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New Jersey Institute of
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A Public Research University |
MS IS QUICK LINKS: MSIS Home / Description / Frequently Asked Questions / Advising / How to Contact Us /
Other MS IS LINKS: On-Line Advising / Course Planning Form / Non-CIS Electives / Masters Project / Evaluating Courses / Useful Links / Forms / Acronyms
IS Department QUICK LINKS: IS Dept Home / Degrees / Courses / Faculty / People / Research / Location
Note: Students may follow the requirements for when they entered the MS IS program, or any newer ones.
The most frequent misunderstandings within the MS IS program can be avoided by the following:
This set of requirements pertains to MS IS students entering in Fall 2001 and later. In most ways it is actually more flexible than the older MS IS Program requirements from 1998. Students enrolling prior to Fall 2001 are free to follow the current set of requirements instead of those in force when they entered.
The master's program in Information Systems emphasizes the planning, investigation, design, development, application, assessment, and evaluation of Information Systems. It is intended to train individuals to be able to carry out the above process for small systems and to be a valuable contributing member of teams that carry out the development and implementation process for large scale efforts.
This program is designed to accommodate students interested in the application of Information Systems to any possible area: e.g. business, physical sciences, social sciences, biological sciences, the arts, humanities, engineering, etc. The program trains students to be integral members of application development teams. This program is designed as a subset of the Ph.D. program in IS. The desciption here includes several notes for students considering continuing on with the Ph.D. program.
There also are a number of NJIT Certificate Programs which offer a four course subset leading to this degree. The following certificates provide a starting subset of the MS IS degree:
For further information on the MS IS program, please first check the MS IS Frequently Asked Question List and the MS IS Advising System. If your questions are not answered there, please feel free to contact an MS IS Program Advisor at msis @ oak.njit.edu.
NJIT has related Masters programs in Computer Science, Telecommunications, Information Systems Management and Management of Technology (MBA).
The requirements in this document apply for students matriculating starting in September 2001. Students who matriculated earler may follow these requirements or those from the 1998 program description.
Applicants with degrees in any field are welcome to apply for the MS IS program. Students without the prerequisite background knowledge will be able to make this up through a series of "bridge courses."
Applicants with degrees in Information Systems (or Management Information Systems), Computer Science, Computer Engineering and other degrees which develop a high degree of computer skills and knowledge are usually sufficiently prepared for entry into this program. Students are expected to have a working knowledge of the C programming as this is assumed for many technical courses in the department. Students also need to have at least a year of calculus, a probability and statistics course requiring calculus as a prerequisite, and an additional advanced math course such as discrete analysis.
Applicants must have a GPA of 3.0 or higher in their prior academic work. (Applicants not meeting this requirement, but who have significant work experience since their last degree may be considered on an individual basis.)
Applicants without a prior undergraduate or masters degree from the United States must submit GRE, GMAT, or MCAT scores for admission.
* Note that CIS 505 is a concentrated, advanced level programming course. It is equivalent to CIS 113 and CIS 114, and students may choose to take these two courses instead.
Mathematics
Students must have at least a B average in all bridge courses, with no grade lower than a C.
Students without an excellent command of English may be required to take specific written and spoken English courses.
Final determination of bridge requirements can only be made from the examination of a completed formal application folder.
Applicants with prior coursework covering the bridge topics should attach a note to their application clearly showing which courses correspond to these bridge requirement, if possible.
Applicants with work experience in the field of computer or information systems may have work experience applicable to satisfying part of the bridge program. Such applicants should submit with their application a detailed description of their of work experience covering job responsibilities, required computer skills and knowledge, and typical computer based work projects. Clearly explain which courses this experience would satisfy, and why.
Students who have high-enough grade averages in prior academic work (and GRE, GMAT, or NCAT scores high enough for entry in the Ph.D. program) can meet the less specific bridge requirements for the Ph.D. in IS program.
Important Note: If you are assigned any bridge courses or English courses, you *must* take these preparation courses before taking graduate courses. In your final semester of preparation courses (or if you are delayed by prerequisites for particular bridge courses), you may also sign up for graduate level courses to fill your schedule.
The student is required to take 36 credits (12 courses). Twenty-one are selected from the required courses below. The remainder of the credits are made up of electives in one or more specialty areas.
The course planning form lays out much of the information in this program description. Use it to plan out your courses for your degree. Please bring this (or email it) to the Program Director whenever you wish to discuss your progress.
The required courses are:
All three IS core courses are required:
--> Students planning to continue with the IS Ph.D. program in IS should take a fourth core course: CIS 679 as part of their electives. We also highly recommend this course for all MS IS student, although it is optional.
We recommend that you take the core courses immediately. Note that you must take CIS 677 before CIS 675.
