Career Services strives to provide students and alumni with the career resources and services that enhance their career development and readiness, while providing them with opportunities to connect with employers seeking Redbirds as candidates.

Career Services assists all Illinois State University students with developing, evaluating, and implementing career decisions.

To be recognized by internal and external stakeholders as a leading, full-service career center serving the Illinois State University community.

Post-Study Work visa or permit, allowing international students on F-1 visas to work in the US after completing their studies, typically through Optional Practical Training (OPT).

Eligibility:
To be eligible for OPT, students must have been enrolled full-time in a US educational institution for at least one academic year and be seeking work related to their major.

Duration:
Students can apply for up to 12 months of OPT, either before they finish their studies (pre-completion) or after graduation (post-completion).

STEM OPT:
Students in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) fields can apply for an extended OPT period of up to 24 months.

University Admission Requirements

A student applying to a master's program must:

• have earned a four-year bachelor's degree or its equivalent from a college or university that is accredited by the appropriate regional accrediting association, or do so within one academic year
• present unofficial transcripts from each college or university other than Illinois State at which graduate, undergraduate, or non-degree credit was earned. The unofficial transcript should be easily readable and clearly indicate degree(s) awarded, courses and course grades for each term.

International students can learn more about specific application requirements by visiting the Office of Admissions.

Additional Program Admission Requirements

To be considered for this program, you must meet the following requirements.

GPA

You must have a cumulative GPA of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale for either the last 60 hours of your undergraduate coursework or any previous work in a Master's program.

GRE

Submit your score from the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) Revised General Test. 

Admitted students typically meet or exceed Quantitative score of 155, and combined Verbal + Quantitative score of 300.

Academic Background

This program requires an undergraduate degree in computer science or closely related areas. If you lack sufficient background, you will need to complete fundamental courses before enrolling in the MS Computer Science degree courses. 

Students lacking sufficient background should expect to complete some or all of the following fundamental courses with a grade of B or better before enrolling in MSCS: 

• IT 168: Structured Problem-solving Using The Computer 
• IT 179: Introduction to Data Structures 
• IT 180: C++ Programming 
• IT 225: Computer Organization 
• IT 279: Algorithms and Data Structures 
• IT 383: Principles of Operating Systems 
• IT 378: Database Processing 

English Proficiency Score (International Students Only)

International students must have a TOEFL score of at least 79 iBT. The minimum acceptable IELTS score is 6.5 overall band.