Graduate Admissions

We're a big campus -- Big 10, to be exact -- with more than $640 million spent on research and development in a typical year.  We have 15 schools and colleges, including our internationally known Grainger College of Engineering, where Illinois Computer Science resides. This substantial breadth offers many opportunities for CS graduate students to conduct collaborative groundbreaking research that can not only impact computing, but medicine, business, the arts, media, or whatever defines your research and passion. Together, we do the impossible every day.

Application Fee Waivers: The Department of Computer Science will provide a limited number of application fee waivers  to a subset of outstanding applicants who are U.S. citizens or permanent residents, plan to obtain a doctoral degree or a Master of Science (MS) degree in Computer Science on a full-time basis, and come from communities that are underrepresented in Computer Science.

Qualifying applicants must request the waiver by following these instructions:  (i) In the Application Fee Waiver section, answer “Yes” that they are eligible for a fee waiver. (ii)  An additional question will ask if they are applying for the Computer Science MS and PhD waiver, to which they should answer “Yes”.  Applicants will be informed whether their application fee waiver request is approved by the department or if the applicant will responsible to pay the application fee. 

Applicants who have questions about the application fee waiver may contact the Computer Science department at academic@cs.illinois.edu.

Illinois Computer Science Graduate Programs Brochure

Degree & Program Options

Illinois Computer Science offers a variety of graduate study options to fit any educational goal.

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Applications Process and Requirements

All applicants (including current Illinois Computer Science graduate students) must apply through the University's Graduate College. Additional requirements may apply for international students.

Learn more about the application process

Dates and Deadlines

Important dates and deadlines vary depending on the degree program. See the Application Deadlines page for more in-depth information.

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Graduate Computer Science

The graduate program in Computer Science is ranked 5th in Best Computer Sciences Schools issue of U.S. News and World Report (last ranked in 2022).

U.S. News and World Report

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The graduate engineering program at Illinois ranked 10th overall in the Best Graduate Schools issue of U.S. News and World Report (published in March 2020). The list provided here includes all ranked graduate engineering science specialties in The Grainger College of Engineering.

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Become part of a tradition of excellence: of groundbreaking research, historic firsts, and future promise.

Questions? Contact Us.

Email academic@cs.illinois.edu and we'll be happy to help.