Students seeking admission to the M.S. program in the Department of Computer Science must meet all the requirements for admission to the NIU Graduate School. The Master of Science in Cybersecurity requires degree-seeking applicants to submit the following materials:
Baccalaureate Field: A B.A./B.S. degree in any discipline. An undergraduate cumulative GPA of 3.0 is preferred, but not required. Students without a background in information technology may also be admitted but may be required to take deficiency courses during their first year of the program. Prepatory courses should be resolved in the first year. These courses may include:
Programming Principles in Python (CSCI 503). This course will count toward degree program requirements.
CYBR 505: Computer Foundation for Cybersecurity, MATH 497, and STAT 490. These courses will not count toward degree program requirements.
Personal Statement: Should be at least 500 words in length. It should outline the applicant’s preparation for graduate study in their chosen ï¬eld, as well as their goals for graduate school and beyond. Additional information about the applicant’s personal academic journey that cannot be found in other application documents should be included here.
Resume/CV: Copy of current resume/CV in PDF format indicating the applicant’s professional and/or volunteer experience. If applicable, papers and other works produced by the applicant should be mentioned here.
Deadlines: Application deadlines for fall semester (August) admission are May 1st for international applicants living abroad and July 15th for those residing in the U.S. Application deadlines for spring semester (January) admission are October 1st for international applicants living abroad and December 10th for those residing in the U.S. The department does not accept applications for initial summer term admission.
General Program Information
This program is offered in two distinct modality options: 1) fully online; and 2) hybrid/campus-based.
Students pursuing the M.S. in Cybersecurity must complete at least ten graduate-level courses of 3 semester hours each. The program comprises a core of 6 required courses and a set of electives that students can choose from to complete their degree requirements. Students may choose either a master project or a thesis option. Students choosing the project option must take 9 courses in total (27 credit hours), plus successfully complete 3 credit hours of CYBR 697 with their project advisor. For students choosing a master’s thesis option, 6 semester hours of CYBR 699 will count as two of the ten courses required and a program of study designed by the student and the advisor must be approved by the Cybersecurity program director.
Students who are planning to continue their studies through the department’s doctoral program are highly recommended to choose the thesis option.
Students must complete the required number of hours in each of the following areas:
Core (18)
Electives (6-9)
Culminating (3-6)
Total (30)
Graduate-level courses for which there exists an undergraduate equivalent (typically courses that are offered as 400/500 courses) shall not constitute more than 50% of the hours applied toward a master’s degree.
No more than 2 courses receiving grades of C or C+ can be applied to degree program requirements.
Details for each degree program category are listed below.
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