Computer Science

What knowledge and skills will students acquire by majoring in Computer Science?

The Bachelor of Science in Computer Science is a rigorous program that not only covers fundamental computer science subjects - such as object-oriented programming, computer architecture, and operating systems – but provides a wide variety of elective courses, spanning artificial intelligence, game programming, natural language processing, information visualization, security and privacy, computer networking, machine learning, and smartphone application development.

What are post-graduation and career opportunities for Computer Science students?

Computer science graduates have a myriad of career paths, including: creating information technology products of the future at large and dynamic companies such as Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Apple or within exciting high-tech startups throughout the world. Entrepreneurship skills combined with computer science prowess can help in creating your own high-tech startup, pursuing careers in business or finance that leverage computer science expertise, or going on to do cutting-edge research in a PhD program. Household names such as Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Larry Page, Melisa Myers, Robin Li, and Kai-Fu Lee all began in computer science."

Students need to complete more than half of the courses required for the primary and secondary majors to declare their secondary major. No more than two courses may be double-counted between the majors.

Computer Science and Data Science Double Major Policies: 

• Students matriculating in Fall 2022 or later will NOT be able to double major in Computer Science and Data Science.
• Students matriculating in Fall 2021 or prior will be able to double major in Computer Science and Data Science. Please note that each major must have at least 7 singly-counted courses and more than two courses may be double-counted between the majors. Please speak with your academic advisor for course planning. 

https://shanghai.nyu.edu/advising/programs-and-events/major-exploration

Center for Data Science and Analytics

Deans' Undergraduate Research Fund (DURF)

CS, DS, and Engineering Research Night (2021 recordings & presentation slides; 2022 presentation slides)

Bring your programming skills to professors’ ongoing research projects!

Students majoring in Computer Science are permitted to work on an individual basis under the supervision of a full-time faculty member in the relevant discipline if they have maintained an overall GPA of 3.0 and a GPA of 3.5 in Computer Science and have a study proposal that is approved by a Computer Science faculty. Students can then apply for independent study, which will be reviewed by the faculty member, Computer Science Area Head, Dean, and Academic Affairs.  A 4-credit CS Independent Study class can be used to satisfy one CS major elective requirement. 

Study Away Considerations: 

• Courses:
  • Before studying abroad, students are recommended to complete Introduction to Computer Science and Data Science, Data Structures, Probability and Statistics, and Computer Architecture. Some advanced-level CS major elective courses may require Probability and Statistics, Linear Algebra or Machine Learning as course prerequisites.
  • Students are expected to at least complete Data Structures (and ideally, Computer Architecture) before their study away semesters.
  • Students should NOT plan to study away during the senior fall as the CS Senior Capstone class is ONLY offered every Fall semester in person.
• Location: Students planning to study away for two semesters are encouraged to spend the first semester in a location other than New York. Applicants who spend the first semester away in another location will receive priority consideration for New York in their second semester away. Students who elect to spend the spring of their junior year in New York (versus the fall of the junior year) will have more earned credit points, thus will enable them to have an earlier registration time and a better chance of enrolling in high-demand course in spring. 

Study Away Course Registration

Please refer to the Study Away portal- Academics sections for specific location-based registration guidelines. Please note that students must follow the prerequisites of the school hosting the course. For example, if Shanghai does not require a course for Class X, but New York does, then you will need to have that required course.  

Python vs. Java

In Shanghai, there are three course sequences ICP, ICS, and Data Structures (all taught in Python). At NYU CAS, there are the same three-course sequence but teach ICS and Data Structures in Java. At NYU Tandon, their three-course sequence is ICP, Data Structure, and Object Oriented Programming. ICP and Data Structures are taught in Python,  OOP in Java. 

As an NYU Shanghai CS and Data Science major, students can take ICS or Data Structures in Python or Java. However:

• If you are a DS major, we highly recommend you take both ICS and Data Structures in Python. Python is by far the most prominent language in data science, and several of our upper-level DS courses are taught in Python. But if it is difficult to get into a Python class, then you can take these courses in Java.
• For CS majors, either Java or Python is fine. But you should be warned that if you take ICS in Java and then return to NYU Shanghai, you’ll be taking Data Structures in Python, and may be at a disadvantage to those who took ICS in Python.
• All students should be warned that if they take  ICS  in Python, and then take Data Structures in NY in Java, they may be at a disadvantage since this would be their first course using Java, whereas most NY students will already have ICS in Java. 

In order to comply with accreditation requirements, NYU Shanghai requires all students to complete either a capstone requirement in the form of a senior thesis and/or a required capstone course in the primary major. 

Students in the Computer Science major must complete the capstone requirement by taking CSCI-SHU 420 Computer ScienceSenior Project (4 credits). This course is only offered in the Fall and must be taken in person in Shanghai, meaning students must be in Shanghai during that semester. The capstone is mandatory for all students, regardless of whether Computer Science is their primary or secondary major.

1. What is the structure of the Computer Science Senior Capstone course?

The goal of this class is to complete a concrete CS project from start to finish. You can either solve a research problem or try to tackle a real-world problem. You need to design a valid method/approach to solve the problem, build a solution using your method, and assess the quality of your solution. You may either work alone or form a team of at most 3 students. Check out the CS/DS senior projects from the previous classes!

• Project Setup Guidelines
• Spring 2024 Info Session Recording
• Spring 2024 Presentation Slides
• Spring 2024 Faculty-proposed Topics
• Course Instructors, Supervisors, and Mentors

2. What are the requirements of the capstone project?

At the end of the project, you must prepare a written technical report and a presentation. The final project report must be structured as a typical technical paper and will include four main sections:

• Motivation, problem definition
• Related literature and existing approaches
• Proposed solution and details of implementation
• Results, conclusion, and directions for improvement

3. What should students prepare in advance to get ready for the capstone?

• Attend the (virtual) CS/DS/Engineering capstone info session in spring (hosted by the CS, DS, & Engineering Major faculty)
• Choose a research topic that NYU faculty have submitted or come up with a valuable topic of your own.
• Contact a faculty supervisor whose area of expertise matches the field of your topic, and start preparing as early as possible.

Library Resources：

• NYU Shanghai Library
• NYU Libraries Research Guides
• Writing and Stylistic Guides
• Computer Science Capstone Guide

Quick Links：

• Academic Resource Center
• Research and Conference
• Dean’s Undergraduate Research Fund
• Global Awards and Fellowships