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Who is this program for? |
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The
MCIT program is for people who have an undergraduate degree
in a field other than computer science. If your undergraduate
degree is in computer science, you should instead apply to
our MS or PhD
programs. Generally we get two kinds of students-- those with
some degree of programming experience and those who do not
have much experience in programming. Some have a degree in
engineering and some have been working as computer professionals
but would like to have a stronger background. Some students
have gotten excited by computers while they were an undergraduate
and want to gain skills useful in their real field of interest. |
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What if I have no experience? |
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You may be wondering, "If I have no computer background,
won't I be at a disadvantage?" This may be true for the
introductory programming course. In the introductory programming
course, we provide extra help sessions and there is a great
student/teacher ratio in the help sessions. Most beginners
have pretty well caught up by the end of the first semester.
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What will I study? |
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There are six required courses. CIT591 & CIT594 cover
introductory programming, data structures, and algorithms.
CIT592 and CIT596 cover math foundations and the theory of
computation. CIT593 & CIT594 cover computer architecture
and digital design. Following these you will take four computer
science (CIS) electives. This is a total of ten courses and
can be completed in three semesters (usually not including
the summer semester).
[see Curriculum page] |
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What if I do have experience? |
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If you are a Sun-certified Java programmer, or if you can
show substantial Java experience, you can waive the introductory
programming course. If your experience is with any other language
other than Java, you will have to take the introductory programming
course. If you have an electrical engineering background,
you can probably waive one or both computer architecture courses.
If you have a math background, you may be able to waive one
or both of the math theory courses. In all cases, it's up
to the individual instructor to decide whether you have adequate
background to waive a particular course. |
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What are these courses like? |
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CIT591 is an introductory programming course in Java.
As with every introductory programming course, the workload
is heavy. The emphasis is on programming as a skill. 
CIT594 is about data structures and algorithms and the
emphasis is on advanced programming techniques. Java is
used in the course but is not the focus of the course.
CIT597 is programming for the web, covering building, maintaining,
and supporting web sites.
CIT592 and CIT596 are math theory courses. These two courses
do not require calculus or much "conventional"
mathematics. They do require the same kind of "mathematical
thinking" as do other math courses.
CIT593 and CIT595 are the "hardware" courses
where you will learn the assembly languages beneath the
usual programming languages. You will learn to make sense
of the technical specifications and be able to choose the
right equipment for your needs. |
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What kind of computer do I
need? |
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Pretty much any computer produced during the last two years
will be sufficient. Most students have Windows machines, but
Macintosh is fine too. The main computer lab we use is a Linux
lab. (We give you an introduction to Unix and Linux). We also
have plenty of computer labs.
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What about waiving courses? |
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To get the MCIT degree, you must take ten courses. If you
waive a course, you get to take something else in it's place
(but you still need ten courses). Up to two courses can be
transferred in for credit. These must be graduate level courses
and appropriate for the MCIT degree. |
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Can I be a part-time student? |
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Yes, we have a number of part-time students, typically taking
one course a semester. However, we can't offer evening courses
because it's a small program. Most students are full-time
and courses are scheduled accordingly. Part-time students
are welcome, but you'll have to be able to take daytime courses.
Some courses are taught as late as 4:30pm - 6:00pm and no
course (so far) has started earlier than 10:30am. No required
CIT courses (and very few CIS courses) are taught during the
summer. Many students take Telecommunications
(TCOM) courses, or other elective courses, in the summer.
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Can I start in the Spring? |
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No. We really encourage you to start in the Fall semester.
The six required courses are really three two-semester sequences;
due to this sequence of course offerings, candidates should
not apply for Spring admission.
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How likely am I to succeed
in this new field? |
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We admit only highly qualified applicants with good grades
and high GRE scores. If you are admitted, you are smart enough
to graduate. The director of the program, David Matuszek,
takes it as his personal responsibility to get you through
the program successfully, especially those students with no
prior computer experience. |
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Will I get a job? |
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Before the dot-com bust, qualified people never had any
problem getting computer jobs. We are recovering from the
dot-com bust now. Many think that technology will make the
first and strongest recovery. An MCIT degree will give you
good practical skills and strong credentials. The MCIT program
has an outstanding placement record.
Even though the MCIT program is fairly new, it is starting
to get widely known. |
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