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Scholarship Application

Scholarship application forms:

Fellowship

A number of Fellowships valued at up to $25,000 are available for entering PhD students with a superior academic record. These PhD Fellowships provide up to four years of support. Fellowships valued at up to $15,775 are available for entering MS students with superior academic records. All Fellowship application materials must be received by 15 February for consideration by the Graduate School.

Assistantships

The Center normally has 70-90 assistantships for the support of graduate students in Computer Science and Computer Engineering. However there are many well qualified applicants for each open position, so that competition is intense, and no student can be assured of a position before awards are made.

Deadlines

The deadline for applications is 1 March for the fall semester and 1 November for the spring semester. All supporting material (transcripts, test scores, letters) must be received by these dates, not just the application form. Late applicants will be considered at a lower priority than others, if at all. Applicants will be notified of their success in 4-6 weeks following the deadline. All available assistantships will be awarded at that time, and a waiting list will be formed, from which additional vacancies may be filled. Awards are made for a semester, but are continued to succeeding semesters if performance is satisfactory.
An offer of an assistantship is accompanied by an acceptance form and a deadline by which the assistantship must be accepted and the signed acceptance form returned. If the form is not received in the office of the Center by this deadline, then the offer may be withdrawn and the position offered to another candidate. Signing of the acceptance form is a binding commitment to the Center and the University to fulfill the duties of the assistantship, and not to accept any offer of another institution without release from the University.

The largest number of new awards is made for the fall semester, though some are usually made for spring as well. There are no assistantships for summer session, though tuition waivers and instructorships are offered to a few well-qualified continuing assistants.

Award Criteria

Awards are given to those students judged most likely to succeed in graduate study and who meet the work needs of the Center. Factors on which awards are based include:

  • UL Lafayette graduate hours and GPA (if a continuing student),
  • progress toward UL Lafayette degree (if a continuing student),
  • MS GPA (if any) and undergraduate GPA,
  • TOEFL and other evidence of facility in English (for international students),
  • recommendations (those from UL Lafayette faculty preferred),
  • teaching and research experience.
  • GRE score if available. NOTE: GRE is not required but may strengthen applications when available.

No one of these factors is considered to the exclusion of others, and there is no predefined formula for combining the factors. Applicants are evaluated initially by the Admissions Committee, and final choices are made by the Director, advised by the Financial Support Committee.

Preference is given to students with:

  • a degree or significant coursework in Computer Science or Engineering,
    • from UL Lafayette,
    • from a US or Canadian university,
  • an advanced degree,
  • acceptance into the PhD program,
  •  teaching or research experience, especially at a US institution.

Students selected for certain positions may also be required to pass interviews with prospective supervisors.

Research Assistantships

Research appointments with individual faculty members are typically filled by recommendation of the faculty member of students who have previously studied under that faculty member. Thus these awards are seldom made to new students, and separate applications from new students to individual faculty members are rarely useful.

Reapplication

Students admitted to graduate study, but not offered an assistantship, are encouraged to reapply for subsequent semesters. This must be done in writing, by the same deadlines as for a new application. A new application form is not mandatory, but may be advisable if the student has additional qualifying information to report. It is especially valuable to obtain recommendation letters from those UL Lafayette faculty members who have observed the student's work.

Conditions

Assistantship awards are made with the expectation of duties to be performed (usually a work obligation of about 20 hours per week). The student is expected to carry and to complete exactly nine hours of courses applicable to the degree per semester, to maintain a GPA of at least 3.5, and to make satisfactory progress towards the degree. Assistants (and all graduate students) are also required to enroll in CMPS 595, Graduate Seminar, which requires attendance at Center colloquia, but does not carry credit toward the degree. No student on assistantship may hold any other employment without consent of the Center and the Dean of the Graduate School.

Graduate assistants supported by the Center for at least two semesters, and pursuing the Master's degree, are required to apply 3 or more hours of CMPS/EECE 590 or 599 to the Master's degree. Research assistants supported by a faculty member may be required to register for courses or projects relevant to their research duties.

Assistantships may be revoked at any time for unsatisfactory performance in duties or academic work. If performance and progress are good, the assistantship may be renewed without reapplication, up to a maximum of eight regular semesters for PhD students, and three regular semesters for MS students. Complaints of inadequate work from the student's supervisor in assistantship duties, or academic deficiencies, such as a grade below "B" in any course, graduate GPA less than 3.5, unjustified dropping or incompletion of courses, or excessive delay in completing the degree, are cause for review and possible loss of the assistantship. Students supported on assistantship are expected to complete the degree as quickly as possible and to apply for the degree in the semester that requirements are expected to be satisfied.

No student on assistantship may withdraw from or take an incomplete in any course without submitting a written statement of reasons to the Director of the Center, endorsed by the course instructor, and securing permission of the Director.

PhD students holding an assistantship are expected to attempt and pass the comprehensive examination promptly, normally within two years of the beginning of graduate study at the Center.