Students intending to minor in Computer Science must complete the CS Minor Intent form. Many of our courses are only open to CS majors, so being added to the CS Minors List via submission of the CS Minor Intent form will allow the best service to our minors through the override registration process. Submission of the form does not guarantee course enrollment, so students pursuing the minor must be flexible when planning schedules over several semesters in order to complete the minor requirements before graduation. CS Minor Intent forms are reviewed two times a year with deadlines preceding Spring and Fall registration periods.
CS Minor Intent Deadline** | Registration Period | Intent Form Available | Added to CS Minor List |
March 1 | for Fall 2023 (April) | After Spring add/drop ends (~Feb 16 through Mar 1 5:00 PM EST) |
March (or May if pending predictor grades) |
October 1 | for Spring 2024 (November) | After Fall add/drop ends (~Sep 20 through Oct 1 5:00 PM EDT) |
October (or January if pending predictor grades) |
FORM AVAILABILITY: CS Minor Intent forms are available after Add/Drop ends through the stated deadline (Oct 1 or Mar 1). Intent forms close at 5 PM EST/EDT on the stated deadline.
IMPORTANT TREND: Given a trend in demand for CS courses by a steadily increasing population of CS Majors, we may not have seats for all interested students to complete the CS Minor, even for students on the CS Minor List.
*Until Computational Linguistics is officially approved as a major, we will continue to accept Minor Intent applications from current Linguistics majors.
The CS minor requires five computer science courses including:
*Note: CICS 160 is the second course in the revised CICS introductory course sequence. Students must complete CICS 110, have an eligible AP CS exam score, or pass the CICS programming placement exam to be eligible to take CICS 160.
* Note: As of fall 2023, introductory programming courses COMPSCI 121 and COMPSCI 187 are no longer being offered.
Of the five courses, students must take at least two computer science "core" courses from the following list:
There is no specific mathematics requirement for the computer science minor, but all the above courses require R1 proficiency (such as MATH 104) and COMPSCI 240 and 250 require MATH 132 as a prerequisite.
A cumulative quality point average of at least 2.00 is required for all UMass Amherst courses used to satisfy the requirements for the CS minor. No courses used to satisfy the minor can be taken on a pass/fail basis. (Note: does not apply for these courses taken in Spring/Fall 2020 or Spring 2021)
No more than one course used to satisfy the requirements for the CS Minor may have a passing grade below a C.
If you would like more information about the CS Minor after reading the details about the requirements, please email askcsminor@cs.umass.edu.
Overrides are usually needed to register for CS courses that are restricted to majors, so if you meet prerequisites, make sure that you request an override via the on-line form for the upcoming semester (when link is available).
IMPORTANT NOTE: Students approved for the CS Minors List get some priority for seats in CS courses. Eligible students not on the CS Minors List may still be awarded the minor if they are able to enroll in required courses via the override process, but will have a lower priority for seats.
Undergraduate Program Staff will prepare the Declaration of an Academic Minor form for students on the CS Minors List completing requirements during each semester. The CS Minor credential (MN-CS) is posted on SPIRE after all requirements are completed (see Student Services Center or transcript). Students who are not on the CS Minors List who believe that they are eligible for this credential should email askCSMinor@cs.umass.edu for a transcript review.