Class Planning for Computer Science and Computer Science and Engineering

For information about Computer Engineering click here.

What you need:

Tracking your Degree:

Using DARS, cross off your completed classes on your worksheet

  • Courses may not satisfy more than one requirement/line on your worksheet.
  • If courses not appearing on DARS or look incorrect, submit a message to your CS counselors via myUCLA Message Center.
  • Cross off every line to complete your degree!

 

Tips for Creating a 4, 3, or 2 year plan:

Use as a tool to see how many quarters you have left, but it can be stressful if you hold yourself to enroll in exactly those classes.  Each quarter use the Next Quarter Planning tips to make adjustments.

  • Count how many classes you have left and divide by quarters left to your graduation goal.  That will tell you if you need to take 4 classes a quarter, or if you have flexibility to take 3.
  • Prioritize 1-2 required upper div courses a quarter with no more than 1 in your final quarter then Fill in with Elective, GE, TBR, Ethics, etc
  • Look ahead to your electives. Are any of the ones you want to take offered only once a year? Plan to complete the requisites in your 3rd year so that in your last year you have the option take those courses in ANY quarter they are offered.
  • Plan to complete CS 111 and 180 by Fall of your 3rd year to give you flexibility in your upper div scheduling.
  • Don’t take CS 111 and 131 in the same quarter. They have heavy workloads.
  • Don’t wait too long between ECE 100 and ECE 115C.  You should be prepared for 115C with only 100, but it will be more challenging if you did not master the material of ECE 100 or if it was so long ago, you’ve become rusty.
  • Note that postponing a course for a specific instructor may limit your options or could delay your graduation.

This is a TENTATIVE plan that may change quarter to quarter.  It may look different from the 4 yr plan in the back of the Announcement and it may look different from your fellow CS or CSE major. That is okay. Every student has a unique path to degree completion.

If you need to, you can bring your completed plan to 6426 Boelter Hall, Office of Academic & Student Affair’s to review with Counselor

Tips for Planning Next Quarter:

  • Make a list of ALL the courses you could enroll in next quarter (based on requisites).
  • Build a schedule from that list when the days and times come out. 
  • This is also your list of alternates if there are conflicts or something is full.   
  • Prioritize 1-2 required upper div courses a quarter then fill in with Elective, GE, TBR, Ethics, etc
  • Try not to take CS 111 and 131 in the same quarter.
  • Postponing a course for a specific instructor may limit your options or could delay your graduation.
  • Heavy recruitment seasons, club competitions, rushing, etc?  Scale back your courses to accommodate and balance your outside commitments.

IMPORTANT

  • GEs – There are only 5.  They need to be from DIFFERENT subcategories.  Be very certain or check with a counselor if you are not sure about the GE you are planning.  Every year, there are graduating seniors who took GEs from duplicate categories and there for did not satisfy their requirements and had to postpone their degree to take the correct GE.  This is not something you can petition.  Requests to count GE courses to another category that is not associated with that class in the official schedule of classes, will not be approved.
  • Subset Restrictions – There are several subsets in Engineering where several departments teach a similar class.  You may only receive credit for one course on each subset list. e.g.  if you took STATS 100A for your major, and later have a Civil and Environmental Engineering technical breadth, do not take C&EE 110 for your tech breadth.  You will not get credit because it is on the Probability Subset with STATS 100A.

COMPUTER SCIENCE WORKSHEETS

Click one of the buttons to the right to open the worksheet for your Catalog year and CS major requirements

Fall 2017-present
Fall 2016-Spring 2017

COMPUTER SCIENCE & ENGINEERING WORKSHEETS

Click one of the buttons to the right to open the worksheet for your Catalog year and CSE major requirements

Fall 2018-present
Fall 2017-Spring 2018

What is my catalog year?

This is the year you were admitted to your current major.  (The Academic year is Fall, Winter, Spring, Summer)

  • your first year at UCLA
  • the year you changed your major to CS or to CSE (This includes any changes from CSE to CS or CS to CSE)

Why are there changes?

The CS Department reviews their curriculum based on student and faculty feedback and may choose to make changes based on this.  Only newly admitted students to the CS or CSE majors will be held to the new catalogs.  Continuing students will not be affected UNLESS they request to change to the new requirements.

For catalogs older than Fall 2016, please contact a CS counselor.

Enrollment Tips & Information

First Pass

Enroll in up to 10 units:

  • Identify core major courses that are smaller, only offered once a year, or that fulfill requisites for an upcoming course that is only offered once a year.
  • You may not be able to access upper division courses outside of CS in first pass like STATS 100A
  • While still taking lower div courses, consider prioritizing your Physics and Math courses for first pass since we do not have control to enroll you if they are full.
Requisite Error

Requisites are enforced.

If you have met the requisite via transfer or substitution credit, Submit a message to Academic Counselor via myUCLA Message Center. Include your Section preferences (1A, 1B, Lab 1, etc).

Second Pass

Enroll in up to 21 units:

  • In most cases, you should be able to enroll in any course for which you meet the requisites and there is still space.
  • Save classes for 2nd pass that historically have not filled up, are offered multiple quarters a year, or have multiple lectures that work for your schedule.
Course load

You must be enrolled in at least 12 units.

If you are heavily involved in extra-curricular activities, job/internship recruitment, etc, consider this a “course” you are enrolling in and consider scaling back your enrollment to 3 courses so you are not overloaded and can still balance your academics.  

If Classes are Full

Use the (ECR) Enrollment Consideration Form.

Submit this early in your enrollment. We may be able to get you into the class before the quarter starts. But there is no guarantee, so have a back up in mind.

Drop Deadlines

Remember that Drop Deadlines are strictly enforced and you should put reminders in your calendar

When planning a schedule using the above worksheets and websites, you’ll need to refer to your catalog year Announcement to determine degree requirements and elective options. HOWEVER, you’ll need to refer to the most recent catalog Announcement (for the current year) and the “Tentative course offerings” link to view current term offerings for courses.