Master of Science in Management Information Systems
The MS/MIS degree is designed to prepare students for careers as information system professionals. A rich variety of career paths are open to MIS students including consulting, programming, systems analysis & design, network administration, and database administration. The challenging and rewarding careers open to MIS students can also lead to managerial positions in the information services area, including chief information officer.
For individuals interested in research, the MS/MIS provides preparation for doctoral work in this area. Students with the MS/MIS can apply for admission into the PhD program as a means of preparing for a career in research, teaching, consulting, or information services management.
MS Program in Information Systems
The MS/MIS program is a 36 credit hour non-thesis program. There are various interest areas in our program. For the general Master of Science degree description and requirements at the university level, please click the catalog online.
The departmental requirements are given below.
1. Prerequisites
There are two prerequisites to the program. Knowledge equivalent to a 3-hour course each in statistics and a widely used programming language with procedural and object-oriented features constitute these prerequisites. Formal course work or work experience may be used to satisfy these requirements. Examples of acceptable programming languages include C++, Java, and Visual Basic. In order to qualify for an exemption, you must convince the advisors of your knowledge of the prerequisites by providing transcripts, course syllabus, and course materials. In case you need this prerequisite, please enroll in INFO 601.
Students can be admitted prior to satisfying these prerequisites. Once admitted, however, the student must immediately satisfy these requirements.
2. Core Courses
The core courses are divided into Business Core and MIS Core.
Business Core: To understand fundamental business concepts and functions, an MS/MIS graduate must have a basic understanding of the Accounting Concepts and Procedures at the managerial level (equivalent to ACCT 640) and Introduction to Contemporary Manufacturing Management (equivalent to INFO 660).
MIS Core: To understand key MIS concepts, an MS/MIS graduate must have knowledge of project management, database management, systems analysis and design, data communications, and corporate information planning. These subjects are at the heart of the profession. INFO 621, INFO 628, INFO 629, INFO 634, and INFO 639 satisfy these requirements. Though not in the core, it is a good idea to have INFO 632 which teaches multiple operating systems.
3. Elective Courses
There are many elective courses available. However, there are some rules that you must follow in choosing these electives.
Rule 3.1. All non-INFO classes on the degree plan must be pre-approved by the INFO graduate program advisor.
Rule 3.2. A maximum of two or three non-INFO courses may be on your degree plan with the approval of the INFO graduate program advisor. These courses must be focused in a certain area.
Rule 3.3. FINC 635 cannot be on your degree plan. It may be taken "below the line" as a prerequisite for another class.
The information systems area is very dynamic, topics that are hot today may not be so hot five years from now. Knowing this, we suggest that you take courses in the following interest areas:
- Business intelligence (data warehousing and data mining)
- Data analytics
- E-Commerce infrastructure
- Business/IT consulting
- Database designer/analyst
- E-Security consulting
- ERP consulting
- Customer relationship management
- Enterprise infrastructure
- Supply chain management
- Internet marketing
We have many courses in these interest areas. Others can be taken from departments outside INFO (see rules above). The elective courses for MISY program offered by the INFO department are listed in the following table. As internet marketing, business/IT consulting and database designer/analyst interest areas use a mix of these courses they are not listed separately in the table below. Please remember that some interest areas may need courses from outside the INFO department e.g., data analytics area requires strong statistics background (see Rules 3.1-3.3 for outside courses).
| Interest Areas | INFO Course Listing | |
| Business Intelligence | INFO 637 Data Warehousing INFO 650 Business Data Mining |
|
| Customer Relationship Management | INFO 642 Customer Relationship Mgmt and Planning | |
| Data Analytics | INFO 655 Forecasting Methods and Applications INFO 650 Business Data Mining |
|
| E-Commerce Infrastructure | INFO 640 E-Business INFO 645 E-Commerce Technologies INFO 618 E-Commerce: Auctions, Contracts and Exchanges INFO 689 Sp Topics on XML in Business |
|
| Enterprise Infrastructure | INFO 631 Business Component Design and Development INFO 633 Advanced Software Development Environments INFO 632 Business Computing Systems -Operating Systems |
|
| ERP | INFO 669 Enterprise Resource Planning | |
| E-Security Consultant | INFO 632 Business Computing Systems -Operating Systems INFO 674 Business Information Security |
|
| Supply Chain Management | INFO 638 Information Technology in SCM |
The most important thing to remember is to take a good mix of elective courses. Once you have taken some of these courses, you need to balance your degree plan with courses from the management of IT side. These courses are as follows:
- INFO 623 Groupware and Collaborative Technology
- INFO 635 Global Info Systems
- INFO 646 E-Services
4. Internship
As part of the MS MIS degree program, student experience in the IT industry is important. An internship requires 40 hours-per-week over 10 to 12 weeks of the summer in the MIS department of a company. Students earn a maximum of three semester credit hours for INFO 684 (Internship) towards their degree. An internship counts as an elective. Students are urged to use the Graduate Business Career Services office within Mays Business School and the Career Center at the university level to obtain an internship with an IT organization. To enroll in INFO 684, students must file a departmental internship course form. Departmental advisors will then register you for the course.
