Earn Your Software Engineering Certification
The Graduate Certificate in Software Engineering is designed to provide students with the knowledge, skills and abilities associated with software engineering. As a joint program with the College of Charleston, classes are held at The Citadel campus and College of Charleston Harbor Walk campus.
Learning Outcomes
The successful student will:
- Demonstrate the use of good software development models and techniques.
- Be able to evaluate alternative designs and architectures for a software application.
- Demonstrate the ability to work in a team effectively.
The certificate in software engineering is composed of four courses
CSCI 602 Foundations of Software Engineering
CSCI 654 Software Requirements Analysis and Specifications (Prerequisite: CSCI 602)
CSCI 656 Software Systems Design and Implementations (Prerequisite: CSCI 602)
CSCI 658 Software Testing and Maintenance (Prerequisite: CSCI 602)
Admission Requirements
Complete the online graduate application along with the non-refundable application fee. All admission materials should be submitted to The Citadel Graduate College.
To be admitted, applicants must satisfy one of the following options. All students must satisfy prerequisite areas indicated below before enrolling in any graduate CSCI/CSIS course.
- Complete a Bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university with a cumulative GPA of 3.00 or higher.
- Complete a Bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university with a cumulative GPA of 2.50 or higher. Complete six credit hours of graduate CSCI/CSIS coursework as a non-degree-seeking student with a cumulative GPA of 3.00 or higher.
- For students in a combined/accelerated bachelor’s-to-master’s program, maintain a cumulative GPA of 3.000 or higher for all CSIS/CSCI graduate courses to continue as a full-time graduate student.
Statement of Purpose
Submit a statement of purpose with admission materials (700-1000 words).
Prerequisite Knowledge Area Requirements
Prospective students must be able to demonstrate competency in the areas of basic computer architecture, object-oriented programming, discrete mathematics, and data structures, before enrolling in any graduate CSCI/CSIS course. These prerequisite areas may be covered by undergraduate coursework from any regionally accredited college or university. Coverage of areas by courses is at the discretion of the graduate program director. Grades of B or higher are required for courses taken outside of a baccalaureate program. Some courses may have additional prerequisites depending on where they are offered.
Click here to read more details on the four prerequisite knowledge areas.
Relevant work experience may be acceptable in demonstrating competency if mapped to typical learning outcomes for courses normally accepted. With prior approval from the graduate program directors, certain certified, online, university-style, MOOC courses (e.g. Coursera, edX, etc.) may be acceptable for demonstrating competency in some prerequisite areas.
TOEFL Requirement: Prospective students whose native language of citizenship is not English will be required to additionally submit TOEFL scores. The minimum acceptable scores are 550 paper-based, 79-80 internet-based, or 213 computer-based.
Registration Requirement: All admitted students must have approval from the Program Director or Department Head before registering for any courses in the Computer Science curriculum.
For more information about the Software Engineer Certification program or admission requirements, contact Dr. Michael P. Verdicchio, Graduate Program Director (phone: 843-953-5039, e-mail: mv@citadel.edu)