computer science at UVA

[Anonymous]

What honor/AP courses should a student pursue in high school so that they have the best chance to get into computer science major at UVA? AP CS, Calc bc, and what else? Is a three years of language good enough or a four years with AP in one of the World Language needed? Basically, I am looking for suggestions for high school course work that satisfy the prerequisites or give college credits for the UVA Computer science program

[Anonymous]

CS through the Arts & Science school or Engineering school? There are different prereqs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:CS through the Arts & Science school or Engineering school? There are different prereqs.

arts & science

[Anonymous]

You will need to keep going on a language for arts and sciences. Engineering does not have that requirement. It’s pretty easy to test out as long as your kid takes four years of language in HS.

[Anonymous]

My kid has/had AP Computer Sci, post-AP Data Structures, Calc BC, MV/Linear, and Spanish 4. He's applying to UVA this fall. So we'll see...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:CS through the Arts & Science school or Engineering school? There are different prereqs.

arts & science

My daughter will be attending UVA this fall and plans on earning the BACS in CS.
First of all CS in Arts&Sciences is not a direct admit so he wouldn’t need to declare a specific major. He would just be evaluated the same as anyone else applying to the College of Arts & Sciences.
That being said my daughter took four years of a foreign language, AP CS Principles, AP CS, and programming (not AP) and she took the math that comes right after Calc BC. Forgot exactly what it’s called.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You will need to keep going on a language for arts and sciences. Engineering does not have that requirement. It’s pretty easy to test out as long as your kid takes four years of language in HS.

My kid took four years of French and only tested out of the first year. Unfortunately she will still need to take another year at UVA. However she stopped French Junior year, so she was probably a bit rusty on it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You will need to keep going on a language for arts and sciences. Engineering does not have that requirement. It’s pretty easy to test out as long as your kid takes four years of language in HS.

My kid took four years of French and only tested out of the first year. Unfortunately she will still need to take another year at UVA. However she stopped French Junior year, so she was probably a bit rusty on it.

my DD stopped spanish after 10th grade and tested into the class she needed to take to complete the requirement (advanced intermediate). She was completely rusty so was shocked that she tested into that level and was done with the requirement after one semester.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You will need to keep going on a language for arts and sciences. Engineering does not have that requirement. It’s pretty easy to test out as long as your kid takes four years of language in HS.

My kid took four years of French and only tested out of the first year. Unfortunately she will still need to take another year at UVA. However she stopped French Junior year, so she was probably a bit rusty on it.

does taking the AP exam after Spanish 4, help with testing out of the language requirement completely?

[Anonymous]

UVA is obsessed with 4 years of language regardless of major.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You will need to keep going on a language for arts and sciences. Engineering does not have that requirement. It’s pretty easy to test out as long as your kid takes four years of language in HS.

My kid took four years of French and only tested out of the first year. Unfortunately she will still need to take another year at UVA. However she stopped French Junior year, so she was probably a bit rusty on it.

does taking the AP exam after Spanish 4, help with testing out of the language requirement completely?

AP is only for the 5th year of a foreign language.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

AP is only for the 5th year of a foreign language.

Depends on the school. At our school, AP is taken in the 4th year of foreign language study.
There's also a non-AP year 4 track.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My daughter will be attending UVA this fall and plans on earning the BACS in CS.
First of all CS in Arts&Sciences is not a direct admit so he wouldn’t need to declare a specific major. He would just be evaluated the same as anyone else applying to the College of Arts & Sciences.

Can someone please elaborate on this?  Does it mean that the GPA in both your college freshman and sophomore year must meet the threshold in order to be evaluated and accepted into the CS program of  college Arts and Sciences?  What will happen when there are more qualified candidates than the number of slots available?

I attended UMDCP many years ago in Electrical Engineering and I was accepted directly into the program from high school.  Because of that, I just needed to maintain a 2.5 GPA or higher to stay in the program.  Students who didn't get accepted directly into the engineering program had to maintain at least a 3.7 GPA in the first two years and there were limited slots for these students.  There were many applicants for a small number of available slots.  

Is that how that works with UVA CS in the College of Arts and Sciences today? Am I reading it right?   

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You will need to keep going on a language for arts and sciences. Engineering does not have that requirement. It’s pretty easy to test out as long as your kid takes four years of language in HS.

My kid took four years of French and only tested out of the first year. Unfortunately she will still need to take another year at UVA. However she stopped French Junior year, so she was probably a bit rusty on it.

does taking the AP exam after Spanish 4, help with testing out of the language requirement completely?

AP is only for the 5th year of a foreign language.

You can take AP Spanish after Spanish 3.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My daughter will be attending UVA this fall and plans on earning the BACS in CS.
First of all CS in Arts&Sciences is not a direct admit so he wouldn’t need to declare a specific major. He would just be evaluated the same as anyone else applying to the College of Arts & Sciences.

Can someone please elaborate on this?  Does it mean that the GPA in both your college freshman and sophomore year must meet the threshold in order to be evaluated and accepted into the CS program of  college Arts and Sciences?  What will happen when there are more qualified candidates than the number of slots available?

I attended UMDCP many years ago in Electrical Engineering and I was accepted directly into the program from high school.  Because of that, I just needed to maintain a 2.5 GPA or higher to stay in the program.  Students who didn't get accepted directly into the engineering program had to maintain at least a 3.7 GPA in the first two years and there were limited slots for these students.  There were many applicants for a small number of available slots.  

Is that how that works with UVA CS in the College of Arts and Sciences today? Am I reading it right?   

CS from Arts and Science is a different process than your experience at UMD.

From the UVA site:
“To declare the BACS, you must have completed the prerequisites at the time you submit your major declaration. They are: CS1110 or equivalent with a C+ or higher, and CS2110 or CS 2100 or equivalent with a C+ or higher.

All College students who meet the prerequisites will be allowed to declare. Currently there are no “caps” or limits on the number of College students who can declare the BACS. So it is not a competitive admissions situation.“

CS at the Engineering school is a different story. CS is one of the most popular majors (along with CPE and Systems Engineering, at least when I was there many years ago). There are a limited number of spots, so students who do not get accepted will have to declare for another major.