September 16, 2017. Updated November 25, 2019. Changes.
The proposed program is simply a track for our BS Computer Science students to obtain a MS Cybersecurity degree with one additional year of study by counting three graduate courses for both degrees. This is similar to our existing five-year programs in Engineering, Computer Science, Biology, and other areas. No new courses, degrees, faculty, or other resources are needed.
Participants earn the B.S. degree in the typical four-year time frame and graduate with their class. They then continue their studies in the fifth year to complete the M.S. degree. Normally, earning both degrees would take six years of full-time study. The time savings is achieved by applying three graduate courses to both degrees.
To be eligible for this program, students must have strong academic credentials: a cumulative grade point average (GPA) of at least 3.0 and a GPA of at least 3.5 in the major.
In the existing BSCS/MSCS program, students take the two graduate courses:
instead of two undergraduate CSC courses, and they also take a third graduate CSC elective course.
In the proposed program, students take the two graduate courses:
instead of two undergraduate CSC courses, and they also take one graduate ECE cybersecurity course.
Also, in the proposed program, students must take CSC 4900, Computer Networks, or ECE 4470, Computer Networks, as one of their undergraduate elective courses, because this course or equivalent is required for admission to the MS Cybersecurity program.
The MS Cybersecurity program has always accepted students with BS degrees in Computer Science and certain other areas. The admission requirements state:
For admission to the MS Cybersecurity program, CSC 4900 is considered equivalent to ECE 4470. And the two CSC graduate courses to be taken by undergraduate students in the proposed five-year program, CSC 8301 and CSC 8490, are approved electives in the MS Cybersecurity program.
There are existing five-year BS/MS programs in all engineering areas at Villanova, including BS/MS Computer Engineering, and BS Computer Engineering + MS Cybersecurity. The engineering MS online application process would not require any changes for the new five-year program. Students would just select the MS Cybersecurity and submit their Villanova transcript as usual. There is nothing hard-coded in the application process that refers to any particular undergraduate degree requirement.
The program is expected to attract students who may have pursued the MS Cybersecurity anyway after the BS Computer Science, and will choose the five-year program as simply a faster way to obtain the same degrees.
CSC course enrollments will be redistributed slightly, since the students will substitute two CSC graduate courses for two CSC undergraduate courses, which is also true for the existing BSCS/MSCS program. Students will also substitute one MS Cybersecurity course for an undergraduate CSC elective course, which will shift a small number of enrollments from CSC electives to MS Cybersecurity courses.