Computer science at some smaller schools (including liberal arts colleges)

Updated:

Here is a list common upper level undergraduate computer science offerings at smaller schools, based on catalog descriptions. However, please take into account the following, which can require you to do additional investigation of each school:

  • When noted in the catalog, frequency of offering is listed. When not listed in the catalog, determining frequency of offering may require inspection of schedules or asking the computer science department directly.
  • Courses available through cross registration are not included.
  • Courses offered or their frequency of offering may change in the future.
  • Rigor and depth of courses on the same general subject may vary between schools.
  • Some schools may list a given course as a sophomore level course or a graduate level course instead of a junior or senior level course.
  • Some schools may offer less common electives not listed here (e.g. parallel computing, data mining, game programming). These may be of interest to some students.
  • Some courses not listed maybe offered occasionally in "special topics" courses.
  • Some schools may have several undergraduate courses in a given subject area (e.g. multiple hardware courses or multiple security and cryptography courses). These typically indicate a specialization emphasis at the school, which may be valuable for students whose interests match that specialization.
  • Schools include popularly mentioned smaller universities and liberal arts colleges, schools that have been mentioned in recent "smaller schools for computer science" threads, and some schools with automatic full ride merit scholarships for students with high enough GPA and test scores.


AC TC OS CM DB NW SC SE AI GR HW
?  2  2  2  2  2     2  2               Allegheny
1  2  1  2     2  2     2  <            Amherst
E  E  E  E  E  E  1  1  1  1  ?         Barnard (joint with Columbia)
   <              ?                     Bates
2  2  2     2  2     2        2         Beloit
E     1                 1               Bowdoin
?  ?        ?  ?     ?  ?  ?            Brandeis
?     ?  ?              ?  ?            Bryn Mawr
1  1  1  1     2     1     1  1         Bucknell
?  ?  ?     ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?            CSU Channel Islands
E  1  1  1     1     1  E  1            CSU Chico
?     ?     ?  ?     ?        ?         CSU Monterey Bay
+  +  1     ?  ?     +  ?               Carleton
?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?         Case Western Reserve
?     ?  ?  1  1  ?  2  ?  ?  1         Chapman
?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?         CUNY CCNY
%  ?  ?     ?  ?     ?  ?     ?         CUNY Hunter
?  ?  ?     ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?         CUNY York
                                        Clark
2  2           2                        Colby
?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?     ?     ?            Colgate
?  ?  ?     ?  ?        ?  ?            Colorado College
?     ?     ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?         Colorado School of Mines
?  ?  ?     ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?            Connecticut College
+  1  1  2  2  1  1  +  1  1  1         Dartmouth
2  2                    ?  ?            Davidson
?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?     ?  ?               Denison
   1  1  1  1  2     1        1         Emory
?  ?  2        2        ?               Franklin and Marshall
   ?  ?     ?  ?     ?  ?     ?         Furman
1  1  1     1     1     1  1  1         Georgetown
1  1  2  2  2  2     1  2               Grinnell
1  1  1  1  1     2  *  1     1         Hamilton
E  2  2  2  2  2     E  E  1  2         Harvey Mudd
?  ?     ?              ?  ?            Haverford
2  2  2  2                 2            Holy Cross
?  ?  ?     ?     ?  ?  ?               Howard
?  ?  ?     ?  ?  ?  ?                  Humboldt State
E  E  E  2  E  1  1  E  1  2  2         Illinois Inst Tech
?  ?  ?           ?           ?         Kalamazoo
%  2  1  2  2  2  2  2  2  2  E         Kettering
1  2  2     2  2     1     ?            Lafayette
?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?         Lehigh
1  2  2        2     2  2  1            Lewis and Clark
?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?         Louisiana Tech
1  1  2     1  2     1  2               Macalester
?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  *  ?  ?  ?         Marist
E  E  1  E  E  E  1  ?  1  1  E         Michigan Tech
1     <  ?  ?  ?  ?  <  ?  ?            Middlebury
?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?            Minnesota - Morris
?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?         Missouri S&T
1  1  1              1  2  1            Mount Holyoke
   ?                    ?               New College of Florida
1  ?  1  1  ?  1  ?  1     ?  1         New Mexico Tech
   ?  ?     ?        ?     ?  ?         North Carolina - Asheville
?     ?     ?  ?           ?  ?         North Carolina Central
E  1  1  1  1     1     1  1            Oberlin
%                                       Occidental
?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?     *  ?     ?         Ohio Wesleyan
%  %  %     %  %     %  %     ?         Olin Engineering
E     E     ?        ?  ?               Pomona
?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?         Portland
?  ?  ?     ?  ?     ?  ?  ?  ?         Prairie View A&M
1  <  2  2  1  1     <  2  1  <         Puget Sound
   E  E     ?        1  ?               Redlands
?  ?                       ?            Reed
E  1  1  ?  1  1  1  E  1  1  1         Rensselaer Polytechnic
?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?         Rice
1  2  2  2  2  2  2  E  2  <  2         Richmond
?  ?  ?     ?  ?  ?  ?  ?               Rochester (University of)
E  E  1     E  1  E  *  E  E  1         Rochester Inst Tech
2  2  1     2  2     2                  Ronoake
?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?         Rose Hulman
1  2  2        2     1        1         St. Olaf
?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?         Santa Clara
2  2  2        2     2  2  2  2         Smith
E  E  E  ?  E  ?  ?  E  ?  ?  ?         Sonoma State
?  ?  ?     ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?         South Dakota Mines
?  ?                       ?            SUNY - Geneseo
?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?     ?  ?     ?         Swarthmore
?  ?  ?     ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?            Trinity University
?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?         Truman State
?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?         Tufts
?  ?                 ?  ?  ?            Tulane
1  1  1  1  1  E  1  *  ?               Tulsa
1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1     1  1         Tuskegee
?  ?  ?     ?        ?  ?  ?  ?         Union College
E  E  1  1     ?        1  ?  1         Vassar
?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?  ?            Villanova
1  1  ?  ?  ?  ?     ?  ?               Washington and Lee
?     ?  ?     ?     *     ?  ?         Washington St. Louis
?  ?        ?  ?  ?     ?  ?            Wellesley
1  1     2  ?     ?  ?  2  ?            Wesleyan
                                        Whittier
1     1  %              2  2  %         Willamette
1  1  2  2     <  2  *  <  2  2         Williams
1  2  2     2  2     2  2  2            Wooster (College of)
1  1  1  2  1  1  1  1  1  1  2         Worcester Polytechnic

E = every semester
+ = 2 out of 3 quarters
1 = every year
2 = every other year
< = less frequently than every other year
? = frequency of offering not listed in catalog; check schedules
* = projects in other courses; not all may be obvious from catalogs
% = some of the content is found in courses covering multiple topics

AC = algorithms and complexity
TC = theory of computation, languages, automata
OS = operating systems
CM = compilers
DB = databases
NW = networks
SC = security and cryptography
SE = software engineering
AI = artificial intelligence
GR = graphics
HW = hardware courses