The University of Chicago Computer Science Professional Program

The University’s academic honesty policy is available from the University of Chicago’s Student Manual. The CSPP requires that all and any work students submit for grading be original and that it be the independent result of their own labor. We encourage our students to work together and to learn from each other. At the same time we expect that our students have the solid judgment to understand the difference between collegial collaboration and blatant sharing of solutions, computer code, designs etc. As a rule, any collaboration, and any source used should be explicitly acknowledged. The University’s disciplinary procedures apply in the CSPP. For more information please read the UC Student Manual.

All students in the CSPP will be required to sign the CSPP Academic Honesty Statement before they begin their studies.

The CSPP reserves the right to place a student on academic probation when the student does not satisfy the academic standards of the program. Specifically, a student who fails to maintain a GPA of C+ or better for two quarters, or is carrying three or more incompletes, is placed automatically on academic probation. The student will receive a letter from the Program Director detailing the specific steps he or she must take to regain normal status. The standard requirement is that the student on probation should earn a B+ or better in each course taken and that the incompletes be eliminated quickly. Students who fail to improve their academic performance during the probation period may be asked to leave the program.

The Audit option is not available to CSPP students.

The University allows students to register for up to two (2) CSPP courses through the Graham School. Please note, any CSPP or CS course taken through the Graham School is not guaranteed to count towards the nine required classes for CSPP graduation even if the student is admitted to the CSPP program. Immersion Phase classes are not eligible for registration through the Graham School.

The following channels of communication exist within the Computer Science department and the Division of Physical Sciences. Please use them in the order presented.

• Director of the Program
• Chairman of the Department
• Divisional Dean of Students

All information about CS accounts and access to University of Chicago computing facilities can be found on the department’s website.

Use of the University of Chicago’s computer resources must conform to the University of Chicago Eligibility and Acceptable Use Policy for Information Technology. In particular you may not use the resources for business purposes. While you may put your email address or URL on your resume, you may not advertise or sell services using your University computing resources. Familiarize yourself with the University’s policy on acceptable use of its computer resources (including our Department’s resources). Violation of the University’s policy will result in University disciplinary action.

Students are encouraged to discuss their concerns about courses directly with the instructor of the course. Students are encouraged to discuss their concerns about the program directly with the CSPP Director. If a student would like to take any concerns beyond the Director of the CSPP, please use the Communication Channels outlined in the Communications Channel section.

Students in the CSPP may take up to two (2) courses from outside the CSPP course offerings and have them count toward their degree requirements as electives. No previous coursework prior to entering the CSPP will be considered towards your degree. With Director’s approval you may take:

• CS courses at level 20000 or above
• Divisional graduate level courses
• Courses from other divisions and schools (e.g., Business School).

To request approval, please send an email to cspp.director@cs.uchicago.edu , identifying the course’s title and number and the instructor. In your email include either the URL to the course’s syllabus or a copy (cut-and-paste) of the syllabus. Send your request at least 10 days prior to the beginning of the quarter. Late requests will not be considered. Please understand that the long and short-term incomplete policies do not apply to courses that you take outside the CSPP sequence.

In the case of CS courses, it is possible to request that in addition to the use above, specific advanced CS courses be used to fulfill CSPP area requirements, and in exceptional cases, the 2-course limit can also be waived for students with very strong background in CS, and/or exceptional industrial experience. Such exceptions should be discussed with the Director, in the context of a well-planned alternative curriculum, as early as possible.

Important note: Please notice that director’s approval is required if and only if you want these courses to count toward the requirements for your degree. In order to earn an MS degree you must take a minimum of 9 approved courses. A non-CSPP course must be approved by the program director if you wish it to count toward your 9 required courses. Such approval must be granted prior to taking the course and not after you took it or after you enrolled in it. You do not need director’s approval for any courses beyond the 9 approved courses. In other words: as long as you have 9 approved courses you may take as many additional courses as you can afford without director’s approval.

Also please note that some units of the University (e.g., the Business School) allow you to conditionally audit the first two weeks of the course. If at the end of that period there is room for you in the course they will allow you to actually register for it. If not you may find yourself in need of a course during the third week of the quarter. Therefore you should consider also attending a CSPP course during the first two weeks of the quarter. This way if your registration at the Business school (or elsewhere) is declined due to enrollment caps you can fully register for the CSPP courses that you were auditing, thus avoiding the difficulties of jumping into a course near the middle of the quarter and also violating our late registration policy. You must earn a letter grade in courses taken outside the CSPP, e.g., Law, Business, etc, The grade must be C+ or better for the course to count toward graduation). Pass/Fail is not an acceptable grade. Please note that CSPP’s Rules and Policies do not govern courses outside the CSPP. For example long and short term incomplete options are not available for courses outside the CSPP.

