FAQs

Students definitely do not need prior computer science experience to major in computer science. This is a typical question and concern of potential students. Many, if not most, CS majors enter the program with no or minimal CS experience.

Yes, it is possible as a computer science major to complete a second major.  In the current set of declared majors (graduating classes of 2022, 2023, and 2024),  approximately half of Computer Science BS majors have a second major, and approximately 2/3 of Computer Science BA majors have a second major.  While the complete set of second majors students are pursuing is wide, particularly popular ones (with more than 10 students each) include Statistics, Mathematics, Finance, and Applied Mathematics.

University rules around majors and minors are described within the Academic Bulletin. Choosing to complete a second major means a student should start early in taking classes within each major, be flexible in course choices, and work carefully with their major advisers.

The answer to this is that there is no “typical” job for our graduates. They go to many and quite varied places, including graduate school. This link, on our University’s Office of Personal and Career Development website, provides a summary of jobs pursued by computer science majors generally. In addition, you can view this spreadsheet of first destination jobs specifically for Wake Forest University computer science majors between 2004 and 2017. Our Facebook, LinkedIn, and X profiles provide information on our alumni as well.

Absolutely. Many computer science students study abroad, and most earn credit toward their CS degrees. Instructions for applying for course approval are outlined on our transfer credit page and many courses students may want to take may already have been approved.

Absolutely. Students work at many different jobs all over the country. Often students find these jobs near their homes, and the department distributes email when requests from companies come in looking for students for the summer. This information is usually on WFU Handshake.

Companies include: 7 Qubes, Accenture, AnswerRocket, Bank of America, Beachguide, CarMax, Charter Medical, Credo Health, Deutsche Bank, Ernst & Young, GEICO, IBM, JP Morgan Chase, Nike, Oliver Wyman, Pepperdine University, Peraton, Protiviti, SAS Institute, Tapestry, Title Nine Sports, Truist, Universal Consulting Services, Vestigo Ventures, Red Ventures, and Workday. Students took up the below positions: AI Researcher, Commercial Real Estate Analyst, Consulting Development Analyst, Data Analyst, Data Architect, Data Research, Data Science, Database Management, Financial Analyst, Mathematical Immunology Researcher, Product Management, Quantitative Analyst, Software Engineer, Strategy Intern, Technology Consultant, Technology, Data & Innovation, and Website Development.

Yes. We offer credit for AP Computer Science A and AP Computer Science Principles. Obtaining a score of 5 on the AP Computer Science Principles exam results in 3 hours of credit for CSC 101 – Overview of Computer Science. Obtaining a score of 4 or 5 on the AP Computer Science A exam results in 4 hours of credit for CSC 111 – Introduction to Computer Science. Earning credit for a course via AP scores does not count towards completion of the WFU Division V divisional requirements.

There are several cross-listed courses offered by the Department of Computer Science:

• CSC 352/652 – MST/MTH 326/626: Numerical Linear Algebra
• CSC 355/655 – MST/MTH 355/655: Introduction to Numerical Methods
• CSC 385/685 – BIO 385/685 – PHY 385/685: Bioinformatics
• CSC 387/687 – BIO 387/687: Computational Systems Biology

These courses count towards the Computer Science major or minor only if they are taken under the CSC course number.

It is up to the discretion of each course instructor whether or not a student will be allowed to audit a particular course and what the expectations of auditing students are for a course. To ensure students taking a course for credit are given priority and handled appropriately, audit students are not allowed to be added to the wait list for a course or be registered before the start of the course.

There is not currently an undergraduate (Bachelors-level) major or minor offered in data science. Many students at Wake Forest University with interests aligned with data science will double major in computer science and statistics and will tailor their majors through selection of appropriate elective courses.

Faculty advisers can help declared computer science majors and minors to think through what electives would align well with their interests.  Courses that align particularly well with data science include the CSC 320- and 370-numbered courses. Descriptions of these courses can be found on our Undergraduate Course Descriptions page.

For Masters degree students (students who have already earned a Bachelors degree), there is a Certificate in Data Science that can be earned alongside a Masters degree in Computer Science or Mathematics and Statistics.

If you are an international student (undergraduate or graduate) who is seeking Department of Computer Science support for curricular practical training (CPT), an appropriate point of contact within the Department of Computer Science is the department chair (see the department’s Contact Us webpage for information on how to contact the department chair).

The Department of Computer Science does not have any specific computer requirements different from the bring your own device (BYOD) suggestions outlined on the University Information Systems website. Laptop computers that are similar to the “Standard” options on the WFU WakeWare website work fine for our computer science classes. Running either Mac or Windows and having a keyboard and the ability to use a mouse are all critical (so an iPad alone won’t work), but otherwise one should try to at least be similar to the “Standard” WakeWare options.

In our early courses, we do ask students to install the IntelliJ IDE for writing Java programs and lead students through that process in a class meeting early in the semester. For more complex software students may encounter in computer science courses, we typically provide students with access to a virtual machine or a computer lab instead of requiring installation on one’s own laptop.

Students who plan to obtain a major in the WFU Schools of Business in addition to majoring or minoring in computer science should review the separate guidelines published for the Schools of Business on the same BYOD website linked above.