Bachelor's of Science 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:

COP XXXX (introductory programming in C, C++, JAVA or equivalent language)
MAC X311
MAC X312
PHY X048/X048L or PHY X048C
PHY X049/X049L or PHY X049C
XXX XXXX - a science course for science majors*

*The Department requires that item 6 be a course of at least two semester hours, in a discipline other than physics, and must be identified as "For Science Majors" within the Liberal Studies Program, or have such a course as a prerequisite.

Note: Students who have not completed all of the above common prerequisites but are interested in studying computer science in the upper division at FSU should consider the other degree programs offered by the department, including computer criminology and computational biology. These other degree programs are not subject to the above common prerequisites. It is possible for a student who later completes the common prerequisites for computer science to transfer to the computer science degree program.

A grade of "C-" or better must be earned in each of the following courses listed below:

Core Requirements:

MAD 2104 Discrete Mathematics I (3)
CDA 3100-3103 Computer Organization I-II (6)
CEN 4020-4021 Software Engineering I-II (6)
COP 3014 Programming I (3)
COP 3330 Object Oriented Programming (3)
COP 3353 Introduction to Unix (1)
COP 4530 Data Structures, Algorithms, and Generic Programming (This satisfies the Computer Skill Competency Requirement)
COP 4610 Operating Systems and Concurrent Programming
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:

MAD 3105 Discrete Mathematics II (3)
COT 4420 Theory of Computation (3)
COP 4020 Programming Languages (3)
COP 4531 Complexity and Analysis of Data Structures and Algorithms
CIS 4250 Ethics and Computer Science (3)
STA 3032, 4321, or 4442
At least eleven (11) semester hours of computer science electives, at least nine of which must be at the 4000 level

One of the 4000 level computer science electives may be replaced with an advanced math elective. The advanced math elective must be a mathematics or statistics course with a prerequisite of calculus or discrete mathematics. One of the computer science electives must cover an additional programming language not presented in the other required course offerings. CIS 4250 ethics in Computer Science satisifies the University Oral Communication Competency Requirement. The required collateral courses in mathematics, physics, and statistics constitute an acceptable interdiciplinary minor for students in this major. Students may contact the undergraduate adviser for information concerning other acceptable minors.

For the SE major students must additionally take an advanced math elective. 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. The student must complete PHY 2048C, 2049C, and three (3) additional semester hours of science in a discipline other than physics. All courses used to satisfy the science requirement must be identified as "For Science Majors" within the Liberal Studies Program (or have such a course as a prerequisite). 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.

The required collateral courses in mathematics, physics, and statistics constitute an acceptable interdisciplinary minor for students in the computer science degree program. Students may contact the undergraduate adviser for information concerning other acceptable minors.

Accreditation

The undergraduate degree program in computer science, including both the computer science and software engineering majors, is accredited as a computer science degree program by the Computer Accreditation Commission of ABET, 111 Market Place, Suite 1050, Baltimore, MD, 21202-4012; (410) 347-7700. Note that this accreditation is specifically for the computer science degree program for the bachelors of science and is not applicable to the computational biology degree program, the computer criminology degree program, or the computer science degree program for the bachelors of arts (BA). Note also that the software engineering major within the computer science degree program is not accredited as a software engineering degree program by the ABET Engineering Accreditation Commission.