The Ph.D. degree is intended for students planning to pursue a career in computer science research and education. The doctoral program normally requires four to six years of study. Ph.D. students must spend at least four semesters in full-time study at Rice, where full-time study is defined as enrollment in nine or more hours of coursework. The Ph.D. degree requires a combination of coursework and original research, as evidenced in a written thesis and a public oral defense of that thesis.

The Department of Computer Science offers two terminal graduate degree options, including a Master of Computer Science and a Master of Data Science. These degrees are intended for students who plan to pursue a technical career in the computer industry or in data science. Each of our two programs offers an option of an on-campus program or an in-person program. 

Past graduates occupy positions at many top technology companies, including Google, Meta, Microsoft, Amazon, Oracle, Cisco, and IBM. Professional masters students join a lively and invigorating community of scholars in the largest academic department at Rice University.

Our multi-disciplinary research activities often go beyond engineering, as we begin to observe a major X+CS worldwide movement in which innovations in any discipline X occur at the boundary between X and Computer Science.

The Office of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies and the Rice General Announcements are definitive sources of general information related to obtaining a graduate degree from Rice. Explore the links below to find out more about financial support options while at Rice, life at Rice, living in Houston and graduate student organizations such as CS GSA.