CS major impaction and secondary admission requirements

College Majors Math/Computer Science Majors
1

This is a list of some popular colleges’ and universities’ secondary admission criteria for CS majors when the student is not directly admitted to the major. Explanations of terms:

  • Competitive: admission to the major is competitive. It may require minimum grades or GPA to be eligible, but such grades or GPA do not guarantee admission. Essays or other criteria may be used.
  • GPA or grade minimum: admission to the major is based on minimum GPA or grades. pGPA and oGPA specifically refer to prerequisite and overall GPA.
  • Open: admission to the major is essentially open. Prerequisite courses may be required. GPA no higher than 2.0 may be required. Grades no higher then C may be required.

Arizona State (2/16):

Cal Poly SLO (2/16):

CMU (2/16):

Cornell (2/16):

MIT (2/16):

Michigan (2/16):

Minnesota (2/16):

Purdue (2/16):

San Jose State (2/16):

Stanford (2/16):

Stony Brook (2/16):

UC Berkeley (2/16):

UC Davis (2/16):

UC Irvine (2/16):

UCLA (2/16):

UC Riverside (2/16):

UC San Diego (2/16):

UC Santa Barbara (2/16):

UC Santa Cruz (2/16):

UIUC (2/16):

UMass - Amherst:

Virginia Tech (6/16):

Washington (2/16):

Wisconsin (2/16):

2

Updated, first section (general explanation of terms):

This is a list of some popular colleges’ and universities’ secondary admission criteria for CS majors when the student is not directly admitted to the major. Explanations of terms:

  • Competitive: admission to the major is competitive. It may require minimum grades or GPA to be eligible, but such grades or GPA do not guarantee admission. Essays or other criteria may be used.
  • GPA or grade minimum: admission to the major is based on minimum GPA or grades. pGPA and oGPA specifically refer to prerequisite and overall GPA.
  • Open: admission to the major is essentially open. Prerequisite courses may be required. GPA no higher than 2.0 may be required. Grades no higher then C may be required.

Major name abbreviations:

  • CPE = Computer Engineering
  • CGS = Computer Game Science
  • CS = Computer Science
  • CSE = Computer Science and Engineering
  • ECE = Electrical and Computer Engineering
  • EECS = Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
  • SE = Software Engineering
3

Updated, second section (list of colleges and universities):

Arizona State (2/16):

Cal Poly SLO (2/16):

CMU (2/16):

Cornell (2/16):

MIT (2/16):

Michigan (2/16):

Minnesota (2/16):

Purdue (2/16):

San Jose State (2/16):

Stanford (2/16):

Stony Brook (2/16):

Texas A&M (2/16):

UC Berkeley (2/16):

UC Davis (2/16):

UC Irvine (2/16):

UCLA (2/16):

UC Riverside (2/16):

UC San Diego (2/16):

UC Santa Barbara (2/16):

UC Santa Cruz (2/16):

UIUC (2/16):

UMass - Amherst:

University of Southern California:

University of Texas, Austin (2/16):

Virginia Tech (6/16):

Washington (2/16):

Wisconsin (2/16):

4

Interesting list.

Here is my question…

Any of these schools forbid non-CS/non-CSE/non-CPE/non-EECS majors from taking CS courses??

Of course, you know my angle. A “B.A. in Math” major can take a subset of the CS courses and embark on the same career.

…without the GPA pressure.

5

It would not be surprising if junior/senior level CS courses were hard to get into by non-CS majors, since the secondary admission requirements and processes are largely for the purpose of keeping the number of CS majors to a level that can be supported by the space in junior/senior level CS courses. Of course, if the space in junior/senior level CS courses is taken up by CS majors, there may be little space left for non-CS majors to enroll in those courses.

Here is an example of how enrollment in CS courses is prioritized: http://www.eecs.berkeley.edu/Policies/enrollment.shtml

6

Perhaps having this thread at the top of the forum section may help during late March and April.

7

Updated, first section (general explanation of terms):

This is a list of some popular colleges’ and universities’ secondary admission criteria for CS majors when the student is not directly admitted to the major. Explanations of terms:

  • Competitive: admission to the major is competitive. It may require minimum grades or GPA to be eligible, but such grades or GPA do not guarantee admission. Essays or other criteria may be used.
  • GPA or grade minimum: admission to the major is based on minimum GPA or grades. pGPA and oGPA specifically refer to prerequisite and overall GPA.
  • Open: admission to the major is essentially open. Prerequisite courses may be required. GPA no higher than 2.0 may be required. Grades no higher then C may be required.

Major name abbreviations:

  • CPE = Computer Engineering
  • CGS = Computer Game Science
  • CS = Computer Science
  • CSE = Computer Science and Engineering
  • ECE = Electrical and Computer Engineering
  • EECS = Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
  • SE = Software Engineering
8

Updated, second section (first of two parts of list of colleges and universities):

Arizona State (2/16):

Cal Poly SLO (2/16):

CMU (2/16):

Cornell (2/16):

Georgia Tech (2/16):

MIT (2/16):

Michigan (2/16):

Minnesota (2/16):

Ohio State (2/16):

Penn State (3/16):

Purdue (2/16):

Rutgers (3/16):

San Jose State (2/16):

Stanford (2/16):

Stony Brook (2/16):

Texas A&M (5/16):

9

Updated, third section (second of two parts of list of colleges and universities):

UC Berkeley (2/16):

UC Davis (2/16):

UC Irvine (2/16):

UCLA (2/16):

UC Riverside (2/16):

UC San Diego (8/16):

UC Santa Barbara (2/16):

UC Santa Cruz (2/16):

UIUC (8/16):

UMass - Amherst:

University of Southern California:

University of Texas, Austin (2/16):

Virginia Tech (6/16):

Washington (2/16):

Wisconsin (2/16):