Computer Science B.A.

Information and Policies

Introduction

The bachelor of arts (B.A.) program at UC Santa Cruz is designed to give students a solid grounding in both theoretical and practical topics in computer science, computer engineering, and mathematics while leaving flexibility for a broad program of study, including some courses outside of science and engineering, or even for a double major in another discipline.

Academic Advising for the Program

The Baskin School of Engineering undergraduate advising office offers general advising for prospective and declared undergraduates majoring in School of Engineering programs. The office handles major declarations, transfer credits, course substitutions, articulations, and degree certifications. Undergraduate students obtain and submit all paperwork requiring departmental approval to the undergraduate advising office. Transfer students should also refer to the Transfer Information and Policy section.

Baskin Engineering Building, Room 225
bsoeadvising@ucsc.edu
(831) 459-5840

Getting Started in the Major

It is recommended that high school students intending to apply to the computer science major have completed four years of mathematics (through advanced algebra and trigonometry) and three years of science in high school. Comparable college mathematics and science courses completed at other institutions also serve to properly prepare a student for the computer science major.

Program Learning Outcomes

Recipients of a Bachelor of Science or a Bachelor of Arts degree in Computer Science at UC Santa Cruz are expected to have the following skills and experiences:

1. Demonstrate mastery of computer science in the following core knowledge areas:
   • Algorithms, data structures, and complexity
   • Programming languages
   • Software engineering and development
   • Computer systems
2. Apply system-level perspective by thinking at multiple levels of detail and abstraction and by recognizing the context in which a computer system may function, including its interactions with people and the physical world.
3. Apply problem-solving skills and the knowledge of computer science to solve real problems.
4. Understand how technological advances impact society and the social, legal, ethical and cultural ramifications of computer technology and their usage.
5. Write about and orally communicate technical material about computer science and computer systems, broadly conceived.

Major Qualification Policy and Declaration Process

Major Qualification

For all students, it is necessary to be listed as proposed computer science majors within the School of Engineering before being able to declare the major. Additionally, students must satisfy the following three criteria to qualify for the CS B.A. major:

Declare

Students must declare CS (Computer Science B.S. or Computer Science B.A.) as their major between student’s second to sixth quarter.

CS Major Qualification courses

Students must have completed the following CS major qualification courses to qualify for the major:

Either this course

And these courses

Plus one of the following

Plus one of the following

Cumulative GPA

Students must also have a cumulative GPA of at least 2.80 in the CS major qualification courses attempted at UC Santa Cruz, with at most one unsuccessful attempt (grade C-, D+, D, D-, F, or NP) permitted in a CS major qualification course.

Appeal Process

Students who are informed that they do not qualify for the major may appeal this decision by submitting a letter to the undergraduate director through the Baskin School of Engineering undergraduate advising office within 15 days from the date the notification was mailed. Within 15 days of receipt of the appeal, the department will notify the student, college, and Office of the Registrar of the decision.

How to Declare a Major

Students interested in pursuing computer science must indicate computer science as a proposed major on their application for admission to UC Santa Cruz. Students admitted to UCSC in fall 2018 or later will be able to declare a computer science major only if they have been admitted to UCSC as proposed computer science majors.

There are four steps to declaring a BSOE major. For a detailed guide to this process, please consult Baskin Engineering's Declare Your Major website. 

Students should start the declaration of major process by completing Step One on the BSOE Declare Your Major website as soon as they complete the CS major qualification courses or reach their declaration deadline quarter, whichever comes first.

Students petitioning when the campus declaration deadline is imminent (i.e., in their sixth quarter, for students admitted as frosh), will either be approved, denied, or provided with conditions (e.g., completion of some courses with certain grades) that will be resolved within at most one more enrolled quarter, even if they have not completed all CS major qualification courses.

Transfer Information and Policy

Transfer Admission Screening Policy

Prior to admission, transfer students must have completed the following five courses or their articulated equivalents with a combined minimum GPA of 2.8.

Lecture/lab combinations count as one course.

This course

Plus one of the following

Plus one of the following options

Plus one of the following

Plus one of the following

Minimum GPA

The combined GPA in the five courses above must be at least of 2.8.  A student lacking one of these five courses may be admitted if they have completed CSE 16, and CSE 12, or the articulated alternative. 

Furthermore, transfer students entering in the fall must have completed at least three of these courses by the end of the fall term of the previous academic year and have a minimum 2.80 GPA over all completed CS major qualification courses at that time.

Transfer students admitted for the winter term must satisfy the major preparation criteria for transfer students admitted for the fall term and, additionally, must have successfully completed at least two additional courses that are required for the proposed degree, prior to admission. It is highly recommended that these courses should be AM 10 (or MATH 21) and AM 30 (or MATH 23A).

Most courses in the computer science program at UC Santa Cruz have a strong theoretical component to prepare the student for designing, as opposed to simply using, computer systems. Often, courses taken at other institutions which emphasize applications of current languages and computers do not count toward the computer science major at UCSC.

