Distance Education

Who is Eligible to Apply?

The program is available to U.S. citizens and permanent residents (Green card holders), United States military personnel serving overseas, and foreign nationals residing in the U.S. on qualifying non-student visas.

Although there is no fixed deadline to apply for this distance education degree, applicants are admitted for their desired term only if sufficient time remains for full clearance and enrollment when an admission decision is made.

Admission Criteria

Minimum application requirements include an accredited Bachelor’s degree with at least a B average and, for non-Computer Science majors, strong academic performance in computer science and mathematics.  Applicants must also submit the GRE General Test scores and international applicants must provide TOEFL or IELTS scores, as proof of English proficiency.  We also ask for a Statement of Purpose to be included with the application as well as three professional or academic recommendations.

Those interested in developing their computer science knowledge and skills, but not ready to commit to a degree program, might consider one of our graduate certificates.  Refer to the Graduate Certificate Programs listed in the selection under Computer Science.

Degree Requirements

A minimum of 31 credit hours is required for all students. A minimum of 15 credits should be taken from a group of  Cybersecurity Core Courses, and a minimum of 12 hours of Cybersecurity Core or Cybersecurity Foundations courses. Additionally, 3 credits of Cybersecurity Practicum course and 1 credit of graduate orientation course is required of all students.

The practicum will involve a semester-long team project solving a cybersecurity problem. Practicum projects will be mentored by either an industry partner or faculty member.

See Program Tracks page for requirement breakdown.

Special Topics

Prior approval from Dr. Isabella White is required if you plan to take an CSC/ECE special topics (ECE 591/791) course and have it counted towards graduation.

On-line Courses

All the online engineering, Computer Science, and Electrical and Computer Engineering courses are administered by the Engineering Online unit within the College of Engineering. Visit the Engineering Online (EOL) website to see a listing of online courses to be offered each semester and to register for an online course in this program. You cannot register through MyPack Portal for EOL courses.

Please note that not all courses will be offered via EOL, but enough courses will be offered so that students can complete their degree. Also, DE students can take on-campus courses if they would like to, but the fee structure is more costly.

Advising

If you are admitted to the CYS program, your adviser is Dr. Isabella White (isabella_white@ncsu.edu).