Computer Science, BS

Admission Requirements

Qualified freshman and transfer students who have indicated their interest in the major on their applications may be admitted directly as a degree major or as a pre-major. Pre-majors are placed into the Area of Interest (AOI) program and to be eligible for the degree, they must be admitted to and declare the major. The requirements and application process for matriculation are detailed below. Students in majors and pre-majors outside of Computer Science and Information Systems may apply for admission to the degree program following a separate process, outlined below.

Intellectual honesty and academic integrity are cornerstones of academic and scholarly work. The department may table any applications for major/minor admission until academic judiciary matters are resolved. An academic judiciary matter will be identified by a grade of “Q” in the instance of a first offense.

• Completed CSE 113, CSE 114, and CSE 214. (Honors students may substitute CSE 160, CSE 260, and CSE 150 .) Transfer students matriculating at Stony Brook with credit for some (but not all) of these courses must complete the remaining course(s) before applying for major admission. Transfer students matriculating at Stony Brook with credit for all three courses must work with a CSE advisor to identify an appropriate course to complete before applying for major admission. Once a student matriculates at Stony Brook, these courses must be taken at Stony Brook University. 
• Earn grades of B- or higher and a grade point average of 3.20 or higher in the above courses (Transfer students who have completed equivalent courses at another school with grades of B- or higher need not retake these courses, but should keep in mind that grades do not transfer and grade point averages are calculated on the basis of courses completed at Stony Brook).
•  Repeated at most one of these courses. 
•  Earned a cumulative grade point average of 3.00 or higher. 

Degree Requirements

Enrolling in CSE Courses

To enroll in CSE courses, students must:

Have completed all prerequisites with a grade of C or higher. (Pass/No Credit grades are not acceptable to meet prerequisites.) For transfer students, official transfer credit evaluations must have been completed.

Failure to satisfy the prerequisites or to attend the first class may result in deregistration. The Pass/No Credit option is not available for CSE courses.

Requirements for the Major

The major in Computer Science leads to the Bachelor of Science degree. Completion of the major requires approximately 80 credits. At least 24 credits from items 1 to 3 below, and at least 18 credits from items 2 and 3, must be completed at Stony Brook.

Joint BS/MS Program

Computer Science majors may apply for admission to a special program that leads to a Bachelor of Science degree at the end of the fourth year and a Master of Science degree at the end of the fifth year. Students usually apply to the program in their junior year.

Students must satisfy the respective requirements of both the B.S. degree and the M.S. degree, but the main advantage of the program is that nine credits may be simultaneously applied to both the under­graduate and graduate requirements. The M.S. degree can therefore be earned in less time than that re­quired by the traditional course of study.

For more details about the B.S./M.S. program, see the undergraduate or graduate program director in the Department of Computer Science.

SBC Courses

This table illustrates major courses that can also be used to fulfill SBC requirements. (See Note 1 & Note 2)

Note 1: Some course information may be subject to change. Please contact your major advisor for additional consultation.

Note 2: For majors that require study in a related area or completion of a minor, visit the respective program’s “Major SBC Courses” page to view expanded SBC options. 

Note 3: Denotes any course in which students can choose from more than one option. These may include, but are not limited to, major electives, concentration/track/specialization courses, or calculus/physics/chemistry sequences.

Note 4: CEAS majors, the Athletic Training major, the Respiratory Care major, and the Clinical Laboratory Sciences major are exempt from the LANG learning objective. Students enrolled in the major in Social Work are exempt from the LANG learning objective, but are required to enroll in and pass with a letter grade of C or higher the first semester of an elementary foreign language course numbered 111, or satisfy through alternate methods.

Note 5: Students are responsible for completing the general education requirements published in the Bulletin that was current as of the first semester of matriculation (or rematriculation). The following student groups must satisfy the DIV learning objective as part of their degree requirements:

• Freshmen who matriculate in the Fall of 2019 or later
• Transfer students who matriculate in the Spring of 2020 or later
• Students who rematriculate in the Fall of 2019 or later

Sample Course Sequence