At UCSC, computer science students are first introduced to programming using the programming language Python. The core programming sequence—courses CSE 30 and CSE 13S (or ECE 13)—exposes students to both Python and C. Many upper-division courses that involve programming use the C and C++ programming languages. 

Transfer students who are not familiar with both Python and C may need to take a remedial course. Students familiar with C++ and Unix should find the transition to Python and C relatively simple.

Getting Started at UCSC as a Transfer Student

Transfer students should declare their major in their first quarter at UCSC. Instructions for declaring a major in the Baskin School of Engineering are on the department's major declaration page.

Letter Grade Policy

All students admitted to a School of Engineering major, or seeking admission to a major, must take all courses required for that major for a letter grade. This policy includes courses required for these degrees that are sponsored by other departments.

Course Substitution Policy

Undergraduate engineering students who wish to substitute a major course with a course from another department at UC Santa Cruz, or from another academic institution, must first seek approval through the School of Engineering Undergraduate Advising Office. The advising office requires a Petition for Course Substitution be approved before credit for an alternate course can be applied to any School of Engineering major requirement.

Petition forms are available at the Undergraduate Advising Office and online.

Petitions and procedures for approval must be obtained from and submitted to the Undergraduate Advising Office.

Double Majors and Major/Minor Combinations Policy

Students may not receive both the computer science B.A. and computer science B.S. degrees.

Honors

Students must obtain a GPA of 3.8 or higher in the courses in the major to be considered for the distinction of "Highest Honors in the Major." Students must obtain a GPA of 3.5 or higher in the courses in the major to be considered for the distinction of "Honors in the Major."  The School of Engineering reserves the right to withhold honors based on other criteria, such as an incident of academic dishonesty.

Requirements and Planners

Course Requirements

The aim of this program is to expose students to a rigorous curriculum in computer science while maintaining sufficient flexibility so that students can take courses outside computer science, pursue a minor in another discipline, or complete a double major. Every student must complete a minimum of 16 courses—eight lower-division and eight upper-division. Out of these, the eight lower-division courses and the first upper-division course are required preparatory courses for every student. Once these preparatory courses are completed, students tailor their own program by choosing seven upper-division elective courses.

Lower-Division Courses

Computer Science and Engineering

One of the following courses

Plus all of the following

Plus one of the following options

Plus one of the following

Upper-Division Courses

The following course

Plus three of the following breadth courses

Electives

Three courses from the list of B.A. electives below, including at least one upper-division computer science and engineering course(s) numbered below 170, or numbered between 180 and 189, or CSE 195.

For other courses, computational media, and Applied Mathematics and Statistics courses are strongly recommended.

List of BA electives

1. Any 5-credit upper-division course offered by the Baskin School of Engineering, except for the DC courses CSE 115A and CSE 185E/CSE 185S.
2. Or any course from the following list:

Additional courses may be accepted by petition.

Disciplinary Communication (DC) Requirement

Students of every major must satisfy that major's upper-division Disciplinary Communication (DC) requirement.

The DC requirement for the computer science  B.A. is satisfied by completing one of the following additional courses:

Comprehensive Requirement

In addition to the above B.A. requirements, students in the computer science majors must satisfy one of the following two exit requirements: pass one of the capstone courses (see Capstone Courses below); or successfully complete a senior thesis. A passed capstone course also counts toward satisfying the minimum number of upper-division electives requirement.

Capstone Courses

Students may choose from one of the following capstone courses to satisfy their exit requirement (lecture/lab combinations count as one course.):

Students taking one of the capstone courses will enroll normally. Students need to pass the capstone course to pass the exit requirement. No course may be attempted more than twice without prior approval from the chair of the department offering the course. Withdrawals count as an attempted class for this purpose.

Senior Thesis

The senior thesis consists of a self-contained project within the broad scope of computer science, but one that is not available in the regular course offerings. A student wishing to complete a senior thesis must successfully complete a minimum of 5 credits in CSE 195, Senior Thesis Research. The supervision of a senior thesis student is always at the discretion of the faculty member.

The student first submits a written thesis proposal and obtains approval of a faculty sponsor. Then the student submits a written draft and makes an oral presentation to a faculty examining committee. After receiving feedback from the examining committee, the student submits one or more additional drafts, until the final draft is approved by the examining committee. The total amount of writing shall be consistent with the campus Disciplinary Communication requirement. A passing grade in CSE 195 is earned when the final thesis is approved.

Planners

The following are three sample academic plans: (1) a four-year plan for the B.A. major for first-year students with programming experience; (2) an alternative first-year plan for students without programming experience; and (3) a two-year plan for the B.A. major for transfer students.

Students completing the courses in the planners will have satisfied the MF general education requirement.

Four-Year Plan for Students with Programming Experience

First-Year Plan for Students Without Programming Experience

Two-Year Degree Planner for Transfer Students

Note: One elective must be drawn from the DC course list and one from the capstone course.

Curriculum charts for all BSOE majors are available at the department's Major Curriculum Charts page.