Computer Science (BS)

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Offered by the Department of Computer Science , College of Arts and Sciences .

Admission to the Program

Formal admission to the major requires a cumulative grade point average of 2.00 (on a 4.00 scale) and departmental approval.

University Requirements

120 credit hours with a cumulative GPA of 2.00 or better
Completion of college writing requirement
Completion of university mathematics requirement

General Education Requirements

A total of ten courses, consisting of two courses from each of the five foundational areas
At least one course from Area Five: The Natural and Mathematical Sciences must include a laboratory science component
No more than two courses may be taken in the same discipline

Major Requirements

55 credit hours with grades of C or better

Course Requirements

Core Courses (32 credit hours)

CSC-280 Introduction to Computer Science I (4)
CSC-281 Introduction to Computer Science II (3)
CSC-330 Organization of Computer Systems (4)
CSC-493 Computer Science Capstone Project (3) (6 credit hours required)
CSC-520 Algorithms and Data Structures (3)
CSC-521 Design and Organization of Programming Languages (3)
CSC-565 Operating Systems (3)
CSC-570 Database Management Systems (3)
3 credit hours of CSC-xxx courses above the 300- level approved by the student’s advisor

Related Courses (11 credit hours)

CSC-350 Introduction to Discrete Structures (3)
or
MATH-222 Calculus II (4)
MATH-211 Applied Calculus I (4)
or
MATH-221 Calculus I (4)
STAT-202 Basic Statistics (4)
or
STAT-203 Basic Statistics with Calculus (4)

Concentration (12 credit hours)

12 credit hours in a concentration, selected from the following or with approval of their academic advisor and the department students may design an individual sequence of courses. Examples of individually-designed concentrations include but are not limited to game programming, computer forensics, international services, neural sciences, physics, mathematics, economics, government computing, environmental studies, computer graphics design, bioinformatics, multimedia computing, or technical writing.

Computer Science

12 additional credit hours in CSC-xxx courses at the 300-level or above, or MATH-508, with approval of the academic advisor. No more than 3 credit hours of internship, independent study, or independent reading may be used to fulfill this requirement.

Consulting

MGMT-353 Management and Organizational Behavior (3)
MGMT-465 Negotiation (3)
MGMT-484 Consulting and Project Management (3)
3 credit hours of approved coursework in consulting

Entrepreneurship

ACCT-240 Principles of Financial Accounting (3)
FIN-365 Business Finance (3)
MKTG-300 Principles of Marketing (3)
3 credit hours of approved coursework in entrepreneurship

Combined BS and MS in Computer Science

American University offers students the opportunity to earn both undergraduate and graduate degrees through its combined bachelor’s/master’s programs. For more information, see Combined Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees of this catalog.

This program enables qualified students to earn, in a continuous plan of study, both the BS and MS in Computer Science.

Requirements

Admission is open to undergraduate computer science majors with a minimum grade point average of 3.20. Applicants must have completed the following by the end of the junior year:

All requirements for the BS in Computer Science Undergraduate students may apply up to 9 credit hours of approved graduate-level coursework to satisfy the requirements of both degrees.
All requirements for the MS in Computer Science, including a minimum of 18 credit hours completed in residence in graduate status after the undergraduate degree has been awarded. Students must finish the master’s degree requirements within three years from the date of first enrollment in the master’s program.