We are committed to timely communications. Emails from students will be answered within two (2) to three (3) business days when qualified. Urgent notices will receive due priority. See below for details.

Students are responsible for exhausting the well defined means that the CSPP provides for them to track information. These means include the University website, CSPP website, and the professional.enrolled mailing list and its archives.

Students should use one of the following email addresses for timely communications:

• cspp.director@uchicago.edu for regular CSPP related matters that are not covered in the University or CSPP websites and have not been announced in the professional.enrolled mailing list in the past four weeks
• cspp.director.urgent@cs.uchicago.edu for urgent matters of any nature, regardless of existing documentation in the well defined means listed above; please do not use this address for non–urgent matters.

Please notice that email sent to the addresses above is read by various members of the CSPP Team. If you wish your email to be read only by the director, then do send it to cspp.director.confidential@cs.uchicago.edu. Mail sent to this address will be answered within 4–5 business day and it will not be read by any member of the staff except for the CSPP director.

Admission to the CSPP is to the specific quarter applied. Once admitted, if you are unable to start in that quarter, you may request, in writing, approval to defer your admission for up to one year. Without written approval of a deferment, or if your application is more than a year old, we reserve the right to ask you to reapply to the program and will re-evaluate your application in the current year applied.

If your grades are not available from the Registrar’s system, please ask us for a grade report. We routinely delay grade reporting to the registrar in order to be flexible with students’ needs. It is the students’ responsibility to check their records periodically (at the end of each quarter) and report all grade anomalies to the program director immediately.

You must earn a grade of C+ or better in each of the 9 courses that apply toward the degree requirement.

You may not apply for graduation during any given quarter for which you carry incomplete coursework from previous quarters. You may submit a graduation application if-and-only-if the only coursework that you have pending for that graduation quarter are courses of the current quarter alone.

If a student has been inactive in the program for more than one year (4 academic quarters) without requesting and being approved for a leave of absence, the program reserves the right to terminate the student from the CSPP. Readmission to the program will be at the discretion of the CSPP director and may require a new application. The maximum period between a student’s first enrollment in the CSPP and the student’s graduation should not exceed 22 academic quarters.

We recognize that our students may have to deal with an emergency or with exceptional situations that interfere with their studies, and may need some extra time beyond the normal length of the quarter to complete the requirements of a course. In such case a student is offered two options:

Short Term Incomplete Option

• This option is available with the instructor’s permission
• You will receive a blank grade at the end of the quarter
• You will be offered 4–8 weeks from the end of the quarter to complete your coursework
• The grade of A under the short term option will remain available only in the case of a documented death in the family or documented serious illness of the student.
• If your work has not been completed by 8 weeks past the end of the quarter, you must request a long term incomplete.

Long Term Incomplete Option

• You will receive a blank grade on your transcript for the class.
• You will have to retake the course (without registering and at no cost) next time it is offered. The grade earned will be substituted for the blank grade on your transcript.
• If you do not complete the class the second time, or do not earn a passing grade, the blank grade on your transcript will be replaced by the grade earned in the class. Exceptions to this rule will be granted on a case by case basis by the Director of the program after following proper long term incomplete procedures.

Exercising either option requires the explicit written approval of the Director.

Please note: A student with three or more incomplete classes may be placed on academic probation and not allowed to take any additional classes until the incomplete classes are completed.

Procedures for incompletes

• Submit a petition to the program director as soon as possible but no later than the end of the quarter and definitely prior to the assignment of final grades. Petitions submitted during the last two weeks of the quarter run the risk of being declined.
• Petition can be sent by email to the program director and should include:
  1. your name;
  2. your student ID number;
  3. your current email address;
  4. the course # for which you are requesting an incomplete option;
  5. the course name;
  6. the full name of the instructor;
  7. whether you request the short or long term incomplete option;
  8. full justification of the need for extra time (petitions are kept confidential);
  9. if you request a short term incomplete option, include a detailed plan on how to complete the coursework during the grace period.
• Please use plain text email only. No HTML or attachments of any kind will be accepted
• Failure to provide any of the above will result to delays in processing and possibly refusal of your request.
• The Program reserves the right to request documentation or proof for any or all claims that a student makes in a petition for extra time.

It is the students’ responsibility to check their records periodically (at the end of each quarter) and report all grade anomalies to the program director.

