Important note: At the moment, the very large demand for our courses among CIS (CS, IS, Stats) majors means that we cannot guarantee access to our upper-level courses for students pursuing the CS minor.

The Computer Science Minor is for undergraduate students who anticipate that computer science will have a prominent role to play in their academic and professional career. It is designed for students in all majors to supplement their primary studies. Computer science is applicable to almost any major and career choice; from Communication, Psychology, and Law to Architecture, Music, and Engineering. The theoretical foundations of information and computation provide students with the appropriate skills for academic and professional careers. Completion of a CS minor, with a well-selected set of classes, can serve as good preparation for further study in CS through our 2-semester Master of Engineering (M.Eng.) program or our 4-semester Master of Science program. The CS Minor is designed for students in all undergraduate schools and colleges.

Offered by: The Department of Computer Science

Administered by: The Department of Computer Science; 5th Floor Rhodes Hall

Contact Person: Ryan Marchenese or Carl Cornell, 5th floor Rhodes Halll, ugrad@cs.cornell.edu

Eligibility: All Cornell undergraduate students except: Computer Science Majors and Information Science, Systems, and Technology (ISST) Majors.

Educational Objectives: This minor is for students who anticipate that computer science will have a prominent role to play in their academic and professional career.

To Apply for a Computer Science Minor

  • Once you have completed all of the courses for the minor, or are in your final semester of study and finishing up the minor, you are eligible to have your minor requirements certified by the Department of Computer Science. 
  • Download the form Application to Certify Completion of a Minor. This is a fillable PDF form.
  • Submit the completed CS Minor form to cec232@cornell.edu and krm232@cornell.edu, via https://sft.cornell.edu/ (secure file transfer)). Minor forms must be submitted prior to graduation.

Requirements

To complete the minor/concentration, the student must take at least six courses (18 credit minimum) chosen as follows:

Required Courses:

  • One of: CS/ENGRD 2110 or 2112 (Object-Oriented Programming & Data Structures), or ENGRD 2140/ECE 2400 (Computer Systems Programming)*
  • One of: CS 3110 (Data Structures and Functional Programming), CS 3410 (Computer Systems Organization & Programming), CS 3420/ECE 3140 (Embedded Systems)

*New as of February, 2019.

Additional Courses:

Four (4 ) CS courses numbered 3000 or higher, with the following exceptions:

  • CS 4090, CS 4997, CS 4998, CS 4999 and seminars are excluded
  • CS 2800 is allowed

Note: Cross-listed courses cannot be applied to the minor unless taken under the CS rubric (e.g. CS 4300 counts, but INFO 4300 does not), with the sole exceptions of ECE 2400/ENGRD 2140, ECE 3140 and CS courses also listed as ENGRD. All qualifying courses must be taken at Cornell for a letter grade. No substitutions allowed.

Academic Standards: A letter grade of C (not C-) or better for each course in the minor, except that for courses taken in Spring 2020, either a C- or an S will satisfy this criterion.