Curriculum
Students in the cognitive science program specialize in two of the four core departments of the cognitive science program (Computer Engineering, Linguistics, Philosophy, Psychology).
Each student is expected to take a maximum of eight undergraduate courses in their remedial year in preparation for the program. Four of those courses, one from each discipline, are taken in the first semester of the remedial year. In the second semester, students are expected to select two areas for specialization and take two courses in each of these areas. Those students who hold a Bachelor’s degree in any one of the four disciplines must choose two areas out of the remaining three. An additional requirement for the remedial year is that students take COGS 500 Introduction to Cognitive Science. If any of these courses (or their equivalent) were already taken by the student, those course requirements can be waived by the consent of the advisor.
To fulfill the requirements of the M.A. program, students must complete a minimum of 26/32 credits of coursework and submit a thesis supervised by their academic advisor. The coursework consists of three courses in each of the two areas selected by the student, plus two unrestricted elective graduate courses and a departmental seminar course. Starting from their second semester in the course year, all students should keep taking the thesis course section of their main supervisor (COGS 690) until they graduate. Students are expected to write a thesis on a topic that involves the two areas in which they specialized in their first year.
The courses and their distributions in terms of the semester during the academic year are as follows:
Remedial Year
1st Semester |
2nd Semester |
||
| CMPE 150 | Intro to Computing | -- -- | Elective in Area A* |
| LING 101 | Intro to Language & Linguistics | -- -- | Elective in Area A* |
| PHIL -- | Philosophy Area Elective | -- -- | Elective in Area B* |
| PSY -- | Psychology Area elective | -- -- | Elective in Area B* |
| COGS 500 | Intro to Cognitive Science | ||
Course Year
1st Semester |
2nd Semester |
||
| -- -- | Elective in Area 1** | -- -- | Elective in Area 1** |
| -- -- | Elective in Area 1** | -- -- | Elective in Area 2** |
| -- -- | Elective in Area 2** | -- -- | Elective in Area 2* |
| -- -- | Unrestricted Elective | -- -- | Unrestricted Elective |
| COGS 579 | Seminar | ||
| COGS 690 | Thesis*** | ||
Thesis Year(s)
1st Semester |
2nd Semester |
||
| COGS 690 | Thesis*** | COGS 690 | Thesis*** |
* Students are to choose two disciplines out of the available four, when they enter the program as their specialization areas for the remedial year. Those two have to be different from the one in which they obtained their Bachelor’s degree.
** The two areas at the graduate level do not have be the same as those at the remedial year. That is, if the student was a graduate of one of the disciplines represented in the program, then s/he may choose that discipline as one of the areas at the graduate level.
*** Starting with the 2nd semester in their course year, students should enroll in the Thesis course of their advisor every term until they graduate.
