It depends on your background prior to getting into the Ph.D. program, your research topic, your advisor, your life style, and luck. In general, you should expect 5-6 years for a Ph.D. degree.
There are three major milestones in the course toward the Ph.D. degree:
If you do not pass the WQE, you can still get a M.S. degree.
The Prospectus exam is to propose your dissertation topic to a committee composed of your academic advisor, two professors in the CSD and one outside of the CSD. If you pass, you will be advanced to Ph.D. candidacy, enjoying some important benefits (including significant tuition reduction).
The final Defense Exam is to present your final dissertation work to the committee. This long-awaited success will entitle you to be Dr. Somebody.
The breadth requirement covers a set of courses that the CS Department deems basic to all Computer Scientists, and is set up to make sure that UCLA graduates know at least this material. You can get a breadth requirement form from Verra that specifies all the requirements.
For both the Master's degree and the Ph.D. degree, to fulfill this requirement you must either complete courses at UCLA, or get credit for equivalent courses you have taken outside of UCLA.
First, set up a meeting with the professor who is instructor-in-charge of the course. You can find who this is by looking at the UCLA Catalog http://www.registrar.ucla.edu/catalog. Take your transcript (showing the equivalent course) along with the syllabus (and, if possible, textbook) from this course. Be ready to answer some probing questions about what the course covered, showing that you did understand the material. If the instructor-in-charge is satisfied, they will sign the appropriate box on your form saying that your course was indeed equivalent.
Yes. This is not only possible but expected. However, if done too often, it may prolong your stay here.
1-2 years.
No, you don't have to. There are generally 3 options for getting a M.S. degree:
The original objective of this "exam" was to allow students to synthesize all the material they had learned over their graduate study.
To complete the M.S. degree with this option, you must complete 9 courses at UCLA. You also must negotiate a project with your advisor. When you complete it, get a Comprehensive Examination form from Verra, and find two other faculty members to serve as reviewers of your work (your advisor usually can give advice about faculty members to ask, but it is up to you to ask them to participate). Your advisor and these two faculty members must then sign off on the form, which you return to Verra.
The deadline for turning in the form is the end of the 10th week of class. To graduate in Fall quarter, in other words, you need to get the form in before finals week of Fall quarter.
To complete the M.S. degree with this option, you must complete 7 courses at UCLA, plus two "CS598" courses with your advisor (project courses that you get a pass/fail grade for), and you must negotiate a topic with your advisor. The M.S. Thesis requires more work than the Comprehensive, and generally at least two quarters to complete.
The M.S. Thesis must follow a certain format (you can use LaTeX macros or a Word template to achieve this), and must be filed with the UCLA Registrar. The deadline for turning in the form is the beginning of the 9th week of class. To graduate in Fall quarter, for example, you need to file the Thesis before about December 1.
Go to http://www.registrar.ucla.edu to find information about currently offered courses, enrollment, etc. Follow the "Schedule of Classes" link http://www.registrar.ucla.edu/schedule to get class listings.
You should have received a single sheet a paper with your student ID and a access code sometime this summer. You will use these to sign up for classes. You sign up via phone and the URSA system. (Those of you from Berkeley will notice the system is similar to TeleBEARS, but after using URSA you will have a new appreciation for TeleBEARS.)
This course is designed to give you an outline of research that is going on out in the world and in the department. You will have to write 4 summaries of talks each quarter and turn them into the professor in charge. The highlight of the cs201 course is the annual Distinguished Lecture Series .
You get to spend the first 30 minutes of the class eating cookies & pretzels. No food means no talk that week.
Last year, this course was held concurrently with an entrepreneurship class.
It depends on such factors as your other committment such as TA or RA duties, your previous exposure to relavent materials covered by the courses. Keep in mind that the quarter system used in UCLA goes faster than the semester system in general. The rule of thumbs might be one brand new course plus two relatively familiar courses if your are not otherwise overcommited.
The TA FAQ of the CSD TA program covers basic questions. The head TA this year is Jonathan Canan (jdcanan@cs.ucla.edu), and he can guide you regarding other questions. Also you might benefit from some excellent TA suggestions by George Mustafa.