Bachelor of Science [B.S] [Computer Science] From Bryn Mawr College

In addition to the core curricular requirements of the college, a number of computer science courses must be fullfilled. In addition, please note our policy on outside-credit transfer into the major. Please also follow the procedure for JYA-credit transfer if you are intending to do junior-year abroad (JYA).

Computer Science is the science of algorithms — their theory, analysis, design and implementation. As such it is an interdisciplinary field with roots in mathematics and engineering and applications in many other academic disciplines. The program at Bryn Mawr is founded on the belief that computer science should transcend from being a subfield of mathematics and engineering and play a broader role in all forms of human inquiry.

The Computer Science Department is supported jointly by faculty at both Bryn Mawr and Haverford Colleges. The department welcomes students who wish to pursue a major in computer science. Additionally, the department also offers a minor in computer science, a concentration in computer science (at Haverford College) and a minor in computational methods (at Bryn Mawr College). The department also strives to facilitate evolving interdisciplinary majors. For example, students can propose a major in cognitive science by combining coursework from computer science and disciplines such as psychology and philosophy. Students can further specialize their majors by selecting elective courses that focus on specific disciplinary tracks or pathways within the discipline.

All majors, minors and concentrations offered by the department emphasize foundations and basic principles of information science with the goal of providing students with skills that transcend short-term trends in computer hardware and software.

Students are encouraged to prepare a major course plan in consultation with their academic adviser in Computer Science. The requirements for a major in computer science are three introductory courses (CMSC 110, 206 and 231), three core courses (CMSC 240, 245 and one of 330, 340 or 345), six electives of a student’s choosing and a senior thesis. Students can specialize in specific disciplinary tracks or pathways by carefully choosing their elective courses. Such pathways can enable specialization in areas such as: computational theory, computer systems, software development, computer graphics, artificial intelligence, robotics, computational media, computational linguistics, cognitive science, etc. Students should ensure that they have completed at least three courses in computer science by the end of their sophomore year (we highly recommend CMSC 110, 206 and 231).