Florida State University Department of Computer Science Bachelors and Masters Degrees Available Online

Notice: The current restrictions on undergraduate transfer admission are NOT being applied to the online programs in Computer Science. For details please contact: Dean Steve Leach at the Panama City campus via email: sleach@pc.fsu.edu.

All required upper division and graduate classes are available completely on-line, and most are available in the alternate mixed mode of delivery wherein classes meet on campus as well as on-line. Some of the core undergraduate classes are available as pure on-campus delivery as well.

Bachelors Degree

The Bachelor of Science, with either Software Engineering or Computer Science major, is available as a full time upper division program, which means that:

1. Students are expected to enter the program after completing an Associate of Arts degree from a Florida Community College, or have the equivalent from other institutions; and that, in addition,
2. The courses taken are transferable to FSU and satisfy the common pre-requisite courses required for all Computer Science Bachelors degrees in Florida. (These pre-requisite requirements are explained in detail in various university documents and are applicable to any program, whether traditional or online.)
3. Once admitted to the program, students may proceed at a full time pace (approximately 13 credits per semester plus one summer) or at a more relaxed pace, depending on personal choice and circumstances.
4. Students may be admitted for either the Summer semester or the Fall semester, depending on whether the first course in programming is needed. This course, COP 3104, may be counted toward the degree, but also may be skipped if a comparable course is transferred from a community college. If is offered online only in Summer semester.

BS / CS / Computer Science

The Bachelors of Science with major Computer Science [BS/CS/CS] is the degree that is offered on site at the main campus in Tallahassee. This degree is also available online and at the branch campuses. The requirements are exactly the same, and a student may transfer freely among campuses (including the "online" campus) with this major. The course offering schedule for online and branch campuses is more constrained, but the courses offered are the same. There is no distinction on a student's transcript or diploma indicating which campus a particular course has been taken.

Please refer to the main departmental home page for details on the BS/CS/CS requirements and to the Undergraduate Course Offering Schedule for details on when courses are available.

BS / CS / Software Engineering

The Bachelors of Science with major Software Engineering [BS/CS/SE] is offered only online and at the branch campuses. It is worth considering the implications of this asymmetry in some detail, organized below as three "FAQs":

1. What distinguishes Software Engineering from Computer Science?

   Different universities may answer this question in different ways. At FSU, we have taken the position that software engineering is a superset of computer science. The principal innovation for this major is a 2-semester sequence (called Software Engineering I and II) that covers requirements, analysis, design, and implementation and has an accompanying 2-semester software project.

2. What will the diploma and transcript say?

   Again, there is no distinction on a student's transcript or diploma indicating which campus a particular course has been taken. All of the courses offered on any campus (including online) are listed in the FSU Bulletin as regular courses sanctioned and offered by the University. It would be quite possible that, at some future time, the BS/CS/SE is offered on main campus as well.

   For either major, the diploma will say Bachelors of Science in Computer Science. The official transcript will state the major, either Computer Science or Software Engineering.

3. What about transfering from one campus to another?

   The courses that are required for the BS/CS/SE and not for BS/CS/CS would all be taken in the senior year and count as electives for the BS/CS/CS major. As the requirements are now, the worst case scenario is for a BS/CS/SE student transfering to the main campus. Such a student would have to change majors to BS/CS/CS and take COP 4020 Programming Languages (either on campus or online).

Please refer to the BS/CS/SE flow chart for details on the BS/CS/SE requirements and to the Undergraduate Course Offering Schedule for details on when courses are available.

Masters Degree

The Master of Science with Software Engineering major [MS/CS/SE] is available only as at the branch campus in Panama City, Florida. The MS/CS/SE courses may also be taken via online delivery. Like the undergraduate BS/CS/SE degree, this is a major, not a separate degree program, so the diploma will say Master of Science in Computer Science while the transcript will list the major as Software Engineering. All three options: Thesis, Project, and Course, are available.

In particular, our online course-based MS/CS/SE offers the following curriculum:

Online Masters Courses
Course			Credits	Delivery Options	Comments
CIS	5935	Introduction to Research	(2)	online and mixed-mode	required
CEN	5035	Software Engineering	(3)	online and mixed-mode	required
CDA	5155	Computer Architecture	(3)	online and on-campus	required
COT	5405	Advanced Algorithms	(3)	online and mixed-mode	required
CEN	5000	Knowledge Engineering	(3)	online and mixed-mode	elective
CEN	5exp	Expert System Design	(3)	online and mixed-mode	elective
CEN	5064	Software Design	(3)	online and mixed-mode	elective
COP	5gpr	Generic Programming	(3)	online and mixed-mode	elective
COP	5385	HSM and Reactive Systems	(3)	online and mixed-mode	elective
COT	5fom	Formal Methods in Software	(3)	online and mixed-mode	elective
CIS	5dbm	Advanced Database Management	(3)	online only	elective
ISM	5315	Project Management	(3)	online only	elective
CIS	5915r	Graduate Software Project	(1-9)	individually scheduled	6 hours required for Project option
CIS	5970r	Graduate Thesis	(1-9)	individually scheduled	9 hours required for Thesis option

These courses may be taken in any order, and the total credit requirement is 35. Please note that for students taking the Project option, 6 hours of CIS 5915r are required (and are substituted for 6 hours of elective courses), and for students taking the Thesis option, 9 hours of CIS 5970r are required (and are substituted for 9 hours of elective courses).

Please refer to the appropriate departmental MS requirements page for complete requirements for MS/CS/SE, and the Graduate Course Offering Schedule for details to see when courses are available.

Combo Fast-Track Dual-Credit Bachelors and Masters Degrees

The fast track option is available for undergraduate students in either major and at any campus (including online). The idea is that the student may take as many as three graduate courses (up to nine credit hours) as an undergraduate. These graduate courses may then be applied directly to satisfy the same number of undergraduate degree requirements.

The payoff is that, once in the graduate program, these same courses will count again toward the masters degree. To put it another way, the masters degree requirements are reduced from 35 hours to 26 hours, assuming nine credits have been taken in the dual credit program.

Undergraduates who have completed about half of their courses and who may contemplate the possibility of continuing toward a masters degree are encouraged to apply for this program. Note that the student must have a record that is acceptable for graduate work in order to be accepted.

One final note: traditional undergraduates may enter this program while on campus and switch to online delivery for the masters work.