General Asked Questions

  • A. When ready to declare your new major, log into OwlExpress and select "Declare/Change Major or Minor" under the Student Records menu. Some degree programs have particular requirements in order to be admitted to the major. That is why we advise you to always talk to an advisor before requesting a change of major. 


    CCSE Academic Advising Office is here to help you make the right decision – or choose one of several possible right decisions.  to talk to us if you are thinking of declaring your CCSE major, switching between CCSE majors, out of CCSE or into CCSE.

    If you know that CCSE majors are not right for you, but you have no idea what else you may be interested and good at, you may want to  for undecided and exploratory students.

    KSU is proud to offer free access to  â€“ an integrated aptitude, interest inventory and career match assessment.  Your CCSE academic advisor can provide you with an access code and help you interpret the results of the YouScience assessment. YouScience will help you gain insight into who you are and what your talents are and how these align with college major and career choices;  it is also a great tool to use when preparing resumes, cover letters, and elevator speeches to land the internship or job you covet.

  • A. If and when you decide on a minor, after consulting with an academic advisor from the college or department offering the minor, you can declare it by logging into OwlExpress and selecting "Declare/Change major or minor" under the Student Records menu.

    Please note that students in the Applied Computer Science program (now discontinued) are required to choose a minor or concentration area as part of their major. 


    The KSU catalog lists all formal minors offered at KSU and specifies their requirements under the Academic Programs section. Minors usually range between 15 and 18 credit hours, with at least 9 hours of non-duplicative credit required. Your academic advisors are here to help you in your decision and respective planning.   

  • A. Undergraduate students can visit the Undergraduate Advising page, where they can arrange to speak with a CCSE Academic Advisor in person, by phone or by virtual appointment on Microsoft Teams.

    Graduate students can visit the Graduate Advising page and reach out to the director of their graduate program.

    To get the most out of your interaction with us, please review the CCSE academic advising conspectus.

  • A. If you attempt to register for a class that you don't meet the prerequisites for, you will receive a prerequisite and test score error. Sometimes, you will receive this error even if you meet the prerequisites. Often this happens when you have transfer credit that meets the prerequisite or if there has been a course substitution, but there can be other reasons. If you believe you have met the prerequisites for a STAT, DATA, CS, CSE, SWE, CGDD, or IT- prefixed course and are receiving a prerequisite and test score error when attempting to register, please complete this form â€“ this is the fastest way to resolve the issue, especially during busy periods such as registration and add/drop.

    If you are receiving this error for a course that is not taught at the College of Computing and Software Engineering, please contact the respective college for resolution.

  • A. Registration holds require students to take certain actions prior to registration for the next semester. They will prevent you from registering for courses, so it is recommended you resolve them prior to the start of registration.

    If you have an Advising Hold, a scheduled meeting with an academic advisor for your current or intended major will resolve it.  All Freshman students (0-29 credits completed) have a registration hold placed on their account each semester. We email all students with this hold, inviting them to schedule an appointment to meet.  It is important to read the advising hold email in its entirety, as it includes instructions on actions students need to complete before meeting with a CCSE advisor. Often there is a worksheet, or a file containing important information attached to this email.

    If you have another type of registration hold, please consult this information page about resolving it.

  • A. If you attempted a KSU course twice – withdrawals do count as attempts – and want to register for it for the third or subsequent time, you need to obtain permission to do so. The process of requesting a repeat course override is designed to help you succeed at your third attempt. 

    If you want to be allowed a third or subsequent attempt at a course prefixed with STAT, DATA, CS, CSE, CGDD, IT and SWE, please complete this form. You may be invited by email to meet with a CCSE academic advisor to discuss your success strategy prior to the override being issued – make sure you check your student email regularly.

    If you want to request permission for another attempt for a Math or Science (BIOL, CHEM, or PHYS) course, please review the College of Science and Math course repeat request .

    If you want to request permission to repeat a course from another college (such as ENGL, POLS, HIST, ECON, etc courses) you may contact directly an advisor from the college offering the course (for example, College of Humanities and Social Sciences for ENGL, POLS, HIST courses). If you are unsure who to contact, let us know â€“ we will gladly connect you with the right person.

  • A. We love hearing back from our students. Please fill out this form to submit feedback.
  • General Recommendations

    • Windows-based (Windows 10 or 11)
    • Latest gen (or within the last 3 generations) Intel i5 CPU or better, or the AMD equivalent
    • 16+ GB of RAM
    • 500+ GB of storage (HDD or SSD)
    • Use to download things like Office 365

    Tips: Apple/iOS/Linux machines can also be used, however you may encounter difficulties regarding software and on-campus tech support. You may need to find non-Windows software that has equivalent capabilities for some of your major classes, or use a VM (aka virtual machine) from CCSE Labs.

