PhD Program Requirements

Below is a distilled version of directions from here: http://catalog.northeastern.edu/graduate/computer-information-science/computer-science/computer-science-phd/

The program is broken into two parts: pre-candidacy and candidacy. You will want to get to the second part ASAP because it means a bump in the salary and nothing else. There's also a teaching requirement.

Candidacy = course requirement + paper requirement.

Course requirement (complete by end of 2nd year)

To fulfill it, you need to get:

• 16 hrs of breadth courses (4 courses from 5 "breadth areas");
• 8 hrs of specialization courses;
• 24 hrs of electives.

(Exact definitions of what course falls in which category see on the page linked at the top of this document).

This amounts to 4+2+6=12 courses, which is a lot. There are two ways to waive some of these:

• Advanced Entry -- means that if you have an MSc degree, you only need to take breadth courses (all 4). This is relatively easy to get if you actually have the required degree.

• Waiving of individual courses using grad-level courses taken in the past. This is usually painful, as you have to provide enough of evidence that your past course had sufficientlly similar program to what is given at NEU.

Paper requirement (complete by end of 2nd or, worst case, 3rd year)

It's simple: publish (or co-author, as the first student author) a paper in a reputable venue.

Candidacy

Both previous "milestiones" should be aknowledged via submitting some forms. Ask around (or a relevant admin) where to get those.

Upon having the two milestones officially recognized, you're promoted from a PhD student to a PhD candidate -- congrats! Even if you're eager to graduate ASAP, you still can't do it earlier than two semesters later: you need to complete two "dissertation terms" (CS 9990 and CS 9991 "courses").

Somewhere during this time you will need to go through the proposal.

Reading vs Dissertation courses

Daniel (early 2021):

You actually want to switch to dissertation as soon as possible
because you have to do it twice (with a readings course, or something else, alongside)
and then you can switch to dissertation continuation, which absorbs all the credits,
and requires no explanation, etc.

Registration for Reading/Research Courses

[Source; access date: Dec 3, 2018; seem to work as of end of 2020]

1. Log into myNortheastern and type "Registrar Forms" in the search box.

2. This will take you to your Student Forms homepage. Select Individual Instruction Request from the Create New drop-down menu and then click the Go button.

3. Carefully read all of the acknowledgement statements, click the checkbox next to each one, and click the I Agree button to continue. Clicking the Cancel button will return you to your Student Forms homepage.

4. Under INSTRUCTIONS, complete steps 1-3 by selecting the following from the drop-down menus:

   • Course Level
   • Effective Term
   • College offering the proposed course
   • Type of Course, select either:
     • Individual Instruction Request if you are requesting to take one of the standard individual instruction courses, or
     • Taking Exact Curriculum of Existing Course if you would like to take the exact curriculum of an existing course, but are not able to do so due to a scheduling conflict or due to it not being offered in the effective term of choice.

5. Select the Subject for your requested course.

6. Depending on the Type of Course you selected above, make your Course Selection and click Next:

   • Individual Instruction Request – select a course number from the drop-down menu.
     If your proposed course number does not appear in the drop-down menu, that means it is either not created in the system for that subject or it has been inactivated. If this is the case, please contact the instructor/department for a replacement course number or to request that the course be reactivated.
   • Taking Exact Curriculum of Existing Course - enter the 4-digit course number in the corresponding field.
     If the course number you enter is not valid, you will receive an error message directing you to enter a valid course number.

7. In the student information section of the Individual Instruction Registration Form, enter your 10-digit phone number in the Current Phone Number box.

8. In the Course Information box, enter the following:

   • Topic of Study
   • Credit Hours
     If the number of credits is set at a certain number, this field will autofill.
   • Primary Instructor
     • Click on the magnifying glass next to the Primary Instructor box.
     • Enter the Northeastern e-mail address for the instructor in the Lookup Primary Instructor By Email box and click the Search button.
     • Select the corresponding instructor from the search results.
   • Overload Authorization (UG Students Only)
     Select Yes or No from the drop-down menu. An overload occurs when an UG student takes more than 16 billing hours in fall, spring, or full summer terms OR 8 billing hours in summer 1 or summer 2 terms. * Yes indicates that you will be registered even if this class results in a billing overload. * No indicates that if submit a request without providing a CRN to drop, the Office of the Registrar will not process your request as it would result in a billing overload.
   • CRN to Drop
     If you plan to drop a class once your individual instruction registration form is processed, please provide the CRN on the request and we can drop it when you are registered for the new class.
   • Supplementary Information
     Some subject/course combinations require supplementary information to be provided. In these instances, you would see an additional text box or fields on the page. These additional fields must be completed in addition to the above fields before submission of the individual instruction request.

9. Click Submit for Approval.
   Clicking Cancel will return you to the student form page and not save any entered information.

10. After you submit the request for approval, you will be returned to your Student Forms home page, where you can view the statuses of your requests.

11. Once your request is submitted, it will be follow the approval process indicated in the chart below depending on your student level.

12. Once the request is processed by the Office of the Registrar, the class will be created and added to your schedule and you will receive a confirmation e-mail. You will also receive a notification email if your request is rejected by any of the approvers or by the Office of the Registrar. Please check your junk mail and spam folders frequently to ensure that you receive these emails.

13. If you have any questions or concerns, please email [email protected].