PhD Admissions

First, you should view all the information and admissions requirements at ODU Graduate Admissions and ODU International Admissions, if applicable, including ODU's English proficiency requirement.

• GRE
• Recommendations from 2 faculty or employment supervisors
• Transcripts from all prior institutions

Students are expected to show proficiency in Problem Solving & Programming, Introduction to Computer Architecture, Advanced Data Structures and Algorithms, Introduction to Theoretical Computer Science, and Operating Systems at an undergraduate level.

Students may be admitted directly to the PhD program with either a bachelor's or a master's degree, preferably with a computer science related major, but that is not a requirement. However, if you do not have a BS in Computer Science, you may be required to complete undergraduate prerequisites before you are eligible to take graduate courses or hold a Graduate Teaching Assistantship.

When you are ready, apply for admission online. Once the application is complete, the graduate committee will evaluate the application. The committee looks at the whole application before making a decision. In general, the committee considers three factors for admitting students into our PhD program:

• GPA and ranking of the graduating school
• GRE scores (there is no cutoff for considering the application)
• MOST IMPORTANT: Student background in terms of educational training and research interest should match with one of our faculty. For this you should browse the CS Faculty Directory and Faculty Disciplines. You are encouraged to contact the faculty directly to gauge common research interests. (If you have not contacted a faculty member to discuss common research interests, your chances of admission are much lower.)

Full-time PhD students who are awarded a Graduate Assistantship receive a 100% tuition waiver and a stipend.

If you have further questions, please contact the Graduate Program Director (GPD) for Admissions.