General Student Information
Page Last Updated: Wednesday, November 13, 2024
Info for All Computing Majors and Minors
The following info is for all BSCS, BACS, BSCPE, and CS Minor students.
Advising Information and Web Pages
The CS department has developed an advising website that attempts to be a comprehensive source of info for its majors. The page you’re reading is part of that website, but its main address is: https://uvacsadvising.org. Note this page is searchable – type your query into the box at the top of any page.
Contacts
CS has staff in the CS office to help answer routine questions. You can email them at cs-office@virginia.edu. For program-specific contacts, please see the appropriate section below.
Mailing Lists
The department manages several email lists specifically for majors and minors. The department will occasionally send out information regarding scheduling, special events, advising, and other important announcements. Please make sure to read email that comes to these lists. These lists are not available for students to post to directly. If you need assistance with a mailing list, please contact cs-office@virginia.edu.
- cs-ugrads: Announcements from the department to all computing majors and minors (BSCS, BACS, BSCPE, and Minors). (Examples include department schedule information, department-wide events, etc.)
- bacs-ugrads: Announcements specifically for BACS majors. (Examples include integration elective announcements, distinguished majors program, etc.)
- bscs-ugrads: Announcements specifically for BSCS majors. (Examples include capstone announcements, CS 4991 info, etc.)
- bscpe-ugrads: Announcements specifically for BSCPE majors. (Examples include degree program changes, advising, etc.)
- cs-minors: Announcements specifically for CS minors. (Examples include program changes, etc.)
- cs-jobs: An opt-in email list for all job and project opportunities shared with the CS department.
Joining cs-jobs Email List:
If you wish to join the cs-jobs opt-in email list to hear about job and project opportunities, please do the following:
- Go to https://lists.virginia.edu/sympa/subscribe/cs-jobs.
- Sign into Netbadge in the upper-right (if necessary).
- Your primary UVA email and name should be pre-populated in the fields.
- Click “I subscribe to list cs-jobs.”
- Click “Confirm.”
Student Clubs and Groups
Go to https://engineering.virginia.edu/departments/computer-science/about-computer-science/clubs-and-groups to find a listing of current computing-related student clubs and groups!
Laptop Loaner Program
The CS department has a laptop loaner program for students who 1) are currently enrolled in a CS course and 2) have a CS faculty member willing to sponsor them to be loaned a laptop.
For more information, please see the CS Department Laptop Loaner Program information page.
BACS-Specific Information
The BA degree program in Computer Science provides students with a solid foundation in computer science theory and practice. An important goal of the program is to give students the ability to apply computing to other disciplines in the arts and sciences (e.g., life and physical sciences, mathematics, social sciences, visual and performing arts). This idea of studying computer science in the context of a liberal arts education is what distinguishes the BA in Computer Science from computing degrees in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. Graduates of this program will be prepared to apply their technical knowledge to analyze and solve computing challenges in a wide range of problem areas, including those faced by today’s computing industry. Graduates will also be prepared for graduate study in computer science and other fields that require knowledge of computer science.
Degree Requirements (Handouts, Resources, Orientation Video)
See these sections on the main BACS page on this website. That page has comprehensive information.
Students can also watch the orientation video for College students interested in the BACS or CS minor. This is for potential majors, newly declared majors, and new or potential transfer students.
Contacts
The Program Director (DUP) for the BACS is currently Tom Horton, and if you email bacsdirector@virginia.edu that will reach him and a back-up who helps out.
Getting Help and Advising for the BACS
- Your first place to get information is to browse or search this advising website, of course!
- Every BACS student is assigned an advisor in the CS department. You can find their name when you log into SIS. This person is a good resource for CS matters but not for other things – read below.
- Before course registration, an advisor hold is placed on your account. You must get advising from your advisor who will release the hold. Normally advisors contact their advisees to explain how they’ll do this.
- Your CS advisor is a great person to talk to about CS and computing issues. Course selection, career plans, getting into research, etc.
- For academic and policy issues that are outside of CS, you should probably rely on your Association Dean, who is your assigned advisor who handles all the things not specific to your major. For example, general education requirements, changing your graduation semester, College policies, taking a semester off, etc.
- For CS policies and things your advisor might not be able to handle, you can always email one of the contacts listed in this doc.
- Anything listed about academic policies and requirements should be confirmed against the official rules: the UG Record. See the links into this in the BACS advising page
Some Other Things
- Career Services: BACS majors have full access to services from the Center for Engineering Career Development. Don’t let the “engineering” put you off! CS students are their largest community of customers, and they know and welcome BACS students! They can give advice for CS students about graduate school and job/careers in “non-engineering” fields too.
- To learn about job openings for CS students, be sure to learn about the Handshake system run by the career center.
- Student clubs and organizations: The CS department has a web page with info on clubs and organizations that might interest CS students.
- Study-abroad course approval: Contact Prof. Charles Reiss (creiss@virginia.edu) for approval of courses you may take abroad that you want to count for your CS major. He approves these for the CS department instead of the program director. Except for integration electives – for those, contact the Director.
- There is a Distinguished Majors Program (DMP) for BACS students. Find out more on the the BACS advising page.