To ensure a strong technical foundation, MS IS students should choose a minimum of two courses (selected from at least two of the five following areas). Additional courses from this list can be included as electives.
--> Students planning to continue with the IS Ph.D. program should take two additional courses from at least four of the five areas as part of their electives, i.e., four courses from this list total.
We strongly recommend that the student program of study includes an application area outside of Computer Science and Information Systems. This two-course concentration focuses on a specific type of information systems environment - a specific application area for Information Systems or an interdisciplinary area that supports the development of improved Information systems. Students optionally may substitute two CIS courses - the "CIS Track."
--> Students planning to continue with the IS Ph.D. program should take all four courses in a track, and may not choose the CIS Track.
The Interdisciplinary IS Track is recommended for those interested in the application of Information Systems in non-commercial fields such as the physical or Social Sciences, Engineering, the Arts, Humanities, Public Administration, etc.
The Management Applications Track and MIS Track are recommended for those interested in traditional business and commercial applications of Information Systems.
The Industrial Engineering Track is recommended for those interested in analyzing the relationship between people, organizations in order to better design computer systems that fit with people and the workplace.
The Electronic Enterprise Architecture Design Track is recommended for those interested in the use of IS methodologies and methods for redesigning organizations based upon employing modern Information Technology and Concepts.
The Multimedia Communications Track is intended to provide students the understandings needed to deal with multimedia data as a part of information systems in the context of development, presentation, utilization and understanding by individuals and organizations.
The Biomedical Informatics Track allows the student to concentrate on the utilization of information systems in the biomedical and health areas. It capitalizes on courses offered by UMDNJ as part of a joint program in this area with NJIT.
The Bioinformatics/Computational Biology Track allows the student to concentrate on the use of computer science and mathematics to model biological systems, e.g., computational physiology (heart modeling), computational neuroscience, (modeling brain function), and computational molecular biology (modeling genetics and gene function).
The Computer and Information Systems Track allows the student to focus on the technology of Computer Science and the techniques of Information Systems (not valid for students planning to continue with the IS Ph.D. program).
The actual course alternatives in each area are:
Interdisciplinary IS Track
- HRM 601 Organizational Behavior, or HRM 655 Theory and Research in Organizational Behavior, or 26:620:555 Theory and Research in Organizational Behavior (Rutgers)
- MGMT 691A Legal, Ethical, and Privacy Issues in Computing, or ENG 603 Cultural and Technological Change
- IE 661 Human Design Factors in Engineering, or 26:630:660 Qualitative Research (Rutgers)
- MGMT 760 Research Methods and Multivariate Analysis, or 26:960:577 Introduction to Statistical Linear Models (Rutgers), or 26:630:576 Quantitative Methods in Marketing (Rutgers)
Management Application Track
- FIN 624 Financial Management
- HRM 601 Organizational Behavior, or HRM 655 Theory and Research in Organizational Behavior, or 26:620:555 Theory and Research in Organizational Behavior (Rutgers)
- MRKT 631 Market Planning and Analysis, or MRKT 632 Marketing Strategy for Technology Based Organizations, or 26:630:576 Quantitative Methods in Marketing (Rutgers)
- ACCT 610 Internal Auditing Concepts and Procedures, or ACCT 615 Concepts of Strategic Cost Analysis
Management IS Track
- MIS 645 Operations Management, Planning and Control
- MIS 655 Information Systems Audit, Control and Security
- MIS 665 Electronic Commerce
- Mgmt 630 Decision Analysis, or Mgmt 685 Operations Research and Decision Making, or EM 714 Multicriteria Decision Analysis, or MIS 648 Decision Support Systems, or MIS 690 Executive Information Systems
- MIS 654 Design of Accounting Information Systems
Multimedia Communications
- ENG 604 Communication Research and Theory
- ENG 605 Electronic Publishing and Design
- ENG 613 Multimedia Presentations
- ENG 710 Creating Hypertext Projects: A Task Oriented Approach
Biomedical Informatics (Courses offered at UMDNJ)
- BINF 5010 Bioinformatics Database Systems
- BINF 602/BINF5020 Biomedical Modeling and Decision Making Systems
- BINF 603/BINF5030 Visualization in Biomedical Sciences
- BINF 621/BINF5210 Research Methods in Health Sciences
Bioinformatics/Computational Biology Track
- Any two courses offered by the Computational Biology Department in the College of Computing Sciences.
