Computer Science Program Requirements

New students, including transfer students, should submit the standard application form directly to the Office of Admissions. The admission criteria are the same as those for the university and the College of Engineering.

Any student who has completed more than 15 credit hours at Kansas State University in any major outside the College of Engineering may change majors into the pre-professional program provided that the student meets the admission requirements for the College of Engineering. A resident cumulative GPA of 2.3 or better is required for a change of major from any Engineering program to the pre-professional program Computer Science.

Course Requirements (24 total credits)

The course requirements and semester-by-semester curriculum for a BS in Computer Science remain in effect, as shown below. However, certain courses must be completed with a C or better for advancement beyond the pre-professional program. These courses are:

• MATH 220 Analytic Geometry and Calculus I
• MATH 221 Analytic Geometry and Calculus II
• CIS 115 Introduction to Computing Science
• CIS 116 Introduction to Programming
• CIS 200 Programming Fundamentals
• CIS 300 Data and Program Structures
• CIS 301 Logical Foundations of Programming
• ECE 241 Introduction to Computer Engineering

In addition, the requirements for CIS 015 Undergraduate Seminar must be completed before students will be allowed to enroll in their second full Fall or Spring semester in the program. For each subsequent Fall or Spring semester, the requirements for CIS 018 Professional Development Seminar must be completed before students will be allowed to enroll in any subsequent semester.

Students must complete the pre-professional program and be accepted to the professional program prior to taking any of the following courses, which we will refer to as professional program courses:

• CIS 400 Object-Oriented Design, Implementation, and Testing
• CIS 415 Ethics and Computing Technology
• CIS 450 Computer Architecture and Organization
• CIS 501 Software Architecture and Design
• CIS 505 Introduction to Programming Languages
• CIS 520 Operating Systems I
• CIS 525 Introduction to Network Programming
• CIS 560 Database System Concepts
• CIS 575 Introduction to Algorithm Analysis
• CIS 596 Entrepreneurial Computer Science Project
• CIS 598 Computer Science Project
• CIS 599 Cybersecurity Project
• CIS 625 Concurrent Software Systems
• CIS 642 Software Engineering Project I

The only other students who will be allowed to enroll in any of the above courses are non-CS majors who need these specific courses to satisfy the degree requirements of their majors. Non-CS majors wishing to use any of these courses to satisfy elective requirements for their majors will also be considered on a case-by-case basis.

In order to be considered for admission to the professional program, a student must have:

1. Passed all pre-professional program courses with a C or better.
2. Achieved at least a 2.3 GPA on all pre-professional courses (including transfer courses).
3. Received credit in CIS 015 Undergraduate Seminar

Additionally, an application to the professional program must be submitted to the Department of Computer Science by Oct. 31 for admission effective the following Spring semester or by March 31 for admission effective the following Fall semester. This submission will be immediately prior to the student’s pre-enrollment into any of the professional program courses. New students, including transfer students, should submit the standard application form directly, following the same schedule. After your application has been received and grades have been posted at the end of the semester, your application will be reviewed and you will be notified if you have been admitted into the professional program.

All courses in the pre-professional program must be completed and all grade criteria must be met by the end of the semester that the application is submitted. An exception to this rule is the student who expects to complete these criteria during the summer term. Those students should also make application in the Spring semester prior to pre-enrollment. All eligible applicants will be allowed to pre-enroll into professional program courses with the understanding that they will be dropped if they are not accepted for admission to the professional program prior to the beginning of the subsequent semester.

Applications will be reviewed by the Academic Standards Committee of the Department and accepted or rejected as soon as possible after semester grades are issued. The University Catalog lists additional factors that will be considered should the number of applicants who meet the grade requirements listed above exceed the number of seats available. Because we do not expect this limit to be exceeded in the near future, we are currently not requesting information on these additional factors; i.e., we are only using the grade requirements listed above as admissions criteria.

Apply to the Professional Program

After admission to the professional program, students are expected to attain “C” or better grades in each of the professional program courses taken, and to receive a “Cr” grade in either CIS 018 or CIS 118 each Fall and Spring semester they remain in the program. Specifically, students will be subject to the following academic standards that are more stringent than those for the University.

1. Hold on Enrollment
   A student who has not completed the requirements for either CIS 018 or CIS 118 in the current Fall or Spring semester will not be allowed to enroll in subsequent semesters.
2. Warning of unsatisfactory progress
   Regardless of the overall GPA, a student with any “D” or “F” grade in any professional program course will receive a “Warning of Unsatisfactory Progress.” This warning will remain in effect for the remainder of their stay in the professional program.
3. Dismissal from the Program
   If a student has received a warning of unsatisfactory progress, then subsequently receives a “D” or “F” grade in any professional program course, that student may be dismissed from the professional program, and will be ineligible to enroll in any professional program courses (though students who transfer to either Computer Engineering or Biomedical Engineering will be allowed to enroll in certain courses, as outlined above).
4. Readmission
   A student who has been dismissed from the professional program may petition to be readmitted to the program, provided at least one year has elapsed from the conclusion of the last semester that the student was in the program to the beginning of the semester for which the student is seeking admission. The petition must include a justification of the student’s preparedness to complete the program. This petition must be submitted to the Computer Science Department by the eighth week of the Fall or Spring semester preceding the semester for which the student seeks readmission. The student will be interviewed by the Academic Standards Committee, who will then make a decision in time for the student to pre-enroll. All readmitted students will remain on warning of unsatisfactory progress for the remainder of their stay in the professional program.

**The warning and dismissal actions referenced above are departmental actions that are separate and distinct from Academic Warning and Academic Dismissal as defined by the University Catalog. Grades earned during an intersession will not be considered by the Department in the determination of unsatisfactory academic progress by the department.