Program: Computer Science, B.S. - University of Maryland, Baltimore County

Mar 29, 2025

2023-2024 Undergraduate Catalog

Offered by Computer Science and Electrical Engineering .

The Computer Science, B.S. is an ABET-accredited program that prepares students for a career in the computing industry and for further studies in pursuance of graduate degrees. Required courses include programming, discrete structures, ethics in information technology, data structures, operating systems, algorithms, and software engineering. Computer science is a rich and diverse discipline. Students may optionally pursue a track in artificial intelligence and machine learning, data science, cybersecurity, or game development. Computing jobs are among the fastest growing and highest paid in the country according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. UMBC computer science graduates are employed by many businesses, including tech industry leaders, government agencies, the defense industry and video game companies. Many graduates have also been admitted to the top graduate programs in computer science.

University Requirements

Completion of Minimum University Requirements for an Undergraduate Baccalaureate Degree .

Minimum 120 credits and minimum GPA of 2.0
Completion of 45 upper-level credits, residence requirement, Writing Intensive requirement, and General Education requirement

Major Requirements

Minimum 75 credits
Minimum grade of ‘C’ in courses applied to the major, except where otherwise indicated
Students may complete one major or minor in Computer Science and Electrical Engineering
Two courses in each track cannot be used towards any other tracks.

Course Requirements

Computer Science Gateway (8 credits)

Complete the following with minimum grade of ‘B’:

Required Computer Science Courses (27 credits)

Complete the following:

Required Mathematics Courses (11 credits)

Complete the following:

Required Statistics Courses (4 credits)

Complete one of the following:

Required Science Courses (10-12 credits)

Complete one of the following two-course sequences:

Lab Science

Complete one of the following:

Computer Science Electives (6 credits)

Complete a minimum of 6 credits of the following:

Technical Electives (9 credits)

Complete 9 credits from 400-level CMSC courses excluding CMSC 404 , CMSC 495 , CMSC 498 , and CMSC 499 , computer engineering courses as approved, or a maximum of two of the following courses:

Computer Science Track

Two courses in each track cannot be used towards any other tracks.

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning Track

The Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning track consists of the following 12 credits in addition to the core requirements of the major:

Requirements

Complete the following 6 credits:

Additional Courses

Complete 6 credits from the following or other approved courses, including courses at the graduate level:

CMPE 422 - Digital Signal Processing (3)
CMSC 462 - Introduction to Data Science (3)
CMSC 473 - Introduction to Natural Language Processing (3)
CMSC 475 - Introduction to Neural Networks (3)
CMSC 476 - Information Retrieval (3)
CMSC 477 - Agent Architectures and Multi-Agent Systems (3)
CMSC 479 - Introduction to Robotics (3)
CMPE 491 - Special Topics in Computer Engineering (3) or CMSC 491 - Special Topics in Computer Science (3) approved topics: Advanced Robotics, Computer Vision, Knowledge Graphs

Cybersecurity Track

The Cybersecurity track consists of the following 12 credits in addition to the core requirements of the major:

Requirements

Complete the following 6 credits:

Electives

Complete 6 credits from the following or other courses as approved:

CMSC 442 - Information and Coding Theory (3)
CMSC 443 - Cryptology (3)
CMSC 444 - Information Assurance (3)
CMSC 481 - Computer Networks (3)
CMSC 491 - Special Topics in Computer Science (3) approved topics: Malware, Reverse Engineering, Wireless/Mobile Security

Data Science Track

The Data Science track consists of the following 12 credits in addition to the core requirements of the major.

Requirement

Complete the following 3 credits:

CMSC 462 - Introduction to Data Science (3)

Data Core List

Complete 3 credits from the following:

Data Electives

Complete 6 credits from the following or other approved courses:

CMPE 422 - Digital Signal Processing (3)
CMPE 491 - Special Topics in Computer Engineering (3) approved topic: Data Driven Signal Processing
CMSC 427 - Wearable Computing (3)
CMSC 433 - Scripting Languages (3)
CMSC 435 - Computer Graphics (3)
CMSC 442 - Information and Coding Theory (3)
CMSC 455 - Numerical Computations (3)
CMSC 471 - Introduction to Artificial Intelligence (3)
CMSC 473 - Introduction to Natural Language Processing (3)
CMSC 475 - Introduction to Neural Networks (3)
CMSC 476 - Information Retrieval (3)
CMSC 483 - Parallel and Distributed Processing (3)
CMSC 491 - Special Topics in Computer Science (3) approved topics: Computer Vision, Hadoop, Mobile, Semantic Web

Game Development Track

The Game Development track consists of the following 19 credits in addition to the core requirements of the major:

Requirements

Complete the following 13 credits:

Electives

Complete 6 credits from the following or other approved courses:

Laptop Requirement

Computer Science and Electrical Engineering requires all incoming first year and incoming transfer students to have a laptop computer.

The Computer Science and Electrical Engineering Technology Requirement is available from the department website.

Accelerated Bachelor’s/Master’s Programs

Qualified students may apply to an accelerated program, which allows them to share courses between a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree. Students take graduate courses as undergraduate students and later apply those courses to master’s degrees. An undergraduate may apply to participate in an accelerated program even if the desired graduate program is in a department other than the one in which the student is majoring. More information is available from the Accelerated Program page of the Graduate School website.