Becoming a Computer Science Major

Any student can become a computer science pre-major by informing the University Registrar or the School of Computing Academic Counselor. It is advisable to do this early to ensure receiving information about the major and staying advised of any changes that may be made in degree requirements. Declaration of a major will also enable participation in activities associated with the degree program such as the Undergraduate Student Advisory Committee.

Only computer science majors, computer engineering majors, and computer science minors can take upper-division (3000 or higher) computer science classes. Advancement to full major status is a competitive process. To be considered for full major status in computer science, a student must have:

A minimum grade of C- in all of the following classes or their equivalents. None of these classes may be taken on a credit/no-credit basis.
- Computer Science 2010, 2020, and 2100.
- Mathematics 1210 and 1220.
- Physics 2210.
- University English writing requirement
A grade of CR in CS 1010 (a credit/no-credit class).
A cumulative grade point average of 2.25 or higher. (Note that much higher grades in the required classes listed above are typically needed. See below for details.)

A student may apply for full major status no earlier than the semester during which he or she expects to complete these requirements. Applications may be submitted any time during the first session of each semester. Students whose applications are accepted will be advanced to full major status effective the following semester. (For example, students who apply between August 22 and October 15, 2001, and who are subsequently accepted, will become full majors at the beginning of the spring 2002 semester.) Students whose applications are not accepted are free to reapply during subsequent semesters.

The School determines how many new majors will be admitted each semester based on laboratory facilities, computer resources, and available faculty. The following factors are considered in determining which students to admit:

GPA in the required pre-major classes listed above.
A personal goals statement.
ACT or SAT scores.
An optional programming portfolio. (This should be submitted only by students who have written significant, interesting programs outside of a classroom setting.)

No pre-major class may be taken more than twice. If a class is repeated, the grade received the second time is used. If a student receives any grade in a class--including W (withdrawal), I (incomplete), or V (audit)--the student is considered to have taken the class. Only three classes may be repeated without penalty. For any additional classes that a student repeats, only 80% of the grade points received in the repeated class will be used in the GPA calculation.

If credit is granted for any of the above classes based on advanced placement test scores or courses taken at other schools, grades are assigned for use in the calculation. Check with the Undergraduate Academic Counselor for details.

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