The goal of this CS Department is to help you acquire the knowledge, skills and attitude to succeed as a scientist in the field of computation, whether by launching a career in an industry built on computing technology or by joining a graduate program on your way to research in our field. The CS Undergraduate Education Office is charged with making this happen. We advise, schedule courses, explain campus policies, provide support and perform a hundred other tasks in the business of producing the world’s top students of Computer Science.

What are the benefits of a Maryland education in computer science? The official graduation requirements to receive a Bachelor’s degree in CS, in all their bureaucratic detail, are listed elsewhere at this site, but its worth taking a moment to reflect on what qualities make this one of the top programs in the country:

• You will see that all of our students receive a common grounding in the fundamentals of computer science, which chiefly appear as the “300 level courses” in the catalog. From there, our curriculum is structured so that each student can tailor a custom sequence of upper-level study to reflect his or her particular interests and specialization. Our faculty and advisors work closely with you - with a minimum of one extended advising session per semester required - to craft a program that best reflects your interests.
• The “400 level courses” which present the deep, upper level content of our field, are all taught by professorial faculty who are the top researchers in their respective areas. When you take a course on computer security, for example, you don’t just get someone who is able to reflect others’ work out of a textbook - you work directly with someone who is actively engaged in advancing the field’s understanding of computer security.
• Our college’s deep commitment to science and research is reflected in our curriculum in other ways too. We want each student to engage in a unique and individual research project, working one-on-one with a faculty member on some scholarly deliverable of substance. This research focus not only integrates content from many courses, it teaches practical problem solving and communication skills necessary to work as a professional computer scientist, whether going to industry or academia following graduation.
• While our curriculum is demanding, we also require an “upper level concentration” in something else - 12 credit hours (usually three courses) all at the upper level from the same department outside of CS. This is specifically to encourage you to study related fields that go well with CS. Some students use this as an opportunity to study art and graphic design (perhaps with an interest in game design.) Others beef up their credentials in business and finance. Math and physics concentrations are very common. And yes, some students use this as an opportunity to pander to entirely unrelated interests, that they might not have freedom to pursue from an engineering major. Music? Theater? Criminal Justice? Education? Our students do them all.

Where does programming fit in?

Our department prepares students to become scientists in this field of computers and computation. While programming is one of the common activities within CS, training people how to program is not the chief goal of our undergraduate curriculum. Learning the science is. Computer programming is just one of the many skills we teach to prepare our students to function as professionals in the field.

The UM is a big campus. Is this a bug or a feature?

College Park is indeed a big campus, and our department is one of the world’s largest. This means you will have available to you all the top resources that you’d expect from a place that is at the cutting edge of technology, brought to you by the people whose job it is to both make it happen and teach you about it. It also means when you graduate, you’ll be a part of one of the largest networks of alumni in computer science - the friends you make here will be your colleagues through the rest of your career, and you’ll have an advantage that only a ‘Terp’ can enjoy.

A big campus offers risk too - anonymity. That’s why we simply won’t allow it! A primary mission of this office is to provide the intimate learning opportunities of a small school within our big environment. We invest a lot of effort in making you a part of the community. Between our mandatory advising, the welcome you will always find in our office, the student professional organizations, the many events, and so much more, you’ll know you are a part of our family, you’ll know your fellow students, and we’ll know you. That’s our promise.

More to the point, that’s my promise. I’m the Chairman of the Undergraduate Program, and the buck stops on my desk. Let me know how we can serve you.

Jim Purtilo