UTRGV PhD CS | Registration Guide

TL;DR The short version

Full-time students register for 9 or 10 hours.

Take 8301 Doctoral Studies in your first Fall semester.

Take 8101 Doctoral Seminar each of your first three semesters.

Look at the Courses page and discuss with your adviser which 8000- and 6000-level required and elective courses are most important for your research. Plan your enrollment around those courses. You have spots in the degree for interdisciplinary electives outside as well.

The difference between 6000- and 8000-level courses is that 8000-level courses are limited to PhD students, allowing more emphasis on current research. Prefer 8000-level courses where possible.

The degree contains 33 hours of 8x90 Dissertation Research, which is a placeholder for the research you're doing with your adviser anyway. You should be enrolling in some research credits by your second year at the latest.

Degree Plan 2025, 2026 catalogs

Required Courses — 15 hours

8301 Doctoral Studies in Computing (offered every Fall)
8101 Doctoral Seminar — taken 3 times (offered every semester)

Plus one course from each of the following three areas:

Theory (6323 or 6339)
Systems (6334, 6335, or 6356)
Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence (6344, 6366, or 6379)

With your adviser's approval, you may substitute an appropriate 8000-level course in theory, systems, or ML/AI for the prescribed options.

Elective Courses — 21 hours

Any 6000- or 8000-level courses, including those listed as options for the required slots above. Up to 9 hours of electives may be taken from programs other than CSCI, with your adviser's approval.

Research Credits — 36 hours

8190/8290/8390/8590/8690/8990 Dissertation Research (33 hours total). The second digit in the course number indicates credit hours — the variations exist for scheduling convenience.

9300 Doctoral Dissertation (3 hours). Taken the semester you defend.

To enroll in Dissertation Research, email the program director your Student ID and the course CRN requesting a Special Permission waiver, and copy your adviser (who has approved).

Roadmap Priorities and timeline

The roadmaps below are the minimum time necessary (i.e. the credit hours you must take). The critical path for a Ph.D. is not the credit hours, it is the dissertation. The typical time for a Ph.D. in Computer Science nationwide is 5–6 years full-time. Having a prior MS may or may not significantly shorten that, as it depends how much research you did on the same topic during your MS. Finishing the 33 hours of 8x90 Dissertation Research does not equate to finishing a dissertation. If you complete the 33 hours and are not ready to defend, you can take 8190 in subsequent semesters to maintain student status until you are ready. 9300 must be taken in the semester that you defend and submit your dissertation.

The milestones are placed in the roadmaps below at typical times. They are not highly constrained and should be pursued and completed as you and your adviser determine is appropriate. See the milestones page for more specific details.

54-hour degree — students who transfer in the maximum 18 hours from a prior MS

Year 1		Year 2		Year 3
Adviser	Qual Exam	Committee	Proposal		Defense
8301	Req/Elect	Elect	8990	8990	8690
Req/Elect	Req/Elect	8390			9300
8290	8290	8290
Seminar	Seminar	Seminar

Req/Elect: Required or elective course

72-hour degree

Year 1		Year 2		Year 3		Year 4
Adviser		Qual Exam		Committee	Proposal		Defense
8301	Req/Elect	Elect	Elect	Elect	8990	8990	8390
Req/Elect	Req/Elect	Elect	Elect	8690			8190
Req/Elect	Req/Elect	8290	8390				9300
Seminar	Seminar	Seminar

Req/Elect: Required or elective course

Summer Semesters Funding, enrollment, and internships

Full-time Ph.D. students' GRA appointments are year-round. Summer is some of the best time to make progress on your projects and disseration. Students do not need to take classes during the summer to make reasonable progress, as shown above.

Students paid from institutional funds enroll in CSCI 8390 during the summer, which is covered by the institution. Students paid from external grants do not have this requirement and enroll in a free 0-hour course during the summer instead. If your adviser has grant funds to pay for coursework or additional research credits in the summer, it is up to them if they want to allow that.

If you are looking at summer research internships, you should be discussing that with your adviser. An internship that advances your research career is a good thing, and networking is as important here as in any other career path. However, be mindful that you are asking for time off from one job to take another. Your adviser may have constraints related to the projects that fund you, or even just concerns about the progress you are making. Some research internships, especially with national labs, will collaborate with your adviser to continue your research on-site with staff there, which is a win-win. In most cases, if you are being paid by another entity during the summer, then you will not be paid as a GRA.

The Employee Tuition Assistance Program (ETAP) will pay for summer classes for students who work for UTRGV. In that situation, you might as well take advantage of that to pay for some of those 8390 research credit hours rather than potentially having to pay for them out-of-pocket later.