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The University of Texas at Austin

New Students

Information for New Graduate Students

Welcome to the Computer Sciences Department at The University of Texas at Austin! You are a distinguished colleague and we are very honored to have you join our department!

Below is a great deal of important and useful information. Much of it is available on various web pages. We strongly encourage you to read the pertinent information to be prepared when you arrive on campus.

For all new UTCS graduate students:

Things you can do before you arrive:

  1. View the Graduate School's Orientation: http://www.utexas.edu/ogs/orientation/ There are links to other topics such as academic policies, the Grad Guide, etc.
  2. Familiarize yourself with UTCS Computing and lab facilities guidelines and policies. You will be able to set up your account after you come to our office to check-in.
  3. Review the information on the degree program and courses:
  4. Student Health Center: All newly-accepted students must provide specific documentation to the SHC regarding immunization history. Incoming International students must be cleared by the SHC to register. Information for incoming students: http://www.healthyhorns.utexas.edu/incomingstudents.html Bring whatever documentation is needed. If you have questions, you may call the Immunization Compliance department at (512) 475-8301. They are located in the Student Services Building (SSB) on East Dean Keaton St.
  5. Always bring your Social Security Card with you in case it is needed for processing.

  6. Clearing Undergraduate Background Courses: All students must clear the CS undergraduate background requirement. Background: Architecture (CS 352), Operating Systems (CS 372), Programming Languages (CS 345) or Compilers (CS 375), Theory of Computation (CS 353) or Algorithms (CS 357). Descriptions of these courses: http://www.cs.utexas.edu/academics/undergraduate/degrees_courses/descriptions/

    There are four ways to satisfy this requirement: by CS Subject GRE ≥ 90%, equivalent courses taken previously at another university, courses taken at UT with GPA ≥ 3.5, final exam taken of the UTCS course with at least a B. Graduate level courses may not be used to satisfy background requirements.

    You will need to bring a syllabus with the official descriptions of the equivalent undergraduate courses you took to clear the required CS background courses. We only need the descriptions of these courses. You may photocopy the pages from your university's catalog, print the pages from your university's web site, or bring the catalog that has the descriptions to our office so we can make copies for your file.

  7. Registration for new graduate students is August 21-22. Procedures to register, add/drop, payment deadline, how to pay your bill, access times, etc. is located on this site: http://registrar.utexas.edu/students/registration/index.html

    In the top menu, there are links to the 2007-2009 Graduate School Catalog and the Course Schedule for Fall 2008.

    Course number syntax: The first digit (usually 3) is the number of hours per week the course meets. The second digit denotes the level of the course; 8 and 9 denote graduate courses. The final digits, and perhaps a letter suffix, are arbitrary, used to distinguish courses.

    • CS 395 is a conference course. Ph.D. students are required to take a CS 395 each semester until they reach candidacy. (The first semester, Ph.D. students take CS 398T instead.) One CS 395 may be counted toward the MSCS.
    • CS 395T is a "topics" course number. You can take CS 395T multiple times as long as the topics vary. There may be ten CS 395T courses offered each semester.
    • CS 398T is a two-part course with short lectures from research faculty, then students select a professor with whom they complete a conference course, and a seminar focused on curriculum construction and teaching methods. All incoming Ph.D. students and those who will be new Teaching Assistants must register for CS 398T Supv Teaching in Computer Sci for the Fall 2008 semester.

    • Usually no graduate courses, other than CS 395, thesis, and dissertation, are offered in summer.

    Nine hours is required to be full-time for Fall or Spring semesters. Only three hours is required in the Summer to be full-time, although enrollment in the Summer is not necessarily required. A graduate student who is a TA, RA, or AI must be registered full-time for the semester(s) they are employed. Most international students must be enrolled full-time, regardless of whether or not they are employed, depending on their visa.

    There are Course-Instructor Surveys which you may want to review in order to see how previous students evaluated courses and professors.

    The most common registration bars a new student may have are:

    • Advising – all new students must be advised before registering.
    • GIAC – for final transcript and proof of degree earned. It will not prevent you from registering for Fall, but it will for Spring. You must have a final transcript with proof of degree earned which must be sent to GIAC (Graduate and International Admissions Center) as soon as possible.
    • Student Health Center – documentation of immunizations is required. Take health documentation to the Student Health Center in the Student Services Building (SSB) on East Dean Keaton Street and be sure you mention the registration bar. Ask them to clear it after you have submitted your record.
    • International Office – all new international students must check-in to that office in order to clear this bar.

  8. GRACS (Graduate Representative Association of Computer Sciences) provides information for incoming CS graduate students in the "Primer." They organize social events and offer a sense of community for our graduate students. Visit their web page located at: http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/gracs/

    The GRACS lounge is located in Taylor Hall (TAY), room 141. There are mailboxes, a microwave, foosball table, etc. for the CS graduate students' use. Please do not have personal mail sent to the department, always close the door if you're the last person to leave, and help us keep the room clean and secure.

    GRACS has set up two Google Groups that new students are invited to join:

    • For new students to interact with current ones:
    • For new students to communicate with each other:
      • Group Mail: utcs_grads_fall2008@googlegroups.com
  9. PhD students can use the Faculty Lounge located in TAY 3.128. This is a "studious" room for reading, writing, etc., also it is often used for talks.
  10. During the year, the best researchers come to campus to present talks. Attending will teach you about current research and about how to give an academic lecture. Presenters' visits will be announced via email by our External Affairs Office and the event will be posted on the Colloquia Calendar. http://www.cs.utexas.edu/department/calendars/

  11. The department also has a UTCS Kinetoscopic Wonderment Short Film Fest: http://www.cs.utexas.edu/~film/

    General References: