Undergraduate Advising FAQ

CS courses which don’t count towards CS electives

  • COMP SCI 2001 – Domain Exploration and Innovation Methods
  • COMP SCI 3001 – Skill Development for Entrepreneurs and Innovators
  • COMP SCI 4001 – Advanced Domain Exploration and Innovation Methods
  • COMP SCI 4001 – Interpersonal Dynamics for Entrepreneurs and Innovators
  • COMP SCI 4700 – Intellectual Property For Computer Scientists

Note that all five these courses can count either towards social science electives or towards free electives. Also note that any COMP SCI x001 course not listed above, can count towards CS electives (e.g., COMP SCI 4001 – Cyber Security Offense, COMP SCI 5001 – Comp Sci Entrepreneurship).

CS courses which never count towards the BS in CS

Service courses; they are numbered x9xx (e.g., COMP SCI 1972 / 1982)

CS and CpE course overlaps

  •  CpE 5410 – Introduction to Computer Communication Networks: this course may be taken as a 5000-level CS elective; note that only one of COMP ENG 5410 and COMP SCI 5600 – Computer Networks may be taken towards the BS in CS degree.

Historical catalog year changes

  • Effective catalog year 2013, a “C” or higher grade is required for all CS courses counting towards the BS in CS degree, as well as a “C” or higher grade in COMP ENG 2210, COMP ENG 3150, and the required ethics elective.
  • Effective catalog year 2014, only degree programs assigned to the Sciences DSCC[1] and the Engineering DSCC[2] count towards the Science & Engineering electives of the BS in CS. In earlier catalog years, any BS degree program counted. Thus, effective Fall 2014, Psychology and IST courses (and perhaps other disciplines too) no longer count towards the Sci & Eng electives of the BS in CS.
  • Effective catalog year 2015, CS students have to meet the CS department’s experiential learning requirement; for all the details, go here.
  • Effective catalog year 2017, COMP SCI 1585 – Data Structures Laboratory and COMP SCI 3600 – Introduction to Computer Security are required, while COMP SCI 3200 – Introduction To Numerical Methods is no longer required.

Note that you can change to a newer catalog year using the following form: http://registrar.mst.edu/media/administrative/registrar/documents/changecatalogyear.pdf, but as you can’t change back to an older year, make sure to discuss this first with your advisor!

Undergraduate Research Course Credit

  • COMP SCI 4099 – Undergraduate Research
    • Graded or pass/fail
    • No incomplete, but can be delayed (see page 15 of Student Academic Regulations at http://registrar.mst.edu/academicregs/)
    • Up to 6 credit hours per semester
    • Up to 6 credit hours total towards degree
    • When appropriate, for instance when maxed out on COMP SCI 4099 credits, your research advisor may offer you COMP SCI 4000/5000 – Special Problems credit, which is graded or pass/fail, cannot be delayed, and has no explicit credit hour limits.
    • While none of COMP SCI 4099, COMP SCI 4000/5000, nor COMP SCI 4010 count towards the minimum number of lecture hours requirement of the CS electives, they can count towards CS electives.

COMP SCI 1010

  • We’re not currently offering this course, so you need to take one of the allowed alternatives, preferably Freshman Engineering 1100.

For more info

[1] Biological Sciences, Chemistry, Geological Sciences, Geophysics, Mathematics, Physics, Statistics
[2] Aeronautical Engineering, Architectural Engineering, Biological Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Civil Engineering, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Engineering Management, Environmental Engineering, Geological Engineering, Material Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Mining Engineering, and Nuclear Engineering