Software systems breadth requirement
The Stanford Ph.D. program requires that you fulfill the breadth requirement in two subareas of computer systems (Area B). One of the subareas is Software Systems.
Currently the breadth area approver for Software Systems is David Mazières. So long as he remains in that position, there is exactly one way to fulfill the breadth area requirement, which requires the following three steps:
Get the specific class, instructor, and grade approved by the breadth area approver. First, check the table below to see if your class and instructor have already been approved. If so, skip to the next step.
Otherwise, to get your class or specific instructor approved, you must meet the breadth area approver. Please note that because this is primarily about the labs in the class, it is much easier if you can discuss live. Given that the COVID19 situation makes this more difficult, at least email the approver link or a detailed description of what the labs were, how much kernel code they involved writing, and in what language. If there are ambiguities, the approver may ask you to set up a zoom meeting. Note you do not need to fill out a "Ph.D. Breadth Waiver Form."
Once your class has been approved, you must contact Ph.D. student services. Point them to this web page, and provide them with evidence that you took one of the classes listed below with one of the approved instructors, and that you received one of the acceptable grades
The following table lists approved classes, instructors, and grades:
Institution | Class | Instructors | Minimum grade |
Berkeley | CS162 with Pintos | Joseph, Kubiatowicz, Stoica, Culler | A- |
Caltech | CS124* *OS CS101 in 2013 |
Pinkston | A- |
CMU | 15-410 | Eckhardt | A- |
Columnbia | COMS w4118 | Nieh | A- |
Cornell | CS 4411 | Birman, Sirer | A- |
Duke | CS110/CPS110, CS310 | Cox | A- |
École Polytechnique | INF583 | Cohen | A |
Harvard | CS161 | Kohler, Seltzer, Welsh | A- |
Hebrew University | 67808 | Dolev | 90 (negotiable) |
Marquette | COSC3250 | Brylow | A- |
McGill | CS310 | Maheswaran | A- |
MIT | 6.828 | Belay, Kaashoek, Morris, Zeldovich | A- |
Notre Dame | CSE 30341 | Thain, Poellabauer | A- |
NYU | CSCI-UA202 | Gottlieb | A- |
NYU | V22.0480-002 | Mazières | A- |
NYU | G22.2250 | Li | A- |
NYU | V22.0202 | Subramanian (Lakshmi) | A- |
Open University of Israel | 20354, 20594 | Sariel | 85 |
Peking University | OS (honors track) | Guo | 85 |
Penn. State | Cmpsc473 | Jaeger | A- |
U. Penn | CIS380 | Loo | A- |
Pomona | CS134 | Kampe | A- |
Princeton | COS318 | Li, Bavier, Singh | A- |
Purdue | ECE 469 | Hu, Villasenor | A- |
Rice | Comp 421 | Johnson | A- |
Rutgers | CS416 or CS516 | Iftode | A- |
SJTU | SE315 | Xia | 85 |
Stanford | CS140,CS112,CS212 | Mazières, Ousterhout, Rosenblum | A- |
Stanford | CS140e | Engler | A- |
Sun Yat-sen University | Operational Systems | Ling, Guo | 85 |
Tsinghua University | 30240434 | Yongguang Zhang | 85 |
U. Chicago | CMSC23000 | Gunawi | A- |
U. Toronto | EE344/ECE353 | Baochun Li | A- |
UC Davis | ECS 150 | Nitta | A- |
UCLA | CS111 | Kohler | A- |
UCLA | CS235 | Kohler | A- |
UIUC | ECE391 | Lumetta, Kalbarczyk | A- |
UNC | COMP530 | Porter | A- |
UNSW | Comp 9242 | Eiphinstone, Heiser | 75 |
UT Austin | CS372H, CS439 | Alvisi, Walfish | A- |
U. Washington | CS451 | Kumura, Zbikowski, Levy, Zahorjian | 3.5 |
Wake Forest U. | CSC641 | Cañas | A- |
Waterloo | CS350 | Mashtizadeh, Istead | 85 (negotiable) |
U. Wisconsin | CS537 | Arpaci-Dusseau | A- |