The policies listed below apply to all academic settings within the department of Computer Science. The policies follow the guidelines set forth by the University and CAS.

Course Prerequisites:

  • Prerequisites are in place to ensure that students are successful in their courses. Instructors base their material on the assumption that students have completed their prerequisites. For this reason, prerequisites will be strictly enforced.
    • Any student not meeting a prerequisite will be dropped from the course.

Retaking a Course:

  • Courses can by default only be repeated once.
    • On rare exceptions a single course in group A, B or C may be repeated a second time. Granting this exception is up to the discretion of the Department and is not a default.
    • The retake policy applies to equivalent courses taken at another department or institution too. That is, if a student has exhausted their repeat options for a course they cannot fulfill the requirement by taking an equivalent course elsewhere.
    • Taking a course after dropping with ‘W’ is not considered a repeat attempt, but students with multiple withdrawals are encouraged to talk to their advisors.

Substituting Courses:

  • Students should contact their advisor or csadvise@bu.edu to consider courses offered at BU outside of CS to fulfill major requirements. Substitutions are decided on an individual basis.

Incomplete Grades:

  • Incomplete grades may be granted only in cases of dire illness or circumstances that arise shortly before the end of the semester. The CS department guidelines follow and complement the University Policy.
    • Incompletes will only be granted if a student has completed at least 70% of the assignments and has taken (at least one of) the midterm(s).
    • Incompletes will not be granted before the course withdrawal deadline, a.k.a. drop with ‘W’ date.
    • Incompletes will not be granted on the basis of avoiding a poor grade.
    • Incompletes will not be granted once the final grades for the course have been released.

Course Transfers:

Whenever possible, seek approval before you do any work or pay for the course. University course transfer procedures are described in the Undergraduate Bulletin and in detail on our Transfer Course Equivalency page.

  • If you have additional questions about course equivalencies or you have considerable prior CS coursework and are interested in majoring in Computer Science, please reach out to Undergraduate Program Director for more information.

Important policies with regard to course transfer:

  • Course transfer requests for current BU students are decided on a case-by-case basis and at the discretion of the Department. The evaluation is based on content as well as the individual circumstances of the student.
  • Transfer courses will not be accepted towards group C. Courses with related content may be considered towards the electives on a case-by-case basis.
  • Online courses will only be accepted from US institutions. Courses will only be considered if a substantial portion of the final grade comes from midterm and final exams. Exams have to be real-time and proctored. Unproctored exams will never be approved. Rare exceptions may be given for heavily project-based courses.
  • Per the University Residency Requirement, students who enter as first-years can apply up to 60 external credits toward their degree requirements. Students who enter as transfer students can apply up to 68 external credits. This includes AP, international college-level exams, dual enrollment credits, and credit from other institutions. An advanced credit guide is available here. 

 

References