Pre-requisites

Although most of our graduate students have a degree in computer science, software engineering, or computer engineering, a number of them have formal training in other disciplines.  We encourage strong applicants from many backgrounds, provided they can show potential to complete the graduate degree requirements in Computer Science and Software Engineering.

For those applicants without or with little formal training and/or experience in Computer Science and Software Engineering, the following prerequisite areas are considered essential to succeed in our graduate programs.

  1. FUNDAMENTALS OF COMPUTER SCEINCE, including programming in C, C++, or Java, and data structures.
  2. MATHEMATICAL FOUNDATIONS OF COMPUTER SCIENCE, including discrete structures, algorithms design and analysis.
  3. COMPUTER ORGANIZATION AND SYSTEM SOFTWARE, including assembly language and operating systems.

A typical applicant with strong science and engineering background but little programming experience may follow the following Auburn University courses to satisfy the prerequisites BEFORE his/her application.

SEMESTER 1

  • COMP 2210 CS-2, Data Structures in Java<
  • COMP 3240 Discrete Structures
  • COMP 3350 Computer Organization and Assembly Language

SEMESTER 2

  • COMP 3270 Algorithms
  • COMP 3500 Operating Systems
  • COMP 3700 Software Modeling and Design

However, the prerequisite prescription is largely dependent on the individual applicant's background and experience.

PLEASE NOTE THAT THE PREREQUISITES ARE NOT AVAILABLE THROUGH THE GRADUATE OUTREACH PROGRAM.

In general, only students who have at least a 3.0/4.0 undergraduate grade point average will be considered for graduate admission.  All applicants must submit a satisfactory score for the general test of the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) before being considered.