Computer Science Dept. Policy for Undergraduates

Computer Science Curriculum for Students
Entering Between September 2008 and Spring 2009

Version 2.9, updated September 16, 2010

Suggested course sequence for students entering UMass Lowell between the September 2008 and Spring 2009 semesters.  Please see the definitions and notes on specific course categories and sequences below the grid.

Definitions and Notes

GenEd Courses

• CS students must complete six courses (18 credits) that satisfy the University General Education Requirements.
• Three of these must be approved as Arts and Humanities (AH) courses and three must be approved as Social Sciences (SS) courses.
• 42.220 Oral & Written Communication for Computer Science is required and counts as one of the three required AH GenEds.
• One of these must satisfy the CS Ethics Requirement.
• One must satisfy the University Diversity Requirement.
• Specific courses may be recommended for different CS Tracks.
• See the University General Education Program website for more detailed information.

Natural Science Electives

• CS students must complete 12 credits of natural science courses.
• These are courses offered by one of the four natural science departments in the College of Sciences:
  • Biological Sciences
  • Chemistry
  • Environmental, Earth, and Atmospheric Sciences
  • Physics and Applied Physics
• Courses that fulfill this requirement must be classified as required or elective courses for the majors in those departments.
• This requirement may be satisfied as laid out in the course grid by completing three 3-credit courses that do not include labs plus one 4-credit course that does include a lab (totaling 13 credits), but the Computer Science faculty recommends that students take three 4-credit courses that do include labs (totaling 12 credits).
• An additional constraint is that the total number of credits applied to this requirement plus the number of credits earned in Math (92.xxx) courses must total at least 30.
• Specific courses may be recommended for different CS Tracks.
• See the CS Dept. Policy on Natural Science Electives for more detailed information.

Technical Electives

• CS students must complete 6 credits of technical electives.
• These are courses offered by the College of Sciences (Sciences Division) or the College of Engineering.
• Courses that fulfill this requirement must be classified as required or elective courses for the majors in those departments.
• Specific courses may be recommended for different CS Tracks.

Non-Technical Elective

• CS students must complete 3 credits of a non-technical elective.
• These are courses offered by the College of Fine Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences, Graduate School of Education, School of Health & Environment, or College of Management that have a specific non-technical focus.
• Specific courses may be recommended for different CS Tracks.

General (Free) Elective

• CS students must complete 9 credits of almost any course offered by the University.
• Courses taken to fulfill this requirement must not be below the level of any required course.
• Specific courses may be recommended for different CS Tracks.
• See the CS Dept. Policy on General Electives for more detailed information.

Slots

• Courses listed in “slots” may generally be taken in any order, within the confines of specified course prerequisites.
• Some CS Tracks may put constraints on the ordering of these electives.
• Faculty advisors recommend that two-course sequences (such as Chemistry I and II) be taken in successive semesters rather than taking part 1 and then waiting one or more semesters to take part 2.

Please direct questions to the CS Undergraduate Coordinator at:  ugcoord@cs.uml.edu