For more information on the admission process, please visit the Office of Undergraduate Admissions website. Applications may be submitted via the Common Application.

Supporting documents not submitted online should be mailed to:
Office of Undergraduate Admissions
The George Washington University
800 21st Street NW, Suite 100
Washington DC 20052

Contact for questions:
gwadm@gwu.edu or 202-994-6040

Residency requirement—As part of a residency requirement, all BS computer science majors, whether majors within SEAS or secondary majors in another school, must take a minimum of 30 upper-level credits in computer science courses at GW. Should a student pursue an approved study abroad program, credits earned in that program count toward this requirement.

Recommended program of study

First semester15
CSCI 1010Computer Science Orientation1
CSCI 1111Introduction to Software Development3
SEAS 1001Engineering Orientation1
MATH 1231Single-Variable Calculus I3
or MATH 1221 Calculus with Precalculus II
Humanities elective 23
Social sciences elective 23
Second semester16
UW 1020University Writing 14
CSCI 1112Algorithms and Data Structures3
CSCI 1311Discrete Structures I3
MATH 1232Single-Variable Calculus II0,3
Social sciences elective 23
Third semester16
CSCI 2113Software Engineering3
CSCI 2312Discrete Structures II3
CSCI 2410Systems Programming3
Science requirement 34
SEAS non-technical elective 23
Fourth semester15
CSCI 2541Database Systems and Team Projects0,3
CSCI 3313Foundations of Computing3
CSCI 3401Computer Architecture and Organization3
Policy and ethics requirement 43
Statistics or linear algebra requirement 53
Fifth semester14
CSCI 3212Algorithms4
CSCI 3411Operating Systems4
Science requirement 34
Computer science technical elective 63
Sixth semester15
Computer science technical elective 63
Statistics or linear algebra requirement 53
SEAS non-technical elective 23
General elective 73
General elective 73
Seventh semester16
CSCI 4243WCapstone Design Project I4
Computer science technical elective 63
SEAS non-technical elective 23
General elective 73
General elective 73
Eighth semester16
CSCI 4244Capstone Design Project II4
General elective 73
General elective 73
General elective 73
General elective 73

1Fulfills the University General Education Requirement in writing. UW 1020 must be completed prior to taking any writing course in the major. After successful completion of UW 1020, 6 credits distributed over at least two different Writing in the Disciplines (WID) courses taken in separate semesters are required. (Summer counts as one semester.) WID courses are designated by a "W" appended to the course number. 

2Humanities, social science, and non-technical elective requirements: All BS in computer science students must take one humanities course and two social sciences courses from the University General Education course list and three additional SEAS non-technical elective courses. 

3Science requirement: Can be met by taking two courses selected from BISC 1111, BISC 1112, CHEM 1111, CHEM 1112, PHYS 1021, and PHYS 1022.

4Policy and ethics requirement: Can be met by taking one course from the following: CSCI 2211, PHIL 2135, ANTH 3625, or CSCI 3532.

5Statistics or linear algebra requirement: Students must take both a statistics course and a linear algebra course. The statistics requirement can be met by taking APSC 3115, CSCI 3362,CSCI 4341, or STAT 4157. The linear algebra requirement can be met by taking CSCI 4342, MATH 2184, MATH 2185,or EMSE 2705.

6Computer science technical elective requirement: Students in the BS in computer science program must take three technical courses (for a minimum total of 9 credits) in computer science coursework. All courses must be numbered 4000 and above.

7General elective requirement: Students must complete 24 credits in general elective courses. All courses transferred to the University as credit by examination, e.g., Advanced Placement (AP) or International Baccalaureate (IB) credit, must have the explicit, documented approval from the faculty or. Both technical and non-technical courses from across the University can be used to meet these requirements; however, they must meet the following guidelines:

a. Courses that can be taken for a variable number of credits are allowed and can be combined toward the minimum of 24 credits. Lifestyle, Sport, and Physical Activity (LSPA) courses do not count toward SEAS degree requirements.

b. Variable topics (typically 1099) and special topics courses outside of Computer Science require advisor approval.

c. Credit cannot be earned for internships.

d. No more than one 3-credit research course (e.g. CSCI 3908) can be taken in a single semester.

e. Courses from other departments that significantly overlap with, or are not as advanced as, the required content for the computer science degree program do not count toward this requirement. Such courses include, but are not limited to, basic programming classes and the following: BADM 2301, EMSE 4197, ISTM 3119, ISTM 4120, ISTM 4121, ISTM 4123, STAT 1051, STAT 1053, STAT 1129, and courses from the PSIS and PSCS programs.

f. CSCI courses numbered below 3000 do not counted toward this requirement. Exceptions can be granted for students who took such courses prior to transferring into the BS in computer science degree program.

g. Students taking MATH 1220 as a prerequisite for MATH 1221 can count MATH 1220 as a general elective.

h. SEAS has the following requirements for foreign language courses taken to meet general electives, humanities, or social sciences requirements:

  • The foreign language studied cannot be a native language of the student unless the courses taken are literature courses.
  • If a student has previously studied the language they must first take a placement test given by the language department and enroll in a course recommended by the respective language department.

Combined programs