The Undergraduate Program Committee is pleased to announce the Faculty Senate approval of the Revised BS-CS Major curriculum, effective September 6, 2016.
This revised curriculum will allow students the flexibility to take a set of courses that is suited to their particular interests while maintaining the option to focus in a particular sub-discipline of CS, or maintain breadth in the choice of upper-level courses. This can all be accomplished without being restricted to a limited number of required courses in a subplan.
Outline of the REVISED 8 upper-level requirements (not including COMPSCI 305/JYW Requirement):
COMPSCI 311
3 additional CS Electives numbered 300 or above (including one to satisfy the IE Requirement)
3 additional CS Electives numbered 400 or above
1 additional CS Elective numbered 300 or above, or an Outside Elective from an approved list.
CS courses numbered x90-x99 may be used as CS electives only with UPD approval. The CICS website will soon provide further guidance as to exactly which courses may be used as CS electives. In general, CS courses that currently count toward the major will continue to count under the revised curriculum.
IMPLEMENTATION:
INCOMING F16 CS MAJORS and CURRENT UMass STUDENTS not yet accepted to the major: The revised curriculum will apply to CS Majors entering the University, starting Fall 2016, and to students who complete the application process to change into CS. No paperwork required.
CURRENT CS MAJORS: The CICS Faculty support the university's policy to allow current CS Majors the option to elect to change to the revised curriculum. We anticipate that most CS Majors pursuing the BS will opt to change to the new requirements, however, we recognize that some students who are close to graduation may opt to remain under their current requirements. Change in Requirement Term (CIRT) form required.
Further details and forms will be forthcoming during the summer and all CS Majors will be required to complete appropriate paperwork, so stay tuned.
We anticipate that students may have questions, and therefore we are scheduling Information Sessions in September (details to follow). Specific questions should be emailed to upd@cs.umass.edu to be compiled as FAQs.
Major Change into CS is by application only. If you are interested in joining our major, submit your application during the designated period. If you have questions after reviewing the process on our webpages, please contact the appropriate list on our Contact Us With Your Questions page.
We also have a minor in Computer Science.
Finally, students completing the Computer Science BS (or BA) and a Math major or minor will find some helpful advice on this page.
The tracking forms are informal descriptions of the programs that are for guidance only, and these do not define official policy. See Academic Requirements Report (ARR) on SPIRE.