Computer Science Major, BS in Computer Science

Students may choose from a wide spectrum of courses covering various aspects of computer science, computer engineering, and related fields. Students must meet the design, depth, and breadth requirements in the department in their selection of these courses. Students are encouraged to discuss an appropriate program with their advisors.

Progression Policies and Requirements

The department requires at least a C in every computer engineering, computer science, electrical engineering, and mathematics course used for the undergraduate degrees.

Progression of departmental undergraduate students to the upper-division programs of the department is competitive and is based on the space available in the department. Factors considered in the decision include overall grade point average, grades earned in courses required in the lower-division curricula of the department and Tickle College of Engineering, and seriousness of purpose and interest in departmental programs as exemplified by regular and orderly progress through the prescribed curriculum without abuse of withdrawal and course repeat privileges.

uTrack Requirements

Universal Tracking (uTrack) is an academic monitoring system designed to help students stay on track for timely graduation. In order to remain on track, students must complete the minimum requirements for each tracking semester, known as milestones. Milestones include successful completion of specified courses and/or attainment of a minimum GPA. uTrack requirements only affect full-time, degree-seeking students.

Requirements for the Bachelor of Science in Computer Science

Term 1	Hours	Milestone Notes
¹COSC 101	3	MATH 130 or MATH 131 or higher or one Arts and Humanities , Global Citizenship – US or Global Citizenship – International , or Social Sciences Elective
ENGL 101 * or ENGL 118 ³* or ENGL 131 * or ENGL 198 *	3
MATH 132 * or MATH 141 * or MATH 147 *	3-4
EF 142 * or EF 151 * or EF 157 *	4
Term 2
COSC 102	4	MATH 130 or MATH 131 or higher
ENGL 102 * or ENGL 132 * orENGL 290 * or ENGL 298 *	3
MATH 142 * or MATH 148 *	4
EF 152 * or EF 158 *	4
Term 3
BIOL 101 , BIOL 150 , BIOL 158 , CHEM 102 * and CHEM 103 , CHEM 122 and CHEM 123 , CHEM 128 or PHYS 231 *	3-4	EF 141 * and EF 142 , or EF 151 , or EF 157 , or PHYS 135 , or PHYS 137 *
COSC 202	4
COSC 230	3
MATH 251 or MATH 257	3
²Global Citizenship – US Elective*	3
Term 4
²Arts and Humanities Elective*	3	EF 152 * or EF 158 * or PHYS 136 * or PHYS 138 *
COSC 302 or COSC 307	4
ECE 313 or ECE 317	3
COSC 311 or COSC 317	3
²Social Sciences Elective*	3
Term 5
COSC 360 or COSC 367	4	CBE 201 or COSC 101 or COSC 102 or ME 202 or MSE 201
COSC 312	3
COSC 340	3
COSC 366	3
⁴Unrestricted Elective or ²Engaged Inquiries Elective*	3
Term 6
COSC 361	3	No milestones
COSC 365	3
²Global Citizenship – International Elective*	3
⁴Computer Science Upper-Division Electives	6
COSC 395 *	1
Term 7
²Expanded Perspectives Elective*. Encourage students to choose courses that meet EI also.	3	No milestones
COSC 401 *	2
⁴Computer Science Upper-Division Electives	6
ENGL 355 * or ENGL 360 *	3
Term 8
COSC 402 *	3	No milestones
⁴Computer Science Upper-Division Electives	6
²Expanded Perspectives Elective*. Encourage students to choose courses that meet EI also.	3
⁴Unrestricted Elective or ²Engaged Inquiries Elective*	3
TOTAL	121-123

*	Meets Volunteer Core Requirements .
¹	Beginning students who have had high school computer science and/or who have had significant programming experience (e.g. summer institute study, special research projects, home laboratory) are invited to apply during the summer to the head of the department for permission to take a proficiency examination for COSC 101 - Introduction to Programming , Introduction to Computer Science. If a satisfactory grade is made on the examination, credit will be allowed for COSC 101 . The Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science also gives credit in COSC 101 to students who receive a score of 3 or better on the Computer Science Advanced Placement A Examination.
²	Chosen from Volunteer Core list. Students should try to select courses that satisfy approved areas and Engaged Inquiries category. Students must have a minimum of 9 credit hours in at least two subject areas for Engaged Inquiries .
³	ENGL 118 * – Students receiving a passing grade below B in ENGL 118 * will complete the English Composition requirement by taking ENGL 102 . Students receiving a grade of B or above will complete their freshman English requirements by choosing ENGL 102 , a sophomore-level course in the English Department, or ENGL 355 *.
⁴	The following table lists the acceptable set of electives that may be taken to satisfy the upper-division electives for the CS major. The electives have been grouped into seven suggested tracks. The tracks group related electives that a student may wish to take in order to achieve a level of expertise in the indicated area. However, it is not mandatory to take any track and students are free to mix and match courses from different tracks to fit their specific interests. COSC 494 , and COSC 493 , may be taken to satisfy the upper-division electives. Up to three COSC 5XX or ECE 5XX courses may count as upper-division elections. COSC 422 does not count as an acceptable elective.
⁵	Any courses not already required for the major.

