Policies

Grade Policies for CS Majors

Satisfactory/No-Credit (S/NC) Grade Options

Students should check with their academic advisors before deciding to take a course S/NC (formerly the S/N option). Beyond the School's Regulations for students enrolling in courses with the S/NC grade option, the Department of Computer Science imposes the following rules:

  • All computer science courses for the major (core and upper-level courses) must be taken for a letter grade.
  • Required mathematics courses may be taken with the S/NC option.

Students should be sure, before deciding on the grading system for a course, that their decision will not have an adverse effect on their plans for a major. They must discuss this decision with their advisor PRIOR to enrolling and selecting the S/NC grade option.

Individual Course Grades

All computer science courses for the major (core and upper-level courses) must be completed with a C grade or better to count for the CS major. ANY course taken to satisfy a major requirement, including MATH courses required by the major (MATH 0220 , MATH 0230 , and either STAT 1000 , STAT 1100  or STAT 1151 ), for which only a C- grade or lower is received, must be repeated. If a grade of C- or lower is earned in a prerequisite course, the course must be repeated before the higher-level course may be taken.

Departmental Honors

Students may graduate with honors if they have also:

  • Completed a sixth upper-level elective CS course
  • Have a CS GPA of at least 3.5
  • Have an overall GPA of at least 3.25

Restrictions

Majors (and students who have completed CS 0401) are not permitted to enroll in CS 0004, CS 0007, CS 0008 or CS 0009 or CS 0301. Computer science majors may enroll in the intermediate-level service courses (CS 0090, CS 0155, CS 0134, CS 0334 and CS 0699) and may take them for a letter grade. However, these courses will not count toward CS course or GPA requirements.

Double Majors

Students majoring in computer science have the option to complete a concentration of courses or even a second major in at least one other field.

Graduate Course Work

An undergraduate computer science major may enroll in a graduate CS class and receive credit for one of the five required upper-level courses. Permission of the instructor is required.

Related Area

A student majoring in computer science can complete a related area in mathematics by taking 12 credits in mathematics. An algebra, trigonometry, or precalculus course may NOT be used as part of a related area. Students majoring in computer science also select their related areas from many other fields. Areas frequently selected include economics and business, chemistry, physics, psychology, and philosophy.

Credit by Exam

Credit for CS 0401 is given for scores on the Computer Science AP Test of 4 or 5. Credit by exam is not available for any other CS courses.