Frequently Asked Questions

What are the admission criteria for this program? What are the minimum TOFEL, GRE, and GPA scores for your program? How competitive is the selection process?

Unlike many professional master degree programs in technology, the VLIS program is very selective. Our focus is on the quality of our students, not on the quantity of the students in the program. All of our students have very strong backgrounds in Computer Science. Many of our student's applications are actually strong enough to attend Ph.D. programs at other institutions. These students still choose to attend CMU.
The degree program has no minimums for any test score or GPA.

What's the difference between MSIT, MSIT-SE, MSIT eBusiness, and MSIT-VLIS?

• The MSIT degree is offered by the CMU Heinz School of Public Policy and Management. The focus of the degree is the management of IT technology deployment and its use in business and government.
• The MSIT-SE degree is offered by the CMU School of Computer Science. The focus of the degree is on teaching the principles and practice of software engineering.
• The MSIT eBusiness degree is offered by the CMU School of Computer Science. The focus of the degree is on innovative learning-by-doing instruction in IT technology.
• The MSIT-VLIS degree is offered by the CMU School of Computer Science. The focus of the degree is on the creation of new core Computer Science technology.

Can I continue to the Ph.D. degree after I graduated from the MSIT VLIS program? I found that there is no MSIT - VLIS program with a Ph.D. degree.

There is no VLIS Ph.D. degree - however, successfully completing the degree with good grades gives your Ph.D. application a big boost in several ways. Your VLIS GPA will be weighed heavily in the evaluation of an application. In addition, performing research as part of the degree (e.g., course project, capstone project) will also greatly increase your chances of success. Finally, admission into the VLIS program is very, very selective, so a VLIS degree would help any Ph.D. application. There are no guarantees, of course.

What about internships?

Internships provide an opportunity for an industrial development or industrial research experience before graduation. This experience improves the student's access to the company providing the internship and generally improves the student's employment prospects. We encourage students to do an internship. However, note that an internship will increase the time to complete the degree to 16 months.

How easy is it to get an internship?

CMU students are in high demand. Hundreds of companies (e.g., Apple, Amazon, Bank of America, Booz Allen, Ebay, Google, Intel, Microsoft, Morgan Stanley, MITRE, Motorola, Paypal, Salesforce.com, UBS, VMware, Yahoo, etc.) perform on-campus interviewing at CMU for internships, so with minimal effort a student can typically secure an internship with a Fortune 1000 company.

From the curriculum, I have to complete 9 courses (5 cores, 2 concentrations, the seminar, and 1 elective) and a project to earn the Master's degree. Can I complete more than 9 courses by selecting more than 1 elective course?

Within a semester, we do not recommend taking more than 4 courses because of the difficulty of the curriculum. Thus, you can take as many electives as you like, although it will take you longer to graduate.

From the program curriculum page, this program is typically completed within 16 months. Can I expand my study to 2 years?

Yes, the degree can be completed in a longer time frame with permission of the MSIT VLIS director. You need to inform us as soon as possible about your intention to stay longer and your intended time to complete the degree. In addition, you (or your sponsor) will have to pay more tuition, of course.

Can I take courses in other parts of CMU (Heinz School of Public Policy, Tepper School of Business, etc.)

Yes, with permission from the MSIT VLIS director. However getting into the course may be difficult, depending on the demand for the course. Each school always gives priority to its own students over students from other schools in the university.

Do we have a comprehensive exam or graduation exam after taking 9 courses required for the program?

There are no comprehensive exams in the VLIS program. The student integrates their academic experience with practical application via the capstone project.

Up to now, how many percentage of VLIS students graduate with a degree? or what is the withdraw rate of this program?

Our selective admission process is designed to only admit students who can handle the high course load of the degree. To date, all our students have either received a degree or are on track to receive a degree.

Does this degree study data mining? If no, how different is it from data mining?

The degree program deeply emphasizes three areas that are fundamental to all aspects of data mining: machine learning, information retrieval, and databases. In addition, students can persue projects in data mining and take specialist courses in data mining to further pursue this particular area of study.