• Completion of required courses (six core courses + one elective).
• Mastery of proficiencies in teaching and presentation skills.
• Successful defense of a Ph.D. thesis.

In addition to meeting the requirements indicated here, students must also follow all university policies and procedures.

Teaching

Ph.D. students are required to serve as teaching assistants for two semesters in machine learning courses (10-xxx), beginning in their second year. This fulfills their teaching skills requirement.

Conference Presentation Skills

During their second or third year, Ph.D. students must give a talk at least 30 minutes long and invite members of the Speaking Skills committee to attend and evaluate it.

Research

It is expected that all Ph.D. students engage in active research beginning in their first semester. Moreover, adviser selection occurs within the first month of entering the Ph.D. program, with the option to change at a later time. Roughly half of a student's time should be allocated to research and lab work, and half to courses (until the courses are completed).

Thesis Committee

Students must work with their adviser to form their Thesis Committee. We've outline the rules for this committee below. (These rules apply to all ML Ph.D. students.) Your committee must include the following and be approved by the Ph.D. Program Director(s):

• At least one MLD core faculty member.
• At least one additional MLD core or affiliated faculty member.
• At least one external member, usually external to CMU.
• A total of at least four members, including the adviser who is the committee chair.

It will be our responsibility, not yours, to worry about your tuition and stipend while you are in our program. We are committed to providing you with full tuition and stipend support for the coming academic year. We intend to continue this support as long as you make satisfactory progress in our program. Students who do not have external financial support will be funded via graduate assistantships, awarded for a nine-month period from September to May, which would normally come from their adviser’s grants. Because of that, specific research opportunities may be constrained by funding availability. Students who have partial external financial support will be supplemented to bring them to the full level of support, and often receive an additional supplement on top of that. If you have dependents, we will also pay you a dependency allowance that is 10% of the MLD monthly base stipend per eligible dependent, unless you have a spouse or qualifying domestic partner who earns more than $500 per month.

Application Information

• SCS Graduate Admissions Overview
• SCS Graduate Application Instructions
• Frequently Asked Questions

For applicants applying in fall 2024 for a start date of August 2025, GRE scores are OPTIONAL.

The committee uses GRE scores to gauge quantitative skills, and to a lesser extent, also verbal skills.

Proof of English Language Proficiency

If you will be studying on an F-1 or J-1 visa, and English is not your native language ("native language" meaning spoken at home and from birth), we are required to formally evaluate your English proficiency. We require applicants who will be studying on an F-1 or J-1 visa, and for whom English is not a native language, to demonstrate English proficiency via one of these standardized tests: TOEFL (preferred), IELTS or Duolingo.

We do not issue waivers for nonnative speakers of English. In particular, we do not issue waivers based on previous study at a U.S. high school, college or university. We also do not issue waivers based on previous study at an English-language high school, college or university outside the United States. No amount of educational experience in English, regardless of which country it occurred in, will result in a test waiver.

Additional details about English proficiency requirements are provided on the FAQ page.