Computer Science Advising Notes for Spring 2017

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Degree Plans

  • All new students from Fall 2015 on must be on the UTRGV BSCS degree plan.
  • Students who started before Fall 2015 may choose to continue on their Legacy UTPA or UTB degree plan, or switch to the new degree plan.
  • The Legacy Computer Information Systems Tecnology (BAT) and Computational Science degrees are being phased out. Due to administrative errors, they still appear as degree choices for new students, but this is not intended. We will be correcting this as soon as possible and highly recommend that new students do not pursue these degrees, as they are not accredited.
  • Got questions? See a faculty advisor! Contact the department office to make an appointment.

General Registration Information

  • Calculus I is a pre-requisite for many courses. Always schedule MATH first until you get through Cal 1!
  • Pick out your major courses then fill in from the core. Lots more pre-requisites and constraints on major courses.
  • Four requirements to graduate: take all the core courses, take all the degree plan courses, meet the total hours requirement and meet the advanced hours requirement. Pay attention to those hours requirements, as they will have different impact based on what you transferred in and otherwise have taken outside the major.
  • Pre-2015 Students: You can choose to stay on your Legacy degree plan or switch to the new UTRGV plan. You have to adopt the corresponding core with whichever you choose. Typically if you're just starting it's better to switch, otherwise stay.
  • Legacy UTPA Students: Linear Algebra is now a 2000-level course rather than 3000, meaning that you will not get advanced hours for it. If you have not already taken it, this may impact the total number of courses needed to fulfill the 51 advanced hours under the old UTPA BSCS degree plan. Speak to your advisor about this.

Considering an internship or independent project? Great!

  • Information on CSCI/CMPE 3300 internship credit can be found here.
  • You must have a faculty advisor and project before you sign up for independent project (CSCI 4185) or senior project (CSCI 4390). Make appointments with faculty to discuss potential projects, and ask your advisor for advice.

Graduating? Fantastic!

  1. Apply to graduate, the semester before you plan to. So do it now for Spring 2017. If you mean to graduate now (Fall 2016) and did not apply, contact the Registrar's office ASAP.
  2. DegreeWorks is the final word on graduating. Make sure what's in there matches what you think you've done. If it says you're good to go, then you are good.
  3. That said, DegreeWorks is still catching up after the UTRGV transition. If you applied to graduate, the Registrar's office will email you with any outstanding issues that would prevent you from graduating. Once you have that email, you can work on clearing those issues. Most of them are simple.
  4. Make sure that you meet all the requirements for your degree!
    • All required core courses
    • All required degree courses
    • Total hours
    • Advanced hours
  5. Getting credits transferred into the system is handled at the Registrar level, so it may be faster to go straight to them with any problems with credits not showing up.
  6. Course substitutions for the major go through Dr. Tomai.
  7. We cannot approve course substitutions for the general education core or for a minor. For a minor, it is up to that department.
  8. Don't wait to ask questions!