    The demands on your computer will likely increase as you progress through your degree program. So, if you are able to afford a higher-powered computer at the start, you will likely save money in the long run.

    Major Specific Recommendations
    Computer Science
    • Windows OS (10 or 11)
    • i7 or i9 Intel CPU (or AMD equivalent)
    • 32+ GB of RAM
    • 1+ TB of storage

    If you are particularly interested in doing research or high powered computing, you may want to look into a good GPU and as much RAM as you can get.

    If you like to play video games as a hobby, you may also want to get a computer with a discrete graphics card/GPU (one that doesn't say "integrated graphics") to be able to play newer games and/or have better graphics.

    Software Engineering
    • Windows OS (10 or 11)
    • i5 or i7 Intel CPU (or AMD equivalent)
    • 16+ GB of Ram
    • 1+ TB of storage

    If you are particularly interested in doing research or high powered computing, you may want to get an i7 Intel CPU, a good GPU and as much RAM as you can get.

    If you like to play video games as a hobby, you may also want to get a computer with a discrete graphics card/GPU (one that doesn't say "integrated graphics") to be able to play newer games and/or have better graphics.

    Computer Game Design & Development

    Rendering 3D games or animations tends to eat up a lot of processing power as well as storage.

    • Windows 10 64-bit or newer
    • i7 or i9 Intel CPU (or AMD Ryzen equivalent), 2.5 GHz or faster
    • Dedicated graphics card/GPU that is compatible with DirectX 11 or 12
    • 32+ GB of RAM
    • 1+ TB of storage (newer-gen PCIe SSD hard drives recommended but more expensive)
    • Good heat control (your CPU, GPU and storage are going to heat up when playing or developing games, which will cause your computer components to degrade)
    • Make sure you have non-integrated graphics memory (if you have a dedicated GPU, this isn't really an issue)
    Information Technology
    • i5+ Intel CPU (or AMD equivalent)
    • 32+ GB of RAM
    • 500+ GB of storage

    If you have hobbies that involve graphics (such as art or gaming), you may want to get a computer that has a non-integrated graphics memory or has a discrete graphics card/GPU, and more storage (1+ TB will likely keep you until you graduate, but external hard drives are also an option)

    Data Science & Analytics
    • Larger screen size or capability to support multiple screens helps when working with a lot of information
    • i7 Intel or AMD Ryzen 7 CPU
    • 16+ GB of RAM or capability to expand
    • 1+ TB of storage (more is better)
    • A GPU like NVIDIA GeForce can be very helpful with data visualization and processing

 

Computer Science

  • You need to have credit for CSE 1321/L and CSE 1322/L with a 'B' or better, then submit a change of major request in Owl Express under 'Student Records'.
  • Three, with a sequence in two. The courses must be from the following pool:

    PHYS 2211 & PHYS 2211L

    PHYS 2212 & PHYS 2212L

    CHEM 1211 & CHEM 1211L

    CHEM 1212 & CHEM 1212L

    BIOL 1107 & BIOL 1107L (CHEM 1211/L is a prerequisite to this course)

    BIOL 1108 & BIOL 1108L (CHEM 1211/L is a prerequisite to this course)

    Do not take PHYS 1111/L or PHYS 1112/L. This can't be used towards any science requirement in the CS major.

    You also cannot use credit for both PHYS 2211/L and PHYS 1111/L (nor the second level), even for free elective credit.

Bachelor of Applied Science in Information Technology

  • The only credit we give to degree requirements other than your Technical Block is CS 1301 Programming Principles I and IT 1324 Advanced Programming Principles, and that is only if you obtained your Associate of Applied Science in Programming. No higher level IT course credit is granted. Therefore, if your AAS was in something other than programming and you did not automatically get credit toward CS 1301 or IT 1324 (by taking courses not needed by your AAS), you should begin by taking those two courses in order, along with any general education credit you still need.
  • Yes, you really have to take IT 4323 Data Communications and Networking. You may also look at testing out of it.
  • That course is not the same as CS 1301. You should take CS 1301, or you may investigate testing out of it.
  • Contact either the IT Academic Advisor or the BASIT coordinator to look at re-evaluating your tech block classes.
  • Part 1:Your CIS or CIST courses from your AAS degree in a computing field from a Technical College System of Georgia Institution are evaluated by the Transfer office upon admission or request from the department to be placed into the "Technical Block" portion of your program. It may take some time to get your credit evaluated, but it will be evaluated and you will get the credit.

    Part 2: While we do have an agreement to bring in a certain number of CIS or CIST courses as your technical block, that might not be all of the credits you took at your technical college. We cannot bring in any more credit beyond the technical block evaluation and the credit which is evaluated and found to be equitable to a KSU course.