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Policies and Procedures

  1. Prerequisite Policy
  2. CS Elective Policy
  3. Double Counting Courses Policy
  4. Missing/Replacement Credits Policy
  5. Policy on Changing Graduation Year / Graduating Early
  6. CS Department Grading Guidelines
  7. UVA Policies

Prerequisite Policy

The CS department enforces all course prerequisites listed in course descriptions. For example, if you take a course that requires CS 2100 with a C- or higher and you don’t meet that prereq, you may be able to enroll but you’ll be removed at the start of the semester. Obey the prerequisite rules!

CS Elective Policy

CS electives consist of CS courses at the 3000 level or higher that are not already being used for a degree requirement. These courses must have the CS mnemonic. Courses from other disciplines will only be accepted under rare circumstances and by approval of the CS Undergraduate Curriculum Committee. Additional CS electives may be required as part of the CS 4991 option for the senior thesis or to fill in missing credits due to place-out test.

Guidelines for CS Electives:

  • Must have a CS mnemonic.
  • Must be at the 3000 level or higher.
  • Must not be a foundation course or upper-level required course.
  • Second digit of course number must not be 0 or 9, except as noted below.
  • Two electives with significant overlap of material cannot both count toward the CS degree.
  • Up to three (3) credits of CS 4993 - Independent Study may count toward the CS elective requirement. Credits beyond this limit may be applied to the unrestricted elective requirement.
  • CS 4980 and CS 4998 do not count as CS electives.

Double Counting Courses Policy

BACS

  1. If you’re following the “old” curriculum requirements, the CS degree you’ll get is an interdisciplinary major, i.e. it is officially part of the “interdisciplinary” degree program. Therefore, you can share up to 3 courses from the BACS (CS courses and/or Integration Electives) with any other major.
  2. If you’re following the “new” curriculum requirements, the CS degree you’ll get is NOT an interdisciplinary major. If the other major is interdisciplinary, you can share up to 3 courses from the BACS (CS courses and/or Integration Electives) with that interdisciplinary major. But if the other major is not interdisciplinary, you can share only 2 courses.
  3. It’s possible that the other department may need to agree to sharing. CS always approves of such sharing. Check with your advisor or DUP in the other department to see if they have any restrictions. Cognitive Science in particular has some specific rules about this. Check with CogSci about this if that’s your second major.

BSCS

CpE

  1. SEAS has no restriction on allowing a course to count for two majors.
  2. SEAS has no restriction on allowing a course to count for both a SEAS major and a minor.

Missing/Replacement Credits Policy

If a course transferred in to UVA as 3 credits, but the UVA-equivalent course is 4 credits, then there is a “missing credit” that must be replaced. This could be the case for CS 2100, CS 2130, CS 3130, and some APMA courses.

Also, a student could be “missing credits” if they took the CS 1110 or CS 2100 place-out tests. These tests meet the prerequisite for later courses, but do not award credit, so the missing credits have to be made up.

For CS 1110: Any technical course will count EXCEPT our own CS 1 courses (CS 1110, 1111, 1112, or 1113). Some examples include:

  • Any CS course numbered 2000 or higher
  • A programming course in another department, such as PHYS 1655 or STAT 1602
  • An APMA course not already being used toward the major
  • Another SEAS science elective

For CS 2100, CS 2130, or CS 3130: Any CS course numbered 2000 or higher.

For APMA: Any other APMA or MATH course credits not already being used toward the major.

Policy on Changing Graduation Year / Graduating Early

The department will help a CS student change their graduation year / class year standing in SIS because they are graduating early only when they are about to start their final year at UVA. This typically means the student has roughly 30-36 credits remaining and plans on enrolling in two more regular semesters at UVA.

If a student is in this position and wishes to proceed, they need to create a course schedule / outline that shows that they can finish the degree in one year and make an appointment with the appropriate program director - bscsdirector@virginia.edu or bacsdirector@virginia.edu - with their plan to set up a meeting. If the program director agrees that this plan is feasible, the program director will contact the appropriate school registrar to make the change in SIS.

We will not entertain requests to change a graduation year / class standing until one year remains because it is not uncommon for students to think they want to graduate early, only to find that they require more time.

CS Department Grading Guidelines

This document was approved as an official guideline for the CS department and its associated courses by vote of the CS faculty on 2019-02-18.

The giving of grades is a well-established component of our educational system, but the meaning of those grades is not. In an effort to provide some clarity and consistency, the CS department provides the following guidelines. These guidelines are not a grading system, but rather definitions which resulting grades should approximate. Individual courses may establish different definitions in their beginning-of-course memo. Using the definitions in this document will help students understand which subsequent courses and experiences they are prepared to excel in and which they are not yet ready to undertake.

Course grading practice should be described in syllabi or beginning-of-course memos. Such descriptions should explain how the activities and assessments in the course contribute to student grades. Grading practices should result in final grades that approximate the definitions contained in this document.

It is traditional for grades to reflect a combination of several kinds of learning objectives, including but not limited to communication skills, creativity, learning, participation, professionalism, skill, teamwork, timeliness, understanding, etc. Each course may combine these learning objectives differently while still satisfying the following definitions.

  • “A” is used for students who demonstrate mastery of all learning objectives. An “A” should be seen as a recommendation that the student would likely do well in areas that depend on these objectives in the future.
  • “B” is used for students who demonstrate competence in all significant learning objectives. A “B” should be seen as an acknowledgement that the student would be able to do well in areas that depend on these objectives in the future, but that their learning was incomplete; they are encouraged to review and improve in this topical area if it is a significant part of their future plans.
  • “C” is used for students who demonstrate sufficient competence in enough of the learning objectives that subsequent work can be contemplated. A “C” should be seen as a caution that some aspects of the course seem to be missing or misunderstood and that future efforts in areas that depend on these objectives are likely to be challenging unless those gaps are first filled.
  • “D” is used for students who demonstrate minimal competence in learning objectives, but not enough to recommend further studies or activities in related areas. A “D” should be seen as a prediction that future efforts in areas that depend on these objectives are unlikely to be successful unless the course that gave the “D” is first retaken.
  • “F” is used for students who failed to demonstrate minimal competence in learning objectives. An “F” should be seen as indicating that future efforts in areas that depend on these objectives should not be undertaken without first retaking the course that gave the “F”.

Misconduct or lack of professionalism may result in a lower grade than demonstrated competence would otherwise indicate. The scope and nature of such reductions, if any, may be determined independently for each course offering.

UVA Policies

Links are provided here to relevant UVA policies on class activities.