Fast Track (4+1) Graduate Program (Computing)

Program description, goals, and benefits

The Fast Track program at DSU provides a unique opportunity for high achieving undergraduate students to obtain both a Bachelors and a Master’s degree in five years. This is accomplished by allowing these students to take selected graduate courses during their senior year. These courses will also count towards their undergraduate course requirements thereby accelerating completion of a graduate program. In effect, students will be able to:

• Leverage their presence on campus to complete some of the requirements of the graduate program during the last semesters of their undergraduate degree, thus reducing completion time by at least one semester. In effect, obtaining a BS and a MS degree in five years.
• Save on tuition cost by taking up to 9 credits of graduate course work that will count towards undergraduate and graduate program requirements.

Specific Undergraduate and Graduate Programs for Fast Track Requirements

The Fast Track programs are specifically for the Masters of Science in Information Assurance, Information Systems, Computer Science and Health Informatics graduate programs in the Beacom College of Computer and Cyber Sciences. 

Undergraduate students in:

• Network and Security Administration (NSA) would select the MS Cyber Defense program
• Cyber Operations (CyOp) would select either the MS Cyber Defense or MS Applied Computer Science programs
• Computer Science (CSC) would select either the MS Cyber Defense or MS Applied Computer Science programs

Admission requirements

Students with a identified majors may be admitted to the Fast Track program upon completion of their junior year. Accordingly, they can apply to the program in the last semester of their junior year. To be considered, the student will have to meet the following requirements:

• Have senior status by the time they commence their joint undergraduate/graduate program.
• Have a cumulative GPA of 3.25 or higher after grades have been posted from their junior year.

Application requirements

A Fast Track application can be picked up in either the Beacom College of Computer and Cyber Sciences, the Office of Graduate Studies & Research, or on the graduate website. A completed application package is required once a student has earned his/her BS degree. See program information for specific application requirements.