Industrial Engineering Track
- IE 621 Systems Analysis and Simulation
- IE 661 Man-Machine Systems, or IE 669 Human Design Factors in Engineering
- IE 673 Total Quality Management, or IE 674 Quality Maintenance and Support Systems
- IE 760 Quantitative Methods in Human Factors, or IE 761 Advanced Studies in Human Factors, or IE 762 Psychophysical Methods in Human Factors
Electronic Enterprise Architecture and Design Track
- CIS 676 Requirements Engineering
- CIS 634 Information Retrieval
- CIS-684 Business Process Innovation, or 26:711:585 Control Models in Operations Management Modeling of Continuous Dynamic Systems.
- CIS-762 Planning and Forecasting IS, or 26:630:625 Clustering and Related Methods of Data Analysis (Rutgers)
Computer and Information Systems Track
--> This track is not valid for students planning on
continuing with the IS Ph.D. program.
- any two CIS courses above the 500 level except CIS 785.
Students do not have to commit to any one track until they reach the point of needing to actually take the courses. When multiple courses are listed as counterpart alternatives above, one may be more advanced than an another and more desirable for the students thinking of going on for a Ph.D. or for those already having a background in that area.
For all courses listed here, students must check on the prerequisite knowledge assumed to determine if they need missing pre-requisites. They should, if uncertain, discuss this with the IS Program Director.
The remaining five courses are electives.
MS IS students may take 2 non-CIS courses total (including any for the application track). Not all courses at NJIT are valid electives. Be sure the check the Non-CIS Electives list to determine which courses are valid electives! (Students with a CS or IS academic background or with several years work experience in IS or CS may take four courses outside the CIS department. They *must* get written approval from the IS Advisor to take more than two courses outside CIS.
--> Students planning to continue with the IS Ph.D. program may take up to four non-CIS courses *after* gaining written approval from their MS IS Advisor.
We strongly recommend the following courses as electives:
We recommend the following advanced CIS electives for particularly outstanding Masters students:
CIS 700 (masters project), CIS 701 (masters thesis - 2 semesters long, 6 credits), non-seminar CIS 785 and CIS 786 (special topics), and IS- or CS- related independent study courses in any department count as CIS electives. You must write down the topic studied in any of these courses for them to count as elective credit. Courses at the 500 level do not count for elective credit.
--> Students planning to continue with the IS Ph.D. program may not take CIS 700 for Ph.D. credit. Also, only 3 credits of CIS 701 will count towards the IS Ph.D. program.
While we encourage people to partake in NJIT's Cooperative Program, it does not count as IS elective credit.
If you are assigned any bridge courses or English courses, you *must* take these preparation courses before taking graduate courses. In your final semester of preparation courses, you may also sign up for graduate level courses to fill your schedule.
If you are going to partake in NJIT's Cooperative Program, you must have completed all bridge and IS core courses before beginning your Co-op. In this case you should take CIS677 and CIS673 in your first semester after completing bridge courses, with CIS675 in your second semester. Certain exceptions will be made for students who have completed all bridge courses before starting on graduate courses, and who begin their core courses as soon as they have completed their bridge courses.
Generally we recommend doing the core courses in your first two semesters (for full-time students) or in your first three semesters (for part-time students).
Bridge Courses: Candidates must have at least a B in each CIS bridge course, and at least a C in each Math bridge course.
IS Core Courses: Candidates must have a B average in all IS core courses, with no core course grade lower than a C+.
Overall: Candidates must have a B average in all graduate level courses combined (500-level and above).
The program welcomes part-time and distance students. All core courses and most other courses are offered in a distance learning mode as well as the normal face-to-face (classroom) offerings.
Application forms may be obtained from the Office of University Admissions (NJIT, University Heights, Newark NJ 07102, Tel: +1 973 596-3300. Admissions forms also appear on the NJIT website (http://www.njit.edu/admissions). A non-refundable fee is required with the actual application for admission.
Those seeking credit for bridge course prerequisites should include in the application package a detailed resume and/or explanation with specific details of various related job experiences or former academic courses previously taken.
NJIT does not award funding for first semester masters students. Once you are here you can talk to individual professors and see if any research assistantship positions might open up in your second semester. There are some opportunities for support, but not many. You also can register yourself on the "blue list" at the Graduate Studies Office if you have a 3.5 GPA or above. Again, there are a few opportunities for support, but not many.
There are several scholarship opportunities available for minority and newly-nationalized U.S. citizens. Please contact the Graduate Studies Department for more details.
Those interested in the Masters in Information Systems who have specific questions, should first check the MS IS Frequently Asked Question List and the MS IS Advising System. If your questions are not answered there, please feel free to contact an MS IS Program Advisor at msis @ oak.njit.edu.
The program advisors can not and will not evaluate any resumes and application material that is not part of a formal application to NJIT. It is impossible to express (before the complete application is reviewed) any specific opinions about admission, support, and or transfer credits. However, academic questions on the program are welcome. See the program contact information to get in touch with us.
This page was last updated on: 3/14/03
