MS Program in CMPE#
Application#
The most actual information about the application process, such as required documents and certificates, quotas, and important deadlines, are announced regularly on the page linked below. The candidates are advised to study this information carefully and identify specific requirements for their individual cases, as there may be variations in required documents depending on the specific status. Applicants should compare to the previous application period, and plan well ahead to obtain mandatory certificates (such as GRE, TOEFL, UYS, YDS for PhD) on time. Remember that many certificates require registering many weeks before taking an exam and report results with some delay.
Graduate applications for MS and PhD programs at Boğaziçi University are processed exclusively online. All prospective candidates must apply through the official application system.
Click here to start your application.
Some useful notes for the applicants:
The education is exclusively in English and the applicants are expected to possess a high level of English speaking and writing skills. In only extraordinary circumstances, the program may admit candidates to the English preparatory class. The candidates should check the Prep Class box during on-line application and take the DBS (English Language Level Test) so as to get considered as an English prep student by the CMPE Department.
Boğaziçi University uses a grading system similar to the US grading system (AA, BA, BB, .., DD), corresponding to (4, 3.5, 3, .., 1 ), and ‘F’ for failing. The following link will be helpful in translating the GPA, especially for candidates applying from a foreign university:
Some submissions require letters of reference written on candidate’s behalf. Such letters must be uploaded to an on-line reference system by the referees. Past experience has shown that referees too often forget or delay to upload these letters. It is in the candidate’s responsibility to remind the referees to ensure that letters are uploaded before the evaluation.
The online application site contains a survey for the candidate to select six evaluators among full-time CMPE faculty members as the Preferred Instructors. The candidate must select them in line with his/her possible research topics.
Pre-evaluation#
The applications are processed case by case in the pre-evaluation phase. Note that incomplete applications may not be considered for further evaluation and the candidate may not be invited to an interview. Beware that the workflow in University’s On-line Application System allows finalizing an application with eventually missing documents.
Pre-evaluation is applied by the Preferred Instructors. This phase is carried out by studying the application documents. If necessary, Preferred Instructors may contact the applicant before finalizing the pre-evaluation process. Only selected applicants are invited to the scientific interview.
The result of the pre-evaluation is sent to each applicant a few days before the interview date. If an applicant is invited to the interview, then a detailed schedule for the scientific interview is also sent.
Scientific Interview#
At least two faculty members conduct the scientific interview of the candidates who passed the pre-evaluation phase. The interviewers may be different from the ones in the survey.
Interview with each interviewer takes 10 or 15 minutes at the office of the interviewer. The interview involves a discussion of the candidate’s past academic record, research direction, skillset and technical knowledge. Between two interviews, there is at least a period of 10 minutes so that the applicant can be ready at the next office at the specified time slot. The time interval between two interviews can be longer than 10 minutes due to the scheduling constraints.
Each applicant is expected to appear in the interview. If she/he cannot be physically present for the interview, then a teleconference may be requested by the applicant by directly writing to the interviewer. Yet, the interviewer may or may not accept the teleconference request. If the request is not accepted, the applicant is assumed to be absent.
After the interviews, the applicant may revise the list of Preferred Instructors. This may include the addition or removal of a member as well as changing the order in the list. In this case, the applicant should submit the new list before the deadline specified in the invitation mail.
Evaluation#
The Admission Committee evaluates each application based on several criteria, including the interview performance, evaluations of the CMPE Faculty Members about the candidate, transcript(s), and reference letters to reach a final decision.
The admission list is officially announced from the website of the Institute of Graduate Studies in Science and Engineering.
A CMPE Faculty Member in the final Preferred Instructors list of each accepted candidate is assigned as her/his Thesis Supervisor and Academic Advisor throughout the M.Sc. studies.
Registration#
Registration process and additional required documents are announced on this website: http://ogrenciler.boun.edu.tr/Home/Content/universityregistration
Registration dates are officially announced by the Institute of Graduate Studies in Science and Engineering and also in the academic calendar and the registration pages of the university.
Conditional registration is not possible in Boğaziçi University, i.e. all documents have to be submitted to the Registrar’s Office:
After registering to the University, the supporting faculty member is assigned as the academic advisor and thesis supervisor of the student.
The student has to register at the beginning of each Academic Term. The registration process is online through the registration system OBIKAS. If you are a newcomer, please follow this tutorial.
Selecting the correct term type is essential in completing the registration of an academic term. This selection is possible through the radio buttons such as NORMAL, REMEDIAL, THESIS, etc.
There are three terms (Fall, Spring and Summer) in an academic year. Summer term is optional: you may register only if you want to take a course, albeit with an higher tuition rate per credit.
The time-spans for MS and PhD programs are two and four academic years, respectively. The time can be extended to three and six academic years for MS and PhD, respectively. Further extension is not possible. Scientific prep and English prep are not counted.
In certain circumstances, the student may suspend the graduate program for a term. A leave of absence can be granted after the student completes the term registration and files an e-petition through the OBIKAS. A student can file at most two leave petitions. In case of serious health problems (along with official evidence) or a long-term military service, the student may request the semester leave not to be counted in the official time span of the program.
If a student does not register in four successive terms, then OBIKAS access of the student is disabled until a valid English exam score is submitted to the Registrar’s Office.
