MS in Computer Science

It is recommended that letters of recommendation be from academics. They can either be your faculty, advisors, supervisors, or colleagues. If you have been away from academics for a significant amount of time, you may substitute non-academic references of your choice (e.g. immediate supervisors, colleagues, etc.). The letters should address your academic abilities and your potential to be successful at graduate-level academic performance. If you are applying to our M.S. or Ph.D. program, your letters should also address your research abilities and potential.

All applicants are presented with a series of short-answer personal statement essay questions. Each essay has a 250 word maximum. Questions 1-2 are required from all applicants, while questions 3-4 are optional (your response is voluntary and not answering these questions will not affect your admissions decision). Question #1: Please describe pivotal experiences, opportunities, and/or challenges (including any financial or access barriers) that have influenced your educational and professional development. Question #2: At Illinois, we value a student’s ability to contribute to a community of inclusion, belonging, and respect where our graduate students can learn and collaborate productively and positively. Please provide an example of how you contributed to or engaged with a community of students or colleagues with different perspectives, abilities, and experiences to achieve a positive outcome, and reflect on what you learned from this experience. Question #3: If you believe that your academic record does not demonstrate your true capabilities, please explain why. You may also discuss any gaps in your academic and professional experience. Question #4: If there is something that you would like to share with the admissions committee that you have yet to discuss in other areas of the application, please do so here. If needed, you may also use this space to expand upon the topics discussed in the above essays.

Your CV/resume should address your education, job experience, research experience (M.S. or Ph.D. applicants), remarkable achievements, publications, organizations, awards, and leadership experiences.

This statement should include your goals and background as it relates to the field of computer science. It is good to include any past work history, your interests, and reasons for pursuing a graduate degree in computer science. Please write a statement that answers the following questions (1,000 words max): How has your academic background, including any training, research, or other educational experiences, prepared you for graduate study? What are your intellectual interests, and what scholarly questions are you interested in exploring in graduate study? Are there any specific faculty members whose research interests align with your own with whom you would like to work? How will our program help you achieve your academic and professional goals?

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