Graduate Certificate Program in Database Management

The graduate certificate program in database management provides students who are interested in this essential area with comprehensive coverage that includes theoretical foundations, practical experience and recent advances. The area of databases is considered by most experts to be a fundamental area of computer and information science.

Admission Requirements

  1. Hold a four-year (120 credits) baccalaureate degree from an accredited institution.
  2. Have earned a grade point average of 3.0 or better in the last 60 credits of undergraduate study.
  3. Submit a departmental self-evaluation form, which can be obtained from the department. This form provides summary information concerning background and preparation for the program.
  4. Provide a brief (one- to two-page) statement of educational and work experience in the computing field that includes a statement of career goals.
  5. Show proof of a satisfactory score on the Graduate Record Exam (GRE), if required. The test should have been taken within five years of applying for admission. ISE has the following policy with regard to the GRE. The test is required for each applicant unless the applicant
    • has an undergraduate degree in science or engineering from a U.S. university and graduated with a GPA of 3.0 or better in the last 60 hours; or
    • has a graduate degree in a related field from a U.S. university; or
    • has been admitted as a non-degree student and meets all the following requirements: has an undergraduate degree from a U.S. university, has an undergraduate GPA of 3.0 or better in the last 60 hours; and received at least a B in all foundation courses taken at GMU or elsewhere.
  6. Submit the appropriate application form with three letters of recommendation from persons directly knowledgeable of the applicant's professional and academic competence.
  7. TOEFL for international students.
Applicants must possess knowledge equivalent to that provided by the following courses:
  • INFS 501   Discrete and Logical Structures for Information Systems
  • INFS 515   Computer Organization
  • INFS 590   Program Design and Data Structures
Students not enrolled in a graduate degree program at Mason should apply for the database management certificate program through the Graduate Admissions Office of the Volgenau School. Students enrolled in a graduate degree program at Mason should contact ISE department for admission to the certificate program.

Admission to the certificate program does not guarantee admission to any MS program.

Certificate Requirements

Certificate students must complete five course in Information Systems with an average grade of B or better, for a total of 15 credits of graduate study.

To obtain the certificate, students must take the following:
  1. Required courses
  2. Three of the following
    • INFS 623   Information Retrieval
    • INFS 740   Database Programming for the World Wide Web
    • INFS 755   Data Warehousing and Mining
    • INFS 764   Object-oriented Database Systems
    • INFS 795   Special Topics in Data Mining Applications
    • INFS 797   Advanced Topics in Database Management
    • ISA 765     Database and Distributed Systems Security
    • IT 861       Distributed Database Systems
    • IT 864       Scientific and Statistical Databases

For Further Information

Additional information on the program is available from the ISE Student Advisor

Financial aid information is available at the GMU Office of Financial Aid

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Effective Fall 2007
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