2024-2025 Bay State Scholarship Program

We offer three special scholarship opportunities to enter our MS programs.

The Bay State Scholarship Program is currently undergoing some changes that will impact students interested in starting their graduate degree in Fall 2025.  Please read each section carefully to ensure you understand what the scholarship will be for whichever part of the program you are interested in:

 

For the strongest computer science undergraduates at the University of Massachusetts Amherst as well as at the participating five-colleges, the Manning College of Information and Computer Sciences offers students three special scholarship opportunities to enter its Master's of Science in Computer Science degree program.

  1. The Bay State Master's Program provides a tuition scholarship worth approximately 10% of the MS tuition. The Master level scholarship will no longer be available for students entering in Fall 2025 or later.
  2. The Bay State Scholars Program* builds upon the Bay State Master's Program and provides a tuition scholarship worth approximately 50% of the MS tuition for students who meet the requirements outlined below.**
  3. The Bay State Fellowship Program builds upon the Bay State Scholar's Program by providing a 10 hour per week teaching assistantship, a full tuition waiver, and a 95% waiver for health fees. Unlike the Master's and Scholar's programs, above, the Bay State Fellowship program is competitive. A short CICS application is required for entry to this program. The College expects to award at least ten Bay State Fellowships annually.**

**The Bay State Scholar scholarship will change to 40% for the 2025-2026 AY.

**The Accelerated Master's program provides Bay State Scholarship funds toward 18 credits only.

How does the MS program work? The computer science Master's degree is a 30 credit hour residential program. The degree can consist of ten 3 credit classes, or eight classes, along with a 6 credit master's project. Student coursework must also include 4 core classes across three areas. Up to six credits of previous work -- for example, graduate courses taken while an undergraduate not used to satisfy undergraduate degree requirements -- may be applied to the 30 credit MS requirement. Courses may be taken during the summer.

Requirements and Qualifications

To be eligible for the program, a current undergraduate must be completing a Bachelor of Arts in Computer Science or Bachelor of Science in Computer Science and must have taken at least 15 of the College's required 20 technical courses at the Amherst campus (and thus transfer students are eligible to participate in the program). Undergraduates from other majors are encouraged to apply to our MS degree program, but the Bay State scholarship program is not available to majors outside of computer science (i.e. informatics, math computing, math & stats, linguistics etc.). 

Application Process 

  1. Submit the Bay State application in the final semester of an undergraduate program. It will open September 9th for the Spring 2025 start term. The link to the application will be found here on September 9th and close on October 1. 
  2. Submit the graduate school application by October 15th.  
    1. No fee for undergraduate students applying to the master's program. 
    2. For the personal statement, students should upload a blank document. 
    3. We will waive the letter of recommendation requirement.        

        By mid-March for Fall and mid-October for Spring, students will receive a letter from the college confirming their Bay State Scholarship master or scholar level. Fellowships will be awarded by late October for Spring and late March for Fall.

If you have any questions about applying, please email Eileen Hamel at hamel [at] umass [dot] edu (hamel[at]umass[dot]edu) 

Bay State Master's Program 

Students who meet the requirements below at the beginning of the final semester of their senior year will be recommended for admission to the Master of Science in Computer Science program with a scholarship in the amount of approximately 10% of tuition. The 10% scholarship is calculated according to the current tuition for the entire degree program and divided into four equal payments. The Master level scholarship will no longer be available for students entering in Fall 2025 or later.

The requirements for this scholarship are:

  • a GPA of 3.4 or higher and
  • a B+ or better in COMPSCI 311

Students will be notified of their acceptance to the program in October for spring admission. A graduate school application must be submitted.

A student who qualifies for the Bay State Master level cannot defer the Master level scholarship beyond Spring 2025, otherwise it will not be available.

Bay State status may be rescinded for those students who do not maintain the GPA minimum and certain course grade requirements through their final semester or who do not complete program requirements by the end of their final semester.

