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Major Requirements

A minimum of 48 semester hours is required for the Bachelor of Science in Computer and Information Science, which include 36 required core course hours and at least 12 additional hours chosen from any CIS course at the 300 level or above. In addition to the credit courses, participation in freshman and senior seminars is required. Cognate requirements include 20 hours of mathematics and a year sequence of calculus-based physics. Each of these courses must be passed with a grade of C or higher.



Major Core Requirements (36 hours)

Note: Independent study and research hours may not be counted as required hours in computer science.

Electives (12 hours)


Required Cognate Courses



Elective Suggestions

When choosing electives, you should choose courses that you think you will enjoy and will be valuable to you. Nevertheless, we are often asked what electives someone should take if they are planning to go to grad school or planning to work in industry. The following are just suggestions. You should follow your own interests.

Graduate School

Those planning on graduate school should certainly take CIS 452, Theory of Computation. Other ideas: Note that just because something isn't listed above doesn't mean it's not a good idea. For example, database design is still an active area of research, so if you're interested in pursuing that in graduate school, by all means take all the database courses you can. Similarly, none of these courses will be perceived as negative on a résumé.

Industry

Here are some courses that are a bit more "applied" and might be more suited to those going into industry.

Minor Requirements

The department offers two minors, each of which consists of 24 hours (six courses). A minor in computer science is also required to take freshman seminar (CIS 181 and 182) and senior seminar (CIS 481 and 482).

Computer Science Minor

The Computer Science minor is designed primarily for students with a science background. CIS 121 and CIS 122 are required, as well as either CIS 213 or CIS 216. Of the remaining three elective courses, one must be chosen from CIS courses numbered 210 or above, and the other two must be chosen from CIS courses numbered 300 or above. All electives must be approved by the department chair.

For example, students may choose courses from the set CIS 313, CIS 366, CIS 435 and CIS 463 or from the set CIS 302, CIS 326, CIS 413, and CIS 463. The suggested mathematical cognates for this option are MATH 214 and MATH 234.

Information Science Minor

The Information Science minor is designed for non-science majors and is oriented toward business and information science. CIS 121, 122, 213 and 302 are required. The two elective courses must be chosen from courses numbered 300 or above, or MGT 300, Principles of Management.





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Last updated Monday, July 24, 2000