Policy restrictions: Students cannot carry incompletes in their graduating quarter.

Important note for international (F1) Students: If you are holding a student visa (F1), please notice that applying for the long term incomplete option and receiving approval for it does not necessarily entitle you to an F1 visa extension. Our policies regarding incomplete grades and long or short term options are purely academic and neither reflects nor implies any endorsement for an F1 visa extension. It is your responsibility, as an F1 holder to clear all incompletes while your F1 visa is valid and without violating the terms and conditions for this visa. We strongly recommend that you consult with the University’s Office of International Affairs or an immigration lawyer when you are in doubt about the implications of the long or short term incomplete options on your F1 status.

We encourage CSPP students to consider doing an independent study for credit under the guidance of a member of our faculty. Independent studies (called “reading and research” sections at the University of Chicago) must be approved by the Director of the CSPP first. The approval process can take as long as 3 weeks.

Independent studies cannot be accepted as substitutes for regularly scheduled courses. Independent studies should offer a student the opportunity for a more advanced coverage of a particular topic. You should not assume that a given faculty member would necessarily be interested in the study you propose, or that she would have the time to work with you. Students interested in independent studies should discuss their plans with the prospective faculty supervisor in order to prepare an action plan, prior to submitting a petition. Petitions will be rejected if the proposed faculty supervisor has not been consulted with prior to submitting the petition.

A petition for an independent study must include the following:

• A descriptive title (up to 50 characters long)
• A statement of scope and objectives (up to 500 words long)
• The name of the faculty advisor/supervisor
• An outline of the study, showing that the student will invest at least 60 hrs in studying and working on the project
• A set of 3-5 milestone objectives that will demonstrate the student’s progress

Petitions may be submitted by email to the program director at least three weeks prior to the beginning of the quarter during which you wish to pursue an independent study.

Petitions will not be approved for topics that are available through regularly scheduled courses in the CSPP.

Independent studies are mini research projects. As such they are inherently risky because you may not be able to conclude your study on time to earn a grade for the current quarter’s deadlines. Therefore we ask that you consider seriously the consequences if you plan to take an independent study during your graduation quarter. If, for whatever reasons, you do not finish your work on time you will not be able to graduate during that quarter.

At most three independent studies courses can be used to count for graduation requirements.

Lost & Found items are kept in the Department’s main office (Ryerson 152) for up to 7 days. After that, Lost & Found items are taken to the University’s central Lost & Found facility (located at the Registrar’s Office, 1st floor, Administration Bldg, 5801 S. Ellis St).

Students who need to take a leave of absence from the program for whatever reason, are required to notify the program director as soon as possible. A student may take a leave of up to one year (4 academic quarters). Requests for longer leave will be considered on a case-by-case basis. The maximum period between a student’s first enrollment in the CSPP and the student’s graduation should not exceed 22 academic quarters.

During your studies here you will be assigned a mailbox/mailslot. It is important that you check your mailbox (located in the 4th floor lab) as frequently as you can. There is no excuse for missing an important deadline because you did not check your mailbox.

Mailbox numbers will be assigned by the end of the second week of your first quarter here.

If you want to receive mail at the Department use the following address:

your_first_name your_last_name
CSPP M/S your_mailslot_number
Department of Computer Science
The University of Chicago
1100 East 58th St
Chicago, IL 60637

Faxes can be sent to (773) 702-8487, provided that they have a cover page with the address format shown above. The printed fax will then be placed in your mailslot

Cell phones, pagers, and other similar devices must be turned off or switched to silent operation during class.

Welcome to the CSPP! Here, you will find instructions how to add your email address to the mailing list for admitted students. This is a very important communication tool that we use to provide timely information to students who are about to begin their studies in the CSPP.

1. Go to https://mailman.cs.uchicago.edu/mailman/listinfo/professional.admitted
2. Scroll down to the section titled “Subscribing to professional.admitted”.
3. Type the email address where you want to receive important information about your upcoming studies in the CSPP.
4. Choose a password to use when accessing confidential information and your personal subscription settings.
5. Click on “Subscribe”. You will receive further instructions or a welcome email shortly after you click the “Submit” button.

If you have any questions, please contact us by email.

The pass/fail grade option is not available to CSPP students.

This mailing list is where important and timely CSPP announcements are made and you are required to monitor this list.

Pleas note: There is no excuse for missing an important deadline because you did not monitor this list.

