How to Enter the Program
The Department of Computer Science awards honors designation to graduating students who have satisfied the requirements listed in the Program Requirements section below.
Students enter the CS Honors Program in one of four ways:
- By invitation to the Science Freshman Honors Program upon admission.
- By invitation to the Science Freshman Honors Program after the first semester.
- By invitation to the Computer Science Honors Program following the completion of core courses.
- By request prior to the 7th semester (student must have at least 2 academic semesters remaining to accommodate both CS 397 and 497).
Program Requirements
Honors students must maintain an overall GPA of 3.25 plus at least a 3.6 in Computer Science courses.
Honors students are encouraged, but not required, to take CS 197, Freshman Honors Seminar, in the spring of the freshman year. The seminar covers the history, context, and future of computer science.
Program requirements:
- Take an *approved 500-level course and CS 497 as two of the " four other computer science courses" required for the bachelor's degree.
- MA 351, Elementary Linear Algebra (in lieu of MA 265).
- An *approved mathematics course beyond MA 351 or an *approved statistics course beyond STAT 511.
- ECE 270, Introduction to Digital System Design, as a lab science.
- CS 397, Honors Seminar. Honors students must take CS 397 before taking CS 497. CS 397 is offered only in the fall semester. CS 397 meetings focus on research in computer science, including what is involved in research, how to select a research project, and research presentations by CS 497 students.
- CS 497, Honors Research Project must be taken by each student in the honors program. This class is a group research project directed by Computer Science faculty members. Each group must submit a technical report describing its work and results and must also give a short presentation in CS 397.
- Honors students may use CS 490 courses only as free electives. Only one semester of research oriented courses will count as a CS elective.
An "approved" course, as used on this page, means the course is acceptable to the Computer Science Undergraduate Committee for the purpose of achieving honors.
