Academics

Undergraduate Program

CS Major Requirements for Students Entering in 2005

This template is provided as a convenience to students. In the event of a discrepancy between this web page and other information sources, the final authority is the catalog that was published in the year the student entered.

* Students may skip CSCI-1100 and replace it with any other CS course.

Courses do not need to be taken according to the above schedule, as long as all courses are taken and prerequisites are met.

A total of at least 128 credits are required for graduation.

Note that credit cannot be obtained for CSCI-1100 Computer Science I after CSCI-1200 Computer Science II has already been passed.

Options

Computer Science

Three additional computing courses of 3 or 4 credits each at the 4000 or 6000 level. For this purpose, courses in the series CSCI-4xxx, CSCI-6xxx, ECSE-46xx, and ECSE-47xx may be used, excluding ECSE-4720 and reading and independent study courses. ECSE-4490 may also fulfill this requirement. The Pass/No Credit option cannot be used for these courses. (The catalog states that you must have at least 11 credit hours of CS Option courses and normally the catalog is the final authority, but you will be cleared for graduation as long as you have at least three courses that qualify for CS Option credit.)

Science

A four-credit course chosen from the following: astronomy, biology, chemistry, earth and environmental science, and physics. The Pass/No Credit option cannot be used for this course. The course ERTH-1030 cannot be used to satisfy this requirement.

Mathematics

One additional mathematics course at the 2000 level or above. The Pass/No Credit option cannot be used for this course. Independent study courses cannot be used to satisfy this option.

Notes for dual majors

• Students who take both ECSE-2610 Computer Components and Operations and ECSE-2660 Computer Architecture, Networks, and Operating Systems do not have to take CSCI-2500 Computer Organization.
• ENGR-1010 Professional Development I and ENGR-4010 Professional Development III count as H & SS credits.

H&SS Core Requirements

As part of their B.S. degree program, all Rensselaer undergraduates take a selection of H&SS courses referred to as the H&SS core. This core is the foundation of undergraduate education. In it, students develop the skills necessary for personal and professional success, and they also begin to explore the social and cultural areas of study and issues of debate that are important in the global society of the twenty-first century.

The core consists of 24 credit hours, or six courses distributed to afford students a breadth of perspective across the various disciplines as well as a more in-depth experience in at least one area. Engineering students automatically take two of the 24 credit hours as professional development in their engineering design sequence and take a two-credit H&SS professional development course in their junior year.

To ensure breadth in the core courses, students must select as least two courses (eight credit hours) from each of the lists below.

H&SS interdisciplinary courses may be substituted for courses in either category.

To ensure depth in the H&SS core, students must also take at least two courses within a single area code (STSH and STSS can be counted as a single area), at least one of which is taken at an advanced level (above 1000). No course within the depth sequence may be taken as Pass/No Credit.

No more than three 1000-level H&SS courses may be applied toward the H&SS core requirement, no more than six credits may be taken as Pass/No credit, and at least one course (four credits) must be at the 4000 level.

Students entering Rensselaer in their first year may transfer up to two H&SS courses (up to eight credit hours) toward their H&SS core requirement (including Advanced Placement credit). Transfer students from an accredited collegiate program who have completed at least one college year but who come to Rensselaer with first-year status may qualify for additional core transfers at the discretion of the H&SS curriculum adviser.

Transfer students entering Rensselaer at the sophomore level or above are not limited in the number of courses they may transfer for H&SS core credit. All others must take at least 16 credit hours of their H&SS core at Rensselaer.

Enrolled Rensselaer students wishing to take an H&SS course for credit at another accredited institution must obtain prior approval for the course from the core curriculum adviser. Applicants must furnish a catalog description of the proposed course and a completed copy of Rensselaer's Transfer Credit Approval form to the core curriculum adviser. A maximum of two courses (up to eight credit hours) of transfers is allowed (including AP courses).

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