Advising suggestions for first-year majors

If you're a first-year student, your Symposium instructor is your official advisor as you enroll in the fall of your sophomore year. Your Symposium instructor is a helpful and good resource for planning, but specific knowledge about the computer science major will be lacking. Below is some specific advice on what computer science majors should take in their sophomore fall semester.

By the way, you should feel free to treat any computer science faculty member as your ``unofficial advisor.'' Most probably this would be your current computer science instructor. Once you have a good idea of what you are thinking about, just stop by a professor's office to see what they think.

Here are some general guidelines, though, to help you along. They generally apply to Math/Computer science majors also.

  1. Before you can be an official computer science major, you will have to be admitted to the major toward the end of your sophomore year. These requirements involve a combination of completing certain classes with a certain combination of grades. You should review the admission requirements to make sure you're on track to be admitted. The requirements are available through the department Web page. (Math/computer science majors have similar requirements, but they're not posted on the Web page.)

  2. By the end of the fall, you are strongly recommended to complete CSCI 150, CSCI 160, Math 119 or 123, and Math 120 or 124. Most students should complete these in their first year. If you're missing any of these, you should definitely enroll in it for the fall. (If you're missing both CSCI courses, take CSCI 150. If you're missing both Math courses, take Math 119 or 123.)

    If you're scheduling your semester and you plan to ignore this guideline, you should definitely stop by a computer science faculty member's office to get some expert advice.

  3. If you're trying to decide between Math 120 and Math 124, the faculty generally recommends Math 120 for those who have taken Math 119 and were successful (received an A or B without much struggle), as we feel that the greater rigor of Math 120 is better preparation for a computer science degree. Math 124 is an acceptable alternative - the subject material is more directly relevant to computer science, but the reduced rigor may underprepare you for some future courses. Students considering other majors (such as Economics or Management) may want to opt for Math 124 to meet that major's requirements also.

  4. If you have not yet completed your foreign language requirement, you will certainly want to take the next course in that requirement.

  5. If you are considering another major or minor, you should have completed at least one course in the subject by the fall semester. Failing to do this may prevent you from being able to complete the requirements of that major or minor within your four years at CSB/SJU. (Actually, a few majors require that you start with them from the first semester.)

  6. If you are not enrolling in CSCI 150 or CSCI 160 for the fall, consider CSCI 200. If you don't take it in the fall, you will definitely want to take it in the spring.

  7. If you have already completed your first two math courses, we would recommend Math 240 for the fall. This would complete your math requirements for a computer science major.

  8. Take your remaining courses in consultation with your Symposium instructor. Generally you will want to make sure that the course counts toward either the college core requirements or toward a major or minor you are considering. You will also want to make sure it fits into your four-year plan.

  9. If you've completed CSCI 160 and want to get to the advanced courses early, you might take CSCI 210. I would recommend taking CSCI 210 if you cannot take CSCI 200; if you're enrolled in CSCI 200, taking CSCI 210 is merely an alternative to consider. (If you've completed CSCI 160 successfully, permission from the CSCI 210 instructor to take the course should not be a problem.)