Theory	Systems
COSC 440 - Formal Foundations of Software Engineering COSC 482 - Theory of Computation	COSC 452 - Computer Graphics COSC 462 - Parallel Programming ECE 453 - Introduction to Computer Networks ECE 462 - Cyber-Physical Systems Security ECE 463 - Introduction to Datacenters
Software	Hardware
COSC 453 - Data Visualization COSC 461 - Introduction to Compilers COSC 465 - Databases and Scripting Languages	ECE 256 - Computer System Interfaces ECE 356 - Computer Systems Architecture ECE 455 - Embedded Systems Design
Scientific Computing	Artificial Intelligence
COSC 370 - Introduction to Scientific Computing or COSC 377 - Honors: Introduction to Scientific Computing COSC 471 - Numerical Analysis COSC 472 - Numerical Algebra MATH 231 - Differential Equations I or MATH 237 - Honors: Differential Equations I or MATH 241 - Calculus III or MATH 247 - Honors: Calculus III	COSC 420 - Biologically-Inspired Computation or COSC 427 - Honors: Biologically-Inspired Computation COSC 421 - Computational Cognitive Neuroscience COSC 423 - Introduction to Artificial Intelligence COSC 425 - Introduction to Machine Learning ECE 471 - Introduction to Pattern Recognition
Cybersecurity
COSC 434 - Network Security or COSC 534 - Network Security COSC 445 - Fundamentals of Digital Archeology or COSC 545 - Fundamentals of Digital Archaeology COSC 466 - Software Security or COSC 566 - Web Security COSC 469 - Human Factors in Cybersecurity or COSC 569 - Human Factors in Cybersecurity COSC 483 - Applied Cryptography or COSC 583 - Applied Cryptography	ECE 459 - Secure and Trustworthy Computer Hardware Design or ECE 559 - Secure and Trustworthy Computer Hardware Design ECE 462 - Cyber-Physical Systems Security ECE 469 - Mobile and Embedded Systems Security or ECE 569 - Mobile and Embedded Systems Security ECE 471 - Introduction to Pattern Recognition or ECE 571 - Pattern Recognition or COSC 425 - Introduction to Machine Learning or COSC 522 - Machine Learning

Computer Science Major – Honors Concentration

In addition to satisfying the requirements for the electrical engineering, computer engineering, or computer science major, candidates for the honors concentration must also complete the following requirements.

Maintain an overall GPA of 3.4.
Four 100- or 200-level honors courses* (14 hours minimum, at least two courses must be from Materials Science and Engineering, Engineering Fundamentals, Physics, Math, Chemistry, Biology, Statistics, or MSE 117 - Honors: Materials Chemistry or MSE 207 ).
Two upper-division honors courses in computer science or electrical and computer engineering (COSC 307 , COSC 317 , COSC 367 , COSC 377 , COSC 427 or ECE 317 , ECE 347 , ECE 357 , ECE 358 , ECE 417 , ECE 427 , ECE 477 , ECE 478 , ECE 487 ).
Satisfy the Breadth Requirements for the Cook Grand Challenge Honors Program.

*	While most students fulfill this requirement with 100- and 200-level courses, students may substitute upper level courses on approval of the Honors faculty.

Computer Science Major – Five-Year BS/MS Program

The department offers a Five-Year BS-MS program for qualified students. The primary component of the program is that qualified students may take up to 9 hours of approved graduate courses for their senior undergraduate electives and have them count toward both their bachelor’s and master’s degrees at the University of Tennessee. This program is designed for students attending the University of Tennessee for their Master of Science degree because other universities may not accept these courses for graduate credit since they were used to satisfy requirements for the Bachelor of Science degree. Significant components of the program are:

Students must have an overall GPA of at least 3.4 to be admitted to the program. Conditional admission may be granted after completing 64 hours of required coursework while full admission is granted after completing 96 hours of required coursework with a minimum overall GPA of 3.4.
Students must at least have conditional admission before taking graduate courses for both their bachelor’s and master’s degrees. All courses taken for graduate credit must be approved by the departmental chair of the program. Students admitted to the program must request permission from the Graduate School to take approved courses for graduate credit.
Students admitted to the program must also follow the normal procedure for admission to the Graduate School. Admission of students into this program must be approved by the department and the Graduate School.
Students will not be eligible for graduate assistantships until they are enrolled as graduate-level students in the Graduate School.

Undergraduates

Graduate Students