Rule 4.1. We discourage fall and spring internships for international students. If you wish to have an internship in the fall or spring semester and be a full time student, you must take two on-campus classes in addition to the three credit hour internship.
Rule 4.2. International students must take classes for two semesters before taking on an internship. (This is an ISS rule.)
5. Directed Studies
Students may take INFO 685 Directed Studies only in the case of a high quality research project or IT-related certification as approved by the advisor. INFO 685 counts as an elective. If you wish to put INFO 685 on your degree plan, it must be approved prior to putting it on your degree plan. As this is a research-oriented course, we allow only a select few to take this course. Please see the rules described in the INFO 685 form.
Rule 5.1. We allow a maximum of 3 semester hour credits for INFO 685. Registration for INFO 685 must be approved by the INFO graduate program advisor.
Students with Relevant Prior Course Credit or Work Experience
A student with relevant prior course credit or work experience may waive or substitute some or all the prerequisites and/or core courses. Each admitted student must nevertheless meet the minimum 36-hour requirement.
Transfer Courses
With the approval of the MS/MIS advisor, a maximum of 6 transfer hours of graduate course credit that are not applied towards a previous degree may be applied towards the MS/MIS degree and be listed on the degree plan. Students should read the section titled "The Degree of Master of Science" in the Graduate Catalog of Texas A&M University. Familiarity with this material is essential.
Admission Requirements
Applications are accepted for fall admission only. The deadline for U.S. citizens and residents is June 1. The deadline for international applicants is March 1. Due to the time required to process applications and the limited number of spots available, you are strongly encouraged to have a complete application on file at least three months before the deadline. This may mean submitting all application components four to five months before the university's application deadline.
Application Process
Below is a list of the elements that your application should include:
- Application Form
Including your application fee, transcripts, and test scores.
The master's program application can be found here. - Career Objective (Part B of the application
form)
This should explain your interest in our program as it relates to your long-term professional goals. - Résumé
- Letters of Recommendation
You are expected to submit three letters of recommendation. These can be included with your application form or sent directly to the INFO Advising Office (4217 TAMU, 319 Wehner, College Station, TX 77843-4217). Ideally, you will submit an educational reference as well as a professional reference. No peer references please. - GMAT or GRE Scores
Scores must be taken within the last five years of your application date in order to be considered.
The master's program application can be found here.
International Applicants
TOEFL and IELTS
Texas A&M University requires that all applicants from non-English speaking countries present an official TOEFL or IELTS score. To be official, scores must be current and within two years of the date of application. Texas A&M University’s Institution Code is 6003. The University’s minimum requirements are:
TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) a minimum score of 550 (paper) or 213 (computer-based) is required for admission. Additional contact information can be found at http://www.ets.org/toefl/ .
IELTS (International English Language Testing System) a minimum score of 6.0. Additional information can be found at http://www.ielts.org/ .
Note: Individual Graduate Programs within Mays Business School may have a higher requirement.
Financial Aid
As an MS-MIS student, you are eligible to compete for a limited number of departmental assistantships that provide a monthly wage and waiver of out-of-state tuition. In addition, all applicants are automatically considered for a limited number of departmental, college, and university-level scholarships and fellowships.
For more information, visit the Financial Aid Web site.
Questions about the program? Visit the MS-MIS FAQ page.
MS-MIS Advisor
Louise Darcey, B.S., M.S.
979-845-0811
INFOGRADADV@mays.tamu.edu
