Entering UMass Amherst in the Fall?
Apply for a Residential Academic Program (RAP), including the Computer Science RAP or the multidisciplinary Commonwealth College Honors RAP.
For Undergrads |
Minor in Computer SciencePlease note: New, more flexible requirements for the Minor in Computer Science were approved in May 2009. Students may be awarded a minor for fulfilling either set of requirements, but in almost all cases students who have met the old ones have met the new ones as well. The old requirements are given below, after the new requirements. The CS minor is a good and easy way for you to get a solid background in computer science, no matter what your major is. Given the importance of computer literacy in almost all other disciplines and professions, the CS minor may just be what makes your resumé stand out from all the others. Students intending to minor in Computer Science must complete the Departmental Tracking for the Computer Science Minor and submit this form to the Main Office, Room 100, Computer Science Building. Many of our courses are only open to CMPSCI majors, so having this form on file will aid the department with providing the best service in terms of course registrations to our minors, as well as with the override process. If you have questions about the CS Minor, please send an email to this address: Academic minors are declared with the Registrar's Office when the course work for the minor is completed by a student (or, in the semester prior to the student's graduation, if course work related to the minor is being completed in his/her final semester). To declare a minor, complete the Declaration of An Academic Minor form and submit to the Computer Science Main Office for approval. Approved forms are then submitted to the Registrar's Office by the student. The minor requires five computer science courses:
Within the five courses, students must take at least two computer science "core" courses from the following list:
A student can meet one or both of the above 200-level "core" requirements by taking equivalent courses outside the department. For example, MATH 455 is often an acceptable replacement for CMPSCI 250, and many ECE classes are substitutes for CMPSCI 201. However, students must have three electives taken within the Department of Computer Science. In other words, among all courses you are counting towards the minor degree, at least three must be CMPSCI courses at 200-level or higher. Please take note that unlike the CS BS degree, students in the minor may take both CS201 and CS230 (formerly CS291SP); however, if you might switch to the BS degree from the minor, taking both courses may not be the best plan. There is no specific mathematics requirement for the computer science minor, but all the above courses require R1 proficiency (such as MATH 104) and CMPSCI 240 and 250 require MATH 132 as a corequisite or prerequisite. MATH 131 and MATH 132 are thus recommended, but students without them can still complete the minor by taking other core courses.
Our former minor program required the following ten courses, or equivalents:
Note: A grade of C or better (C- grades in or before the Spring 2006 semester are acceptable) is required in all courses used to satisfy the minor, including the preliminary courses. |
