The School of Computing undergraduate academic advisors are available to answer questions regarding schedule plans, registration for computer science classes, degree requirements, or any problems the student may be experiencing in their academic progress.

The most common questions are answered below in our FAQ.

All advisors can be reached here:
Phone: 801.581.8224
Email: ugrad-help@cs.utah.edu

Alyssa Phillips

Faculty Photo

Office: 3417 MEB

Vicki Rigby

Office: 3190 MEB

Jordan Lane

Office: 3419 MEB

Tracy Versluis

Faculty Photo

Office: 3190 MEB

Undergraduate Advising FAQs

Major required classes must be taken for a letter grade and will not count if they are taken as CR/NC. Major required classes are all classes listed on the degree requirement sheets, except American Institutions and the Intellectual exploration (FF*, HF, BF) courses. *Please note that for the CS with EAE emphasis, Art 1020 and DES 2615 cannon be taken as CR/NC since they are required by the major. For more CR/NC information, see this page.

Students seeking FMS in CS or DS apply at the end of the semester that they complete CS 2420 and Calculus II. Students in CS 2420 will receive an email (to their Umail) during the last 2 weeks of the semester with a link to the application. Transfer students or those not in CS 2420 during the semester they wish to apply should contact ugrad-help@cs.utah.edu

During busy times for advising appointments fill up fast! The scheduler can make appointments up to 2 weeks in advance, but if all appointments are taken then it may look like none are available. In this case you can either wait until the following day when another day of appointments will open up, or you can see if another advisor has appointments available. You can also email ugrad-help@cs.utah.edu for answers to quick questions.

Yes! Scholarships for both the School of Computing and the College of Engineering open at the beginning of December each year and close February 1st. Scholarships are awarded for the Fall and Spring semesters of the following academic year. For more information, and to apply for scholarships during the open window, see this page.

The university wants to make sure that all students are getting the help they need, and that nobody is mistakenly taking classes they think will apply toward their degrees but actually won’t. Notifications are sent out months before the deadline, so be sure to make an appointment early! If everyone waits until registration starts, there will be a huge bottleneck of students trying to make appointments and you may not be able to register when your dates open up.

Since there aren’t CS classes during the summer, you could work on general education courses, math/science electives, or (if you’re in the Games/EAE emphasis) EAE classes. A lot of students take math or physics during the summer so they don’t have to take those classes alongside time consuming CS classes. We don’t recommend taking all your general education classes during the summer, because it helps to have at least one less rigorous class each semester through graduation.

Undergraduate Prospective Students FAQs

Take as many math courses as you can. The first CS course (CS 1030) requires Trigonometry (MATH 1060) or Precalculus (MATH 1080) as a co-requisite, so it will be beneficial to be prepared to take those math classes (or higher) when you start at the U. General science classes can also help you prepare.

Yes, absolutely. The first CS course is called Foundations of Computer Science and assumes that students have no experience with computer science concepts or programming.

The average time spent to complete the computer science, data science, or computer engineering degree is 4.5 to 5 years, which is the same as for other engineering degrees.

Some students may be offered direct admission to the degree programs as entering freshmen. Other students should complete five pre-major courses and apply for full-major status. For more information, see https://handbook.cs.utah.edu/2020-2021/Prospective_Students/Preparing_To_Major_In_Cs/full_major_status.php

Yes, but make sure you are also taking math and computer science classes. Due to the chain of prerequisite courses for the degree program, you should not wait to start taking these classes. You are strongly encouraged to speak with an SoC academic advisor early to make a plan for a smooth transfer: https://handbook.cs.utah.edu/2020-2021/Academics/advising.php

While students can be admitted to the University this next year without ACT or SAT test scores, we strongly prefer that students take these standardized tests if they can. These test scores are used for direct admission to degree programs and to award merit scholarships.