Residency Requirement for Computer Science & Engineering (CSE) Credentials

The BS in Computer Science (BS CS) degree and the Second Major in Computer Science each require 7 core courses (CSE 131 and 6 other courses) and 8 elective courses. Approved transfer courses and proficiency credit are allowed to replace CSE 131.

• For any of the 6 other core courses, students who have approved transfer credit or proficiency credit for such a course will not be required to take it at WashU, however, some other WashU course must be designated in consultation with the CSE advisor to replace that course. [Note: Math 310 taken at WashU does not count as a course taken outside of the CSE department].
• For the 7 elective courses, all but 2 of them must completed at WashU within the CSE department. Any elective course taken outside of the WashU CSE department must be approved by the student's CSE advisor.
• In summary, students must complete at least 11 core and elective courses within the WashU CSE department in order earn the BS CS degree or the Second Major in Computer Science.

The BS in Computer Engineering (BS CoE) degree requires 9 core courses from the CSE department (CSE 131 and 8 other courses), a probability/statistics course, and two circuits courses. Approved transfer courses and proficiency credit are allowed to replace CSE 131.

• For any of the 8 other core courses that are from the CSE department, students who have transfer credit or demonstrate proficiency for such a course will not be required to take it at WashU, however, some other WashU course must be designated in consultation with the CSE advisor to replace that course.
• The probability/statistics course and the two circuits courses may be satisfied by credit earned anywhere, subject to approval by the CSE advisor and the McKelvey School of Engineering.
• The BS CoE degree also requires 6 elective courses. For those elective courses, all but 2 of them must consist of CSE department courses that normally count for elective credit. Any course taken outside of the CSE department for elective credit must be approved by the student's CSE advisor.
• In summary, students must complete at least 12 core and elective courses within the WashU CSE department in order earn the BS CoE degree.

For the other three CS related degree programs (BS in Business + Computer Science, BS in Computer Science + Math and BS in Computer Science + Economics) the same policy as described above for the BS CS degree and the BS CoE degree applies, in that only 2 elective courses completed outside of the CSE department may count toward degree requirements.

The Minor in Computer Science requires at least four courses (12 units) for the Minor must be completed at WashU.   Approved transfer courses and proficiency credit are allowed to replace CSE 131. Students who have approved transfer credit for other required courses are not required to take them at WashU, but must take additional replacement courses from the list of electives. See courses required for the minor.

The Minor in Bioinformatics and the Minor in Human-Computer Interaction both follow the same policy described above for the Minor in Computer Science. For the Minor in Bioinformatics, at most 1 outside CS/Bio course may count. For the Minor in Human-Computer Interaction, at most 1 outside CS/Art course may count.