FSU Computer Science

Bachelor's of Arts Degree Program in Computer Science

Degree Requirements

The undergraduate program in computer science is limited access. For each admission cycle (academic year) a minimum GPA is established by the Department of Computer Science. In addition, students must have completed the State of Florida Common Course Prerequisites (see further below) with a grade of "C-" or better in order to be considered for entrance. Upon entrance into the program, the student must maintain a 2.35 GPA to remain in good standing in the major.

A student who has accumulated more than five grades below "C-" (including grades of "U") in mathematics, statistics, natural science, or computer science courses taken for college credit at Florida State University or elsewhere, whether repeated or not, will not be permitted to continue as a major in the department.

There are two majors for the CS bachelor's degree: computer science (CS), and software engineering (SE). These majors are also offered by Distance Learning via the faculty on the Panama City campus.

Note: The term major as used to describe the software engineering program is often called a "track" or "option" in other states or universities. In the following listing of requirements, courses that are required for only one major are marked with the major abbreviation in parentheses.

State of Florida Common Course Prerequisites

The State of Florida has identified common course prerequisites for this University degree program. Specific prerequisites are required for admission into the upper-division program and must be completed by the student at either a community college or a state university prior to being admitted to this program. Students may be admitted into the University without completing the prerequisites, but may not be admitted into the program.

The following are the common prerequisites necessary for admission to upper-division status in the Computer Science degree program:

  1. MAC 1105
  2. MAC 1140
  3. STA 2122 or STA 2023
A grade of "C-" or better must be earned in each of the following courses listed below:

Core Requirements:

  1. MAD 2104 Discrete Mathematics I (3)
  2. CDA 3100-3103 Computer Organization I-II (6)
  3. CEN 4020-4021 Software Engineering I-II (6)
  4. COP 3014 Programming I (3)
  5. COP 3330 Object Oriented Programming (3)
  6. COP 3353 Introduction to Unix (1)
  7. COP 4530 Data Structures, Algorithms, and Generic Programming (This satisfies the Computer Skill Competency Requirement)
  8. COP 4610 Operating Systems and Concurrent Programming
  9. COP 4710 Theory and Structure of Databases
In addition to the core requirements described above, and the common prerequisites for this major, each student must complete:
  1. COP 4020 Programming Languages (3)
  2. STA 2122, STA 2023 or any of the statistics courses approved for the CS BS major
  3. At least nine semester hours of computer science electives, at least six of which must be at the 4000 level
  4. At least nine semester hours in the fields of humanities and history, in addition to those taken to satisfy the liberal studies and foreign language requirement.
  5. And a Minor approved by the department

One of the 4000 level computer science electives may be replaced with an advanced math elective. STA 2023 or any of the statistics courses approved for the CS BS major may be substituted for STA 2122. The general electives and additional courses in the humanities and history may be applied toward satisfaction of the minor requirement. Students should contatc the undergraduate adviser for information concering acceptable minors. Additional general electives are required to bring the total credits to 120 hours.

Note:Because of the reduced requirements in mathematics and theoretical computer sciences, students graduating with the BA in CS who wish to be admitted to the graduate program in CS at FSU, may be required to take remedial undergraduate courses (seen here), like students from other closely related majors such as Mathematics and Computer Engineering are already required to.

One of the computer science electives must cover an additional programming language not presented in the other required course offerings. All CGS courses, individual instruction courses such as CIS 3949r Internship in Computer Science, and CIS 4900 Directed Individual Study will not count toward the CS electives. Approval is to be requested prior to registration for the elective courses. All students are required to complete an exit survey for both the Department of Computer Science and the College of Arts and Sciences during their term of graduation. These forms may be obtained from the Academic Coordinator's Office (Room 203C Love Building). Final clearance for the degree is performed by the Department of Computer Science. If the exit survey has not been submitted the department will not approve graduation. Students following this degree will complete a total of at least one hundred twenty (120) semester hours in order to satisfy all University and major requirements.

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