Information on the Online Computer Science Bachelor’s Degree

For students accepted into the program prior to Fall 2006, the general education requirement at UIS consists of 39 semester hours, distributed as shown below. English composition is the one general education requirement that must be met before admission to UIS for all students except Capital Scholars.

• English (two courses, one of which is in composition, with a grade of C or better) At least 6 semester hours
• Humanities (two courses) At least 6 semester hours
• Social Science (two courses) At least 6 semester hours
• Math (one course) At least 3 semester hours
• Science (two courses, one with lab) At least 6 semester hours
• General education electives (additional courses from any of the above areas) At least 12 semester hours

Beginning with the Fall 2006 semester, new online students must fulfill the general education requirement by meeting the Illinois Articulation Initiative requirements for lower division general education core courses.

Students majoring in Computer Science online at UIS must meet the Java programming requirement and the requirement for either discrete or finite Math prior to acceptance into the program. Though Calculus and Statistics may be treated as graduation requirements, online students should take them prior to entering UIS.

• 1 semester of Calculus or Business Calculus
• 1 semester of Statistics
• 1 semester of Discrete or Finite Mathematics
• 2 semester sequence in Java programming

Students should plan to use these math courses to satisfy the 3 hour math general education requirement and part of their 12 hour general education electives. In order to begin taking other computer science courses their first semester at UIS, students should make every effort to complete the two semesters of Java programming before they enter UIS.

The bachelor’s degree in computer science at UIS has 12 hours of general electives and the math class could be used to satisfy some or all of these 12 hours. However, they will not be allowed to take any computer science courses other than non programming related courses until they have met the two semesters of Java programming requirement.

Additional requirements for students entering the online bachelor’s degree program in Computer Science include:

To be accepted in to the bachelor’s degree program in Computer Science at UIS you must have completed one semester of Discrete or Finite Mathematics and the equivalent of two semesters of Java programming. We are offering a bridge course in Java for students that have taken two semesters of another programming language. This course is CSC 410 Java Programming and it will be offered on line. It will not count for a computer science elective, but may be counted as 4 hours of the twelve hours of free electives.

Applicants will be required to submit a statement of purpose for the pursuing of this degree and a discussion of any related educational/work experiences (two page 10 point font maximum) and a sample of Java code that they have written for a prior course or related work project.

It is assumed that students entering the online bachelor’s degree have previously completed sixty hours that included the general education, mathematics and Java courses as discussed above. Based on the above assumption the student should be able to complete the online bachelor’s degree in three years by following proposed schedule that follows.

Proposed Schedule for the Online BS Degree in Computer Science

Assumes Program Entrance Requirements Have Been Met. Prerequisites for listed courses appear in red

Cohorts Starting Fall Semesters	Cohorts Starting Spring Semesters
Fall Year-1 CSC305 – Entrance Assessment CSC 387 - Foundations CSC 385 - Data Structures
Spring Year-1 CSC 376 - Comp Organization CSC Elective, such as CSC 485 – Object Oriented Design (CSC385)	Spring Year-1 CSC305 – Entrance Assessmentures CSC 387 - Foundations CSC 385 - Data Structures
Summer Year-1 General Elective	Summer Year-1 General Elective
Fall Year-2 CSC 388 - Programming Languages (CSC385) General Elective	Fall Year-1 CSC 376 - Comp Organization CSC Elective, such as CSC 485 - Object Oriented Design (CSC385)
Spring Year-2 CSC 389 - Operating Systems (CSC376) PAC	Spring Year-2 CSC 388 - Programming Languages (CSC385) General Elective
Summer Year-2 CSC Elective, such as CSC 477 – Usability Engineering	Summer Year-2 CSC Elective, such as CSC 477 – Usability Engineering
Fall Year-3 CSC Elective, such as CSC 471 or 470 Ethics General Elective	Fall Year-2 CSC 389 - Operating Systems (CSC376) PAC
Spring Year-3 CSC 478 - Software Eng (CSC385) AST (4 hours)	Spring Year-3 CSC Elective, such as CSC 471 or 470 Ethics General Elective
Summer Year-3 AST (4 hours) CSC405 – Exit Assessment	Summer Year-3 AST (4 hours)
	Fall Year-3 CSC 478 - Software Engineering (CSC385) AST (4 hours) CSC405 – Exit Assessment

** A cohort is a group of students admitted to the degree program each academic year (maximum of twenty)