Look at trends and if there’s a definite trend (both at the university and elsewhere in the state)
1° hire one or two tenure-track professor (s)
2° create several graduate instructorships/TAships to work with that professors (easy to decrease if undergaduate demand decreases, easy to increase if undergraduate demand increases)
=> create 1 lecture with as many sections as needed
3° complement with a postdoc, visiting lecturer, etc.
UWashington had to do that - they hired 3 tenure-track professors AND had to hire more in other universities since the students who wanted to major in CS couldn’t and were transferring enmasse to the state’s other public universities (especiallu WWU and Wash State).
However it’s hard to hire CS professors because private-sector pay is SO MUCH better than what universities offer.
In addition, the trend isn’t likely to slow down and there are a lot of demand from employers to get more qualified graduates with computational, CS, CSE… knowledge.
There’s a student who had a choice between UCB potential CS admit vs. named scholar at Georgia Tech wih guaranteed CS… he picked UCB.
To me that makes no sense (both are prestigious and one is safer) but 18 year olds like gambles.
Plan A vs. Plan B: conditions should be spelled out clearly, as well as odds, so that students who are “direct admits” can choose that, and students who aren’t can take a chance with Plan B - and know what’s what.
In addition, for plan B, they should understand if it’s selective or competitive:
*selective = students need to meet a threshold (ie., 3.0) and/or specific conditions (C in X and Z classes) – if they do met the criteria they’re in. What percentage students get those conditions should be specified.
*competitive = students need to meet the threshold and/or the conditions, BUT among those who qualify, only the top-ranked will be admitted to the major. What percentage students meet the conditions and then what percentage among those make the cut should b specified.
For Plan A, if a major’s more selective than the university at large, the program’s stat range or the college’s stat range should be indicated (such as what UMN Twin Cities does:
http://admissions.tc.umn.edu/academics/profile.html )