<p>I have a question that maybe someone here could answer: What is the lowest graduation rate for a Computer Science Undergrad program that you have seen? I ask this question because at my school, the CS department has only awarded six degrees in the past three years. Our normal freshman class has about 40 to 50 students so a small percentage manage to make it. As a result, our program is getting shut down and merged into another major. Have any of you seen this at any other college or university?</p>
<p>Yikes. Do you know why there’s such a high drop-out rate from the program?</p>
<p>I think it’s a combination of a few things. I managed to fight my way to my last semester, but many student have trouble even making it through the first classes. There is a certain professor that makes it extremely difficult to pass classes. He teaches a couple of intro classes, and he teaches Hardware 1 and 2. He is also in charge of the Senior Seminar to graduate. It’s not unusual for a student to have to take Hardware 1 up to 3 times just to pass. The difficulty is just too extreme due to his grading policies, and the fact that every other professor will not stand up to him.</p>
<p>If there’s one professor who seems to be bringing the entire program down, that seems like a serious issue. Is everyone too terrified to take it to a higher level of administration?</p>
<p>People have tried, but failed to get him out of there. He was the head of the CS department the whole time. Here is an article about what is going on at my school:
[NCCU</a> makes ?major? curriculum changes - Triangle Business Journal](<a href=“http://www.bizjournals.com/triangle/print-edition/2012/08/17/nccu-makes-major-curriculum-changes.html?page=all]NCCU”>http://www.bizjournals.com/triangle/print-edition/2012/08/17/nccu-makes-major-curriculum-changes.html?page=all)</p>
<p>Surprising that there is so little student interest in CS (only 40-50 frosh), given that NCCU sits at one corner of the Research Triangle. A slightly smaller university at the edge of Silicon Valley is dealing with swelling introductory CS course enrollment (over 700 in one term).</p>
<p>I think that has something to do with minorities interest in CS, but in any case, it’s been pretty disastrous at our school. I am lucky to be one of the last ones to graduate with a CS degree (assuming I can complete my senior project).</p>
<p>It is not too surprising that majors with low student interest get dropped or merged into other majors. What is more surprising is that CS is such a major at a midsize school near a tech industry area.</p>
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<p>However, other schools with high minority enrollments are able to maintain CS major bachelor’s degree programs (e.g. NC A&T, CSU LA, CSU DH, Hawaii).</p>
<p>There is a problem in attracting blacks and Hispanics into CS. Do other historically black colleges have a hard time maintaining their CS programs? If not, it sounds like the NCCU CS program was badly administered.</p>
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<p>Some HBUs with CS majors:</p>
<p>Alabama A&M
Florida A&M
Florida Memorial
Howard
Jackson State
Mississippi Valley State
North Carolina A&T
Prairie View A&M
South Carolina State</p>
<p>Some schools with >= 50% Latino undergraduate enrollment with CS majors:</p>
<p>CSU Dominguez Hills
CSU Los Angeles
CSU San Bernardino
UT El Paso
UT Pan American</p>
<p>Are you suggesting that blacks and Hispanics are well represented in CS?</p>
<p>[Students</a> of color are left behind in computer science education / UCLA Today](<a href=“http://today.ucla.edu/portal/ut/PRN-students-of-color-are-left-behind-71832.aspx]Students”>http://today.ucla.edu/portal/ut/PRN-students-of-color-are-left-behind-71832.aspx)</p>
<p>[Black</a> Women Computer-Science Ph.D.s? Guess What Percent. - NationalJournal.com](<a href=“http://www.nationaljournal.com/thenextamerica/education/black-women-computer-science-ph-d-s-guess-what-percent-20130115]Black”>http://www.nationaljournal.com/thenextamerica/education/black-women-computer-science-ph-d-s-guess-what-percent-20130115)</p>
<p>[Blacks</a>, Latinos and women lose ground at Silicon Valley tech companies - San Jose Mercury News](<a href=“Blacks, Latinos and women lose ground at Silicon Valley tech companies – The Mercury News”>Blacks, Latinos and women lose ground at Silicon Valley tech companies – The Mercury News)</p>
<p>No. I’m saying that being an HBU (or a school with a heavily Latino enrollment) does not preclude a school from having a CS department and major.</p>
<p>Well there is interest, but what happens is most students who start off in CS end up moving to CIS. When I ask most why they cite the difficulty of the major at our school. Interestingly enough, there are only 5 or 6 seniors in the major at my school, and that includes me. Before they began merging the program, that number of seniors was not too far off the usual amount.</p>
<p>As a UCLA CS first year undergrad students, I see my class comprise primarily of East Asians, Indians, and Caucasians. I can count the number of African Americans and Hispanics on one hand with fingers left over.</p>
<p>I was a CS major last semester but dropped out due to the fact that it was so time consuming.</p>
<p>As a minority (black) with a B.S. in Math/CS and a M.S. in Engineering, it is true that very few black students actually finish CS degrees. Slightly more may go through I.S./I.T. programs, but of course it is the foundation mathematics and foundation CS courses that make many black students quit CS programs.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, few black students are starting their Fall Semester/Quarter with Calculus I (or even Pre-Calculus). That in itself sets off a chain reaction because you need Calculus I for Calculus II and Physics I…need Calculus II for Linear Algebra, Physics II and Statistics for Engineers…and need Linear Algebra for Computer Graphics and Numerical Analysis (for the schools that require Num Analysis). Plus one need the Stats course for Computer Network courses. Add to that, one needs to know the enough Calculus to do a few proofs/inductions in the Algorithms course.</p>
<p>That can be just too much for the student who doesn’t even place in Pre-Calculus as a freshman.</p>