To subscribe to this list please follow these directions:

1. Go to https://mailman.cs.uchicago.edu/mailman/listinfo/professional.enrolled
2. Scroll down to the section titled “Subscribing to professional.enrolled”.
3. Type the email address where you want to receive important information about your upcoming studies in the CSPP.
4. Choose a password to use when accessing confidential information and your personal subscription settings.
5. Click on “Subscribe”. You will receive further instructions or a welcome email shortly after you click the “Submit” button.

If you are registering for this list please use the same email account that you used for the professional.admitted list and we will automatically remove you from that list. If you use a different e-mail address, you’ll have to tell us what email account you used for the professional.admitted list so that we can remove you from there.

The sooner you subscribe to the professional.enrolled list the sooner you will begin receiving important information about the program.

We are happy to provide recommendation letters in support of CSPP students and alumni professional and academic endeavors. When requesting a recommendation letter please observe the following guidelines.

• Requests for letters from the director should be sent to the program director at cspp.director@cs.uchicago.edu. Allow 1-2 weeks for the letter to be drafted and sent.
• Requests for letters from individual faculty should be sent to that faculty members’email address. Allow for 2–4 weeks for the letter to be drafted and sent.

It is always a good idea to refresh the memory of your recommenders. Please include a recent copy of your resume and perhaps a 1–2 page summary of your accomplishments in the CSPP and elsewhere. This will facilitate the syntax of the letter and will lead to the drafting of a strong and substantial letter. Consider the following two sample documents and please try to provide your prospective recommenders with similar information.

Students must complete their course registration online during the Registration Period given by the Physical Science Division for each quarter. The registration period for Fall, Winter and Spring is usually during the seventh or eighth week of the previous quarter. The registration period for Summer quarter, is usually the first week of the Summer quarter. Emails will be sent out to the Professional.Enrolled mailing list with the dates of the Registration Period.

Students are responsible for registering for courses at the Registrar’s registration website. This website will be opened to students during the Registration Period then shut down at 5:00 p.m. on the last day of the period. CSPP students will receive an email with the website link through the Professional.Enrolled mailing list on the first day of the registration period.

Category II restrictions will block students from registering. It is your responsibility to make sure your account is cleared of any restrictions before the registration period begins.

Students who miss the Registration Period will have to register at the beginning of the quarter and will be charged a late registration fee. Not being informed about registration is not an acceptable reason to request a late registration fee waiver. Students are instructed to have an active email address subscribed to the Professional.Enrolled mailing list.

Once the quarter begins students are allowed to add and drop courses to their schedule. The registration website will re-open to students from the first day of the quarter until the end of the first week of the quarter. Changes made after the first week should be directed to the Student Services Representative by e-mail.

You are allowed to “switch” course registration until the end of the third week of the quarter. Example of switch:

• You are registered for course A during the Registration Period. After sitting in on course B during the first week you decide to drop course A and add course B.

By using the registration website you will have to drop the first course then add the second course. Switching classes must be completed by the end of the third week.

Only If You are Dropping a Course Without Switching

Fees for course drops:

• A course dropped by the end of the first week will incur no tuition charges.
• A course dropped by the end of the third week; you’ll be responsible for 35% of the tuition charges. A grade of W will be recorded on your transcript of courses dropped after the third week.
• A course dropped by the end of the fourth week; you’ll be responsible for 50% of the tuition.
• A course dropped by the end of the fifth week; you’ll be responsible for 70% of the tuition. Any course dropped after the end of the fifth will have full tuition charges.

At the end of the third week student access to the registration website will be shut down. If you need to change your schedule an email must be address to cspp.director@cs.uchicago.edu for approval. Approved changes after the end of third week of the quarter will be charged a late change in registration fee.

The student advocacy committee is appointed by the program Director during the Autumn Quarter. It is a one-year term and comprises regular and alternate members. The Committee’s responsibility is to represent the CSPP students and administration to each other. To contact the members of the committee please email the committee. Students are encouraged to contact this committee and raise concerns and issues with them. This committee functions as the de facto ombudsman in the CSPP and constitutes an existing communication channel for resolution of student issues and concerns.

You may purchase your books directly from any online bookseller. Please note that instructors will assume that by the second lecture all students have the required textbooks.

For completion of the CSPP you must take at least one course in each of the following topics:

• Foundations of CS/Theory (e.g. Algorithms)
• Networks (e.g. Networking)
• Databases (e.g. Databases)
• Programming (e.g. OO Architecture)
• Integrated Systems/Systems (e.g. Computer Architecture)

Please note that part-time students are required to attempt to satisfy both the Theory and the Databases requirement by the end of their fourth quarter.