture	4
CSCI 431	Operating System	4
CSCI 415	Algorithm	4
MATH 330	Discrete Math	4
MATH 213	Probability Statistics	4

Prerequisite courses could be required depending on student’s background.

Core

Course Code	Course Name	Credit Hours
CSCI 535	Advanced Computer Networks	3
CSCI 541	Distributed Database Systems	3
CSCI 560	Advanced Computer Architecture	3
CSCI 531	Advanced Operating Systems	3
CSCI 515	Advanced Algorithms	3
CSCI 540	Software Engineering Test & Maintenance	3

Total Hours: 18

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Electives

Course Code	Course Name	Credit Hours
CSCI 542/442	Data Mining	3
CSCI 452/552	Network Penetrating, Testing and Ethical Hacking	3
CRIM/CSCI 505	Ethics, Law and Policy in Cyberspace	3
CSCI 590/490	Applied Cryptography	3
CSCI 635	Advanced Network Security Topics	3
CSCI 534/434	Human-Computer Interaction	3
CSCI 555/455	Compilers	3
CSCI 640	Open Source Software Engineering	3

Total Hours: 15 for Nonthesis (at least 6 hours at 600 level)
9 for Thesis

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Suggested Tracks

Security Track (3 of the 4 courses)

• CSCI 552/452 Network Penetrating, Testing and Ethical Hacking
• CRIM/CSCI 505 Ethics, Law and Policy in Cyberspace
• CSCI 590/490 Applied Cryptography
• CSCI 635 Advanced Network Security Topics

Software Engineering Track

• CSCI 555/455 Compilers
• CSCI 534/434 Human-Computer Interaction
• CSCI 640 Open Source Software Engineering

Thesis Option: 6 Credit Hours

• CSCI 697 Research I
• CSCI 698 Research II