Courses: Scientific Prep#
SEMESTER TYPE on OBIKAS: REMEDIAL
A student may be asked to take the below courses before starting the Main Program:
CMPE220 : Discrete Computational Structures (equivalent: Discrete Math)
CMPE250 : Data Structures
CMPE322 : Operating Systems
If the student had already taken some of these courses but still observes them in the required course list, then he/she should write directly to the Graduate Studies Coordinator.
Courses have to be taken whenever they are offered, i.e., prerequisite condition is not applied. Most of them are offered only once in each academic year.
Courses have to be completed in at most two successive academic terms. Summer term is not counted as an academic term, but courses can be taken during summer to reduce the course load in academic terms.
If the student is not registered to the University at the time of the Summer term, then she/he should contact secretarial office so as to get registered to the Summer term at a discounted tuition rate. If the course grade is CB or higher, then the student must contact the Graduate Studies Coordinator so that it can be dropped from the course load.
Students cannot register for Main Program courses during Scientific Prep.
The student has to complete the Scientific Prep with GPA >= 2.50. Failure from a course or GPA < 2.50 hinders the student from continuing further studies in CMPE. The GPA of Scientific Prep is calculated after all listed courses are taken.
The GPA of Scientific Prep has no effect on the GPA of the Main Program.
Courses: Main Program#
SEMESTER TYPE on OBIKAS: NORMAL
Seven technical elective courses + CMPE579 (M.Sc. Seminar). At most one technical course can be of guided-research type.
Technical courses have to be in alignment with the chosen research area. The advisor may ask the student to take as many non-credit courses as necessary. Note that non-credit courses do not count in the GPA, but must be repeated if failed. The student cannot proceed to the qualification exam stage until all non-credit courses are passed. If the advisor approves, certain non-credit 5XX courses that are otherwise offered for credit can be converted to a course with credits until the end of the add-drop period of the following semester.
Students have to complete 21 credits and 60ECTS from the courses. At least four technical courses have to be CMPE5XX or CMPE6XX. The remaining load can be filled from all programs provided that the course is related with the thesis work, the advisor approves and the following conditions hold:
At most two 4xx courses.
5XX and 6XX courses from all departments of Boğaziçi University or exchange universities.
At most two courses from another university. In this case, students have to directly apply to the Institute of Science and Engineering for an approval. Note that BÜ does not allow a course to be taken from another university if it is offered in BÜ. Grade is transferred as P or F but ECTS is transferred as it is.
“CMPE599: Guided Research in MS - I” is a 4-credit course in which the student can start research for the domain of the MS thesis. The student has to register to the related section of his/her supervisor. This course is usually taken in the first or second semester. The supervisor may ask the student to take at most four additional non-credit guided research courses, CMPE69A, 69B, 69C and 69D depending on the breadth of the thesis topic. The supervisor may also approve the student taking a guided research course from another department provided that it is registered as a non-credit course.
The student is expected to complete 9 credits in the first semester, 15 credits at the end of the second semester and 21 credits (i.e., all course work) at the end of the third semester. Maximum course load per semester is five.
Courses with F/CC/CB grades can be repeated with another course.
Courses and seminar have to be completed in four semesters with a GPA higher than 3.00 to continue to the program
Attention
Registration to MS THESIS is essential starting from the second semester. However, term type should be NORMAL until all courses finish. Please check MS Thesis for details.
MS Thesis#
SEMESTER TYPE on OBIKAS: THESIS
Thesis Proposal#
Starting from the second semester, the student has to register to his/her supervisor’s section of CMPE690: M.S. THESIS.
The student prepares a thesis proposal under the guidance of the Thesis Supervisor who circulates it in the Department Board. Once the thesis proposal is accepted, the student starts the M.Sc. Thesis. The proposal has to be reported to the Institute.
There can also be a Co-supervisor who can be a PhD holder.
Thesis Period#
Thesis Supervisor evaluates the thesis progress every semester. If it is found sufficient, the student gets TP grade.
Thesis Defense#
A thesis book has to be written under the guidance of the thesis advisor. The thesis book has to be evaluated by the advisor to check ethical and scientific correctness, and completeness of the work. If some parts of the thesis book get published, then it is the student’s responsibility to check the copyright policies of the publisher. Complete guideline for the thesis book preparation is here.
Before the defense, the thesis book has to be submitted to the Thesis Defense Jury (TDJ), which is formed of three or five full-time professors [1]
One full-time professor from another university
Majority of TDJ has to be full-time professors of Boğaziçi University
Co-supervisor can appear and vote in a five-member TDJ provided that she/he is a full-time faculty member. In all other cases, he/she can appear in TDJ but cannot vote.
Thesis Defense has to take place within one month after the thesis book is given to TDJ. It has to be publicly announced at least fifteen days before the defense. The advisor also has to inform Institute of Graduate Studies in Science and Engineering (FBE) about the defense time and place by dropping an e-mail to fbe@bogazici.edu.tr
Thesis Defense is an oral presentation open to TDJ, other faculty members, students and experts in the field of the thesis work. After the presentation, TDJ asks questions to evaluate the thesis work and the M.Sc. candidate.
After the defense, TDJ can directly accept the thesis or grant at most three months to the candidate so that he/she can complete some additional work asked by the TDJ. If the thesis work is still found unsatisfactory after this period, then the student has to leave the program.
Graduation requirements are as follows: The thesis work should also be submitted as a scientific paper to a peer-reviewed conference or a peer-reviewed journal or a patent evaluation. If the submission is under review at the time of graduation, its copy also has to be passed to the Graduate Studies Coordinator.