Mar 28, 2024  
Undergraduate Catalog 2022-2023 
    
Undergraduate Catalog 2022-2023 [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

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


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 Cyber Defense and Computer Science graduate programs in the Beacom College of Computer and Cyber Sciences and the Masters of Science in Information Systems in the College of Business and Information Systems.

Undergraduate students in:

  • BS Network and Security Administration would select either the MS Cyber Defense or MS Information Systems programs
  • BS Cyber Operations would select either the MS Cyber Defense or MS Computer Science programs
  • BS Computer Science would select either the MS Cyber Defense or MS 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.

Cyber Operations/Network and Security Admin/Computer Science with MS Cyber Defence Program of Study


Students will be allowed to take up to 9 graduate credits during their senior year.  Substitute three specific INFA core courses to replace three elective.

Recommended selection:

  • INFA 701 Principles of Information Assurance
  • INFA 713 Managing Security Risks
  • INFA 715 Data Privacy

Cyber Operations/Computer Science with MS Computer Science Program of Study


Students will be allowed to take up to 9 graduate credits during their senior year.  Substitute three specific CSC graduate level core courses to replace three electives (a total of nine credits).

Recommended selection:

  • CSC 705 Design and Analysis Computer Algorithms
  • CSC 714 Database Systems
  • CSC 718 Operating Systems and Parallel Programming

Network and Security Administration with MS Information Systems Program of Study


Students will be allowed to take up to 9 graduate credits during their senior year. 

  • INFS 730 Web Application Development
    To replace: Elective
  • INFS 750 IT Infrastructure, Technology & Network Management
    To replace: Elective
  • INFS 760 Enterprise Modeling and Data Management
    To replace: Elective