Undergraduates who wish to spend one semester studying abroad often do so during their 5th or 6th semester. SEAS students in the BSCS major can spend one of these semesters abroad and still graduate on-schedule, but careful planning is required. Here are some recommendations.
What courses should you take at the
foreign university and how will they count towards your degree?
How will this change your course-schedule?
Much depends on what kind of courses your can take at your chosen university; in particular, whether or not you can take one or two CS courses that satisfy UVa CS requirements.
If the situation for US students at your chosen foreign university does allow you take computing courses, look for courses that can count for these UVa CS courses. These might include:
If you can take one or two CS courses during your semester abroad that are approved, then you may be able to graduate without major changes to the suggested course-schedule for the BSCS degree.
Important: You must get approval from the CS Undergraduate Program Director to get credit for these non-UVa versions of our CS courses. Provide as much information about the content of the course(s) at the foreign university as you can. If possible, get approval before your semester abroad begins. However, you may not be able to find out info about available CS courses until you actually arrive at your foreign university. In this case, contact the CS Undergraduate Program Director before you leave and tell him or her about your study-abroad plans, and then use email to get approval once you arrive at your foreign university and learn what courses are possible for you to take. Bottom line: get approval as soon as you can and certainly no later than the early stages of the CS course you're taking at the foreign university.
If it is not possible to take approved CS courses at your chosen foreign university, then try to take courses that can count for some of these kinds of requirements:
If you can only take courses in these categories, then more significant changes in your course-schedule in your 3rd and 4th years will be needed. This will require careful planning! Also, in the normal course-schedule, each semester is designed to have a balance of technical and non-technical courses. If you take all non-technical courses during your semester aboard, when you get back you may end up having a schedule with a heavy concentration of technical courses each term. If this is a problem, you could consider taking a technical course during a summer semester.
The normal suggested schedule for Semester 5 is:
CS432 is only taught during the fall. If you cannot take it abroad, you should now take CS432 during Semester 7. It is not a pre-requisite for any later course. While abroad you could take something that normally falls in Semester 7 so you have room for CS432 then.
CS333 is taught fall and spring terms, so if you cannot take it abroad, you can delay it until Semester 6. It is a pre-requisite for a number of required CS courses (e.g. CS414, ECE435/CS433) and electives (e.g. CS457), so you should not delay it past Semester 6 or you may have problems.
The normal suggested schedule for Semester 6 is:
CS340 is only taught during the spring semester, and it is very unlikely that a course taken abroad would be allowed to count in its place. Thus you would have to delay this until your 8th and final semester. It is normally a pre-requisite for several electives at UVa: CS453 (E-commerce) and CS471 (Compilers). If you were hoping to take these courses during your final year, contact their instructors in advance and find out if it might be possible to take them without the pre-requisite. (Explain your study-abroad situation. But it still might not be possible for this to be waived.)
If you cannot get a CS elective or APMA abroad, then try to take these during Semester 5 or 7 where you would normally take a non-technical course from one of the categories above. Again, this may lead to the situation where Semesters 5 and 7 are heavily loaded with technical courses.
CS302 is only taught during the spring semester. If you cannot take it abroad, you can take CS302 during your 4th semester or your 8th semester. In the past, it was recommmended in the 4th semester, so there is no harm taking it early. If you take it late, it is not a pre-requisite for any required courses, and perhaps a few electives (possibly CS588, Cryptography); however, the material it covers is part of the GRE CS subject exam, if you are planning on applying to grad schools that require the subject exam.
Suzanne Collier, Fall 2007
My name is Suzanne Collier and I am a third year Computer Science major. This fall I am studying abroad in Copenhagen, Denmark through a program called Danish Institute for Study Abroad (DIS) which is in affiliation with the University of Copenhagen. Although I take classes with mostly American students I am living along side Danish students and very immersed in the culture. Abroad I am not taking any computer science courses, but instead taking electives. Even though I am not continuing my computer science studies abroad I am still learning a tremendous amount which I think will translate well when I return back to UVA. Computer scientists have a wide range of job opportunities and taking a different mix of classes will only aid that process. The courses I am taking include: Brain Functioning and the Experience of Self (a psychobiology course); Copenhagen History and Contemporary Issues; Environmental Problems and Policy: A European Prospective; and News Media in Transition. My classes here focus a lot more on hands-on, experiential learning. Every Wednesday in place of lecture we go on field studies to visit different places that relate to our studies and talk to professionals in different fields. We also just took a short study tour to expand our studies and will take a long study tour in a month. It is a nice break to get out of the classroom. The learning environment here is great! Overall, my study abroad experience so far has been excellent. Being thrown into a completely new environment is frightening as well as exciting. It only reflects what will happen when I leave college and have to go out into the working world and I will be that much more prepared to deal with new and uncomfortable situations.
David Horres, Fall 2007
I am a third-year CS major spending my fall semester at Georgia Tech Lorraine in Metz, France. Georgia Tech has an entire campus here run completely by Georgia Tech staff and faculty. The campus is located in a circle of several French engineering schools, some of which are the the top ranked in France. I am taking courses in Robotics and Perception, Computer Vision, Statistics, and Engineering Ethics. If you don't speak French, that's fine--the Georgia Tech courses are all in English and are taught by visiting faculty from the Atlanta campus. The average class has only around 10 people, so the instruction is quite intimate. Yet, the best part about studying in this program is that Georgia Tech Lorraine holds no classes on Fridays, which grants students more freedom to travel to other locations in Europe on weekends. Although you will live in France and be exposed to a great deal of French culture, this program is particularly well-suited for students who want to see plenty of Europe.
Pedro Jaramillo, Fall 2007
(A "real" report from Pedro will come as soon as classes start for him in England.)
I am a CS major and I'm studying at the University of Nottingham in England. I haven't signed up for courses yet so I can't tell you what I'll be taking. Also, classes haven't started here so I can't really tell you about any differences.