Advising

Advisement Bulletins

The current advisement bulletin (2024-2025) for the Computer Science department will provide you with all of the information you need to know about our programs. Program descriptions, course descriptions and rotations, and much more can be found in the bulletin.

Graduation Requirements

To be eligible for graduation, students must meet all requirements for the degree being sought in addition to earning a minimum grade point average of 2.00 in all courses required for the Computer Science major or minor, or the Software Technology major.

In addition to University and College requirements, students must have a minimum grade point average of 2.00 in those computer science (CS) courses numbered 300 or above that are used to satisfy the requirements of the Computer Science major or minor, or the Software Technology major, excluding CS 399 and CS 490.

Please note that this statement implies that if a Computer Science major student completes more than the minimum number of courses required for a specific emphasis, the student may designate those courses that will be used for computing the grade point average when more than one choice is possible. The resulting set of designated courses must satisfy the requirements of a specific emphasis of the Computer Science major.

Prerequisites

The computer science department has established prerequisites for each course so that students will be adequately prepared for the topics covered in the course. This allows the instructor to proceed with the course in a manner that assures quality in the program.

The department strictly enforces the prerequisite policy. You should not take courses unless you satisfy the prerequisites. Otherwise, when the deficiency is detected, you will have to drop the course. All courses are checked.

Waiving a prerequisite for a course requires that the student asking for the waiver write an appeal that is voted upon by the members of the department. Appeals that request a student be allowed into a course despite having received an unsatisfactory grade (C- or below) in a prerequisite course will not be considered by the department. Appeals for other reasons will be carefully considered provided that the appeal addresses the following:

  • What are the unforeseen circumstances that apply to this student’s situation that make such a waiver of a prerequisite necessary for the student to stay on track with their graduation plan? The appeal should carefully address why this student’s situation is uniquely different from that of other students. The appeal should include a detailed plan of the student’s remaining semesters before graduation and the courses that the student intends to take to meet all the requirements of the major.
  • A convincing argument must be presented that the student will be able to succeed in the course for which the prerequisite is being waived. Prerequisites are intended to keep a student from getting into a course when their background knowledge and skill set is not sufficient to allow a good chance for success in the course. Hence it is incumbent upon the student to demonstrate that they have acquired the necessary knowledge and skill set by some other means than the prerequisite course.

When such an appeal is submitted, the decision as to whether or not it is granted is determined by vote of the entire department at a meeting scheduled in a timely fashion.

Repeating Courses

The College of Letters and Science and the computer science department permit students to repeat a given computer science course one time only. Note that this policy includes transfer courses. A very important consequence of this policy is that a student who does not earn a grade of C or better in certain courses that are prerequisites for a required course must withdraw from the Computer Science or Software Technology major. For example, suppose a student earns a D grade in CS 271 (Data Structures). Then s/he repeats it and earns a C- grade. Because CS 271 is a prerequisite for most 300-level courses required by the Computer Science major, he or she will not be permitted to major in Computer Science.

Closed Class Policy | Wait List

What to do if the class is full

You want a Computer Science class, but it’s showing up “full” on Titan Web. Now
what?

The Computer Science Department uses the electronic waitlist feature in Titan Web.
Classes with an active waitlist will display a yellow triangle next to the section(s).  Click
here for step-by-step instructions for how to waitlist a class that is full .

Don’t waste time asking the instructor of the course to sign you in or grant you
department consent, the Academic Department Associate is responsible for enrollment
and waitlist management. After signing up for a waitlisted course, the Academic
Department Associate will monitor closed classes that have waitlists started, and will
notify waitlisted students IN TURN if/when a seat opens up in a waitlisted course.

Notifications of open seats will be sent to the student’s UWO email with instructions for
enrollment. The student will have 24 hours from receipt of the email, unless specified
otherwise, to complete the process before being dropped from the list. Students who
are removed from the waitlist are able to add themselves back on the waitlist, however,
they will be placed at the end.

Computer Science Department

George Thomas
Department Chair
Halsey Science 218
Office hours:  MW,  1:30-2:30 PM; TuTh, 9:30-10:30 AM

cschair@uwosh.edu

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