PhD in Computer Engineering
Computer Engineering PhD Program
The PhD program at the Department of Computer Engineering consists of three stages:
Courses
Qualifying Exam
Thesis Stage
Applications to the Graduate Studies in Bogazici University, Department of Computer Engineering (CMPE) are processed electronically and there is no other channel of application. All prospective candidates should apply through the Graduate Programs Application process.
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 above. The candidates are advised to study this information carefully and identify specific requirements for their individual cases, as there may variations in terms of 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.
The graduate education is exclusively in English and the applicants are expected to posses a high level of English speaking and writing skills. In only extraordinary circumstances, the Computer Engineering PhD program may admit candidates to the English preparatory class before the actual program. However, the quota for this option is severely limited.
Before finishing the application process, each candidate must identify a desired area of research and prepare a detailed statement of purpose (SoP). The SoP is a key document in the decision process; it is very strongly advised, that the candidates get in contact with a full time faculty member that has matching research interests and get a confirmation that the faculty member is willing to guide the candidate throughout the PhD research. This faculty member will act as both the academic advisor and the thesis supervisor. Please find the most recent list of the CmpE faculty along with keywords of research interest here.
The applications are processed case by case. Note that incomplete applications may not be considered for 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.
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.
Graduates of Bogazici University Computer Engineering Department need not submit reference letters.
The exact interview date for each department, including CmpE is announced on the Graduate Programs Application.
A pre-evaluation is carried out by the department. Candidates with no supporting faculty member names on the SoP are not invited to the scientific interview. The result of the pre-filtering is sent to each applicant a few days before the interview date. If an applicant is invited to the interview, the interview place and time is sent.
Once invited, each applicant must be present in person during the designated time slot for their interview. The interview typically takes between 5-15 minutes and involves a discussion of the candidate’s past academic record, research direction, skillset and technical knowledge. If a candidate cannot be physically present for the interview, for instance due to being resident in a foreign country, the admission committee must be informed as soon as possible in written form (e.g., via email) for a rearrangement, supported with the necessary justification.
Following the interview phase, the admission board evaluates each application based on several criteria, including the interview performance, evaluations of the faculty about the candidate, transcript(s) and reference letters to reach at a final decision.
The admission decisions are officially announced from the website of the Institute of Graduate Studies in Science and Engineering (Fen Bilimleri Enstitusu). Only accepted and conditionally accepted candidates are announced, where the latter is for cases when further documents are required. During this ‘conditionally accept’ period, any missing documents that are needed for the official registration must be completed.
A student may be asked to take remedial courses before starting the regular PhD program. Current remedial courses are six undergraduate courses:
Students, who cannot certify that they have taken and successfully passed these courses in their transcripts, need to register as a remedial student. If the student believes that he/she had already taken some of these courses but still observes them in the required course list in OBIKAS, then he/she should write directly to the Graduate Studies Coordinator.
The semester type on OBIKAS should be REMEDIAL. This means that the GPA of courses taken during this semester will have no effect on the GPA to be obtained for the registered program.
Remedial courses have to be taken whenever they are open, i.e. prerequisite condition is not applied. Please note that most remedial courses are open only once in each academic year, although it is possible that some are open during the summer term.
Remedial courses have to be completed in two successive academic semesters. Note that the Summer term is not counted as an academic semester, but courses can be taken during summer to reduce the course load in academic semesters. 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 need to contact the Graduate Studies Coordinator so that the courses can be dropped from his/her remedial course list.
The student must pass from the remedial courses with GPA >= 2.50. Failure from a course or GPA < 2.50 hinders the student from continuing further studies in CmpE. The GPA for remedial courses is calculated after all remedial courses are taken. Graduate students cannot simultaneously register for normal program courses while taking the remedial courses.
If the student is a graduate of a non-thesis masters program, then she/he has to take CmpE599 and CmpE59A in addition to the above list (This is valid if the student has been a registered student of a non-thesis MS program before Feb 2013).
For succesuful candidates, registration process and additional required documents can be found on the University Registration webpage.