Becoming a Computer Science Major

Information for Freshman admission to the University of Utah

Information for Transfer student admission to the University of Utah

Information for Honors BS Program

Any University of Utah student may become a Computer Science pre-major by filling out the appropriate form provided by the Registrar. It is advisable to do this early to ensure receiving departmental information and staying advised of any changes that may be made in degree requirements. Declaration of a major will also enable participation in department affairs such as the Student Advisory Committee (SAC).

In order to become a full major, a student must complete the courses required of pre-majors and apply for full major status. An application should be filled out at the department office before the end of the spring semester of the year of application, whether or not the student intends to take additional required classes during the summer. A student may not pre-register for any upper-division (3000 or higher) classes in Computer Science without first being admitted to full major status. Applications for admission are reviewed between May and August. The department determines how many new majors will be admitted each year, based on laboratory facilities, computer resources, and available faculty.

To be considered for admission to full major status, a student must have:

1. A minimum grade of C- in all of the following classes or their equivalents:
• Mathematics 1210/1220, 1210/1250, or 111/112/113. (Consult the Mathematics Department for information on satisfying this requirement with a mixture of quarter- and semester-length courses.)
• Physics 2210 or 221/222. (Consult the Physics Department for information on satisfying this requirement with a mixture of quarter- and semester-length courses.)
• Computer Science 2010/2020 or 201/202.
• University English writing requirement
2. A grade of CR in CS 1010 or 110 (a credit/no-credit class).
3. A cumulative grade point average of 2.25 or higher. (Note that much higher grades in the required classes listed above are required. See below for details.)

Applicants for the CS major are ranked according to their composite grade point averages in the required classes listed above, and the students with the best composite scores are admitted. The lowest student on the list to be admitted had a score of 3.4 in 1994, 3.3 in 1995, 3.3 in 1996, 3.35 in 1997, and 3.5 in 1998. Keep this in mind when estimating your chances for admission.

All classes used in the calculation must be taken for letter grades. Credit/no-credit grades are not acceptable, except in CS 110 and CS 1010. Furthermore, each class may be repeated only once. If a class is repeated, only the second grade received is used. If a student registers for a class and later withdraws, resulting in a grade of W, or if a student receives a grade of I or V, that is considered to be one of the two allowable times to register for it. In addition, only three classes (four if a quarter class is included) may be repeated without penalty; for any subsequent classes that a student repeats, only 80% of the grade points received on the first repeat are used in the evaluation.

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 departmental Academic Counselor for details.

Complete information about the undergraduate Computer Science major can be found in the current handbook.