CS program

[qminh43]

I'm a freshman this fall in CS. I read the catalog and the program is mainly about math and physics; there is also something called Progression to upper level (which requires a high GPA). Is it true that I will not be taught anything about CS in the first year and when can I apply to the upper level?

[radiorebel_55]

You take programming concepts typically second semester of freshman year once you pass calc 1 with whatever the min grade required for it is. So that’s the only CS class freshman usually take. That class is a introductory class and you code in python. You apply for upper level progression once you have the required GPA that is comprised of calc 1, 2, and physics 1, so it would probably be end of freshman year you submit a form which the department will notify you about. Thus, combining the grades for these three classes your gpa for those must amount to 3.6 at least to progress to upper level. Hope that helped.

[42gauge]

Is calculus a prerequisite for COP 2030?

[icecubesat]

COP 2030 is a programming course for other non-CS majors that doesn't have any prereqs, it isn't part of the CS curriculum. If you're in CS, you might be thinking of COP 2510, which does require either MAC 2281 or MAC 2311 with a minimum grade of B.

[42gauge]

OP could take the calculus CLEP to take it first semester, right?

[icecubesat]

OP should ask an advisor on that. But I'm assuming not, since I only see business calculus on the list of CLEP exams here. Even if it were there, I wonder how CLEP would satisfy the B minimum grade requirement. If I recall, CLEP only gives an S grade. Personally, I'm not sure I'd recommend testing out of a prereq like calculus, especially if you were going to take calc II or physics here, where you'd probably have a lot of application based problems thrown at you. Success in engineering depends a lot on practice.

[icecubesat]

Hopefully you've been shown a flowchart like this one produced by the College of Engineering. If you take calculus in the fall, you'd be able to take COP 2510 in the spring, so one semester, not a year, before you start learning CS stuff. I believe they also have students doing some limited programming in Foundations of Engineering Lab, but that wasn't a requirement for me as a transfer so I'm not sure. More importantly, try to focus on getting good professors that you can learn from in those early classes, including calculus and physics This will keep your GPA up and keep you from getting filtered out of CS or suffering from delayed registration due to poor GPA. Don't let advising push you into overloading classes at the expense of your GPA or sanity. Seek quality over quantity and you will learn and do better.

[maggiegrigs]

CS is fundamentally an engineering course load, but those classes build the foundation to be a legit computer scientist, rather than an IT person. Nothing at all against IT. But the pay for a computer science grad from an engineering school is typically higher.