Bay State Scholars Program *

Students who meet the following requirements at the beginning of their final semester will be recommended for admission to the Master of Science in Computer Science program and will be awarded the status of Bay State Scholar. For the 2024-2025 AY, which includes the Spring 2025 semester, the student will receive an approximately 50% tuition scholarship. The 50% scholarship is calculated according to the current tuition for the entire degree program and divided into four equal payments. 

For those students  applying to begin their graduate degree in the 2025-2026 AY, they will receive an approximately 40% tuition scholarship.  The 40% scholarship is calculated according to the current tuition for the entire degree program and divided into four equal payments.

The requirements for this scholarship are:

  • a GPA of 3.6 or higher and
  • a B+ or better in COMPSCI 311 and
  • have completed (or will complete in the final semester) with a grade of "B" or better, an advanced mathematics class such as COMPSCI 501- Formal Language Theory; COMPSCI 513- Logic in CS; COMPSCI 575/Math 513- Combinatorics and Graph Theory; COMPSCI 514- Algorithms for Data Science; COMPSCI 515- Algorithms, Game Theory, & Fairness; COMPSCI 589 Machine Learning, Math 411- Abstract Algebra, Math 545- Linear Algebra or Math 590STA Introduction to Mathematical Machine Learning

Students will be notified of their acceptance to the program in February for fall admission, and October for spring admission. A graduate school application must be submitted.

A student who qualifies for the Bay State scholarship program must begin the Master's program within one year of graduation.

Bay State status may be rescinded for those students who do not maintain the GPA minimum through their final semester or who do not complete program requirements by the end of their final semester.

Bay State Fellowship Program 

Students who meet the requirements listed below at the beginning of their final semester, will be eligible to apply for the Bay State Fellowship program.  Bay State Fellows join the Master of Science in Computer Science program and will be awarded a 10 hour per week working assistantship** which will provide them with a tuition credit, a discounted health fee/plan and a small supplemental stipend (at the college rate) for up to four semesters. Bay State Fellows will be required to complete COMPSCI 879 Teaching for Tomorrow's Faculty 2 credit course for Teaching Assistants.

  • a GPA of 3.7 or higher and
  • a B+ or better in COMPSCI 311 and
  • have completed (or will complete in the final semester) with a grade of "B" or better, an advanced mathematics class such as COMPSCI 501- Formal Language Theory; COMPSCI 513- Logic in CS; COMPSCI 575/MATH513- Combinatorics and Graph Theory; COMPSCI 514- Algorithms for Data Science; COMPSCI 515- Algorithms, Game Theory, & Fairness; COMPSCI 589 Machine Learning, Math 411- Abstract Algebra, Math 545- Linear Algebra or Math 590STA Introduction to Mathematical Machine Learning and
  • have completed (or will complete in the final semester) a one-semester independent study project (for example, an honors project)

To be considered for an assistantship position, students must provide a one-page application, due February 1 for Fall admission/October 1 for Spring admission, that outlines professional interests and goals as well as an identified faculty contact who can comment on the student's teaching or research promise.  In addition to academic achievement other factors, such as programming skill, financial need, and faculty recommendation, will also be taken into consideration. A transcript from one of the Five-Colleges should be sent to Professor Moll at moll [at] cs [dot] umass [dot] edu (subject: Transcrip%20for%20Bay%20State%20Fellowship%20Application) (moll[at]cs[dot]umass[dot]edu).

We will award a minimum of ten Bay State Fellowships each year. If you are not awarded a fellowship, but meet the criteria for the Bay State Scholar scholarship, we will offer you the Scholar level scholarship.

Students will be notified of their acceptance to the program in March for Fall admission, mid October for Spring admission. 

Students who qualify for the Bay State Fellowship program must begin the Master's program within one year of graduation. Spring Fellow admits may not defer their start date.

Bay State status may be rescinded for those students who do not maintain the GPA minimum through their final undergraduate semester or who do not complete requirements that were to be completed that semester.

**Stipend and fee waiver subject to availability of funds. Bay State Fellows make a corresponding commitment to the educational or research mission of the College upon matriculation, either by serving as half-time, working teaching assistants. The nature of a student's assistantship will be determined at the discretion of the College. The assistantship stipend is not intended to fully cover living expenses and other required fees.