BSCS Change of Major Policy

The Bachelor of Science in Computer Science program is impacted, so that not all students can be accepted into the program.  Accordingly, the Department of Computer Science now has a Change of Major Policy which applies to all BSCS students, except that Former Students Returning who were CS majors in good standing when they left SJSU will normally be readmitted to the major.  In particular, the Change of Major Policy applies to all other Former Students Returning, and to all students seeking a second major in Computer Science.

Details of the policy are:

  1. Students must be in good academic standing to be considered for a Change of Major. 
  2. Applicants must have achieved both a sufficiently high SJSU Cumulative GPA and a sufficiently high GPA in courses that are required to apply at the time that the application is submitted.  For 2024, a 3.7 or higher for both GPAs is required to apply. 

  3. Applicants must have completed the following courses with a C or better by the end of the semester the application is submitted:

    • For students with fewer than 60 units:  CS46A, CS46B, CS49J*, MATH42.
    • For students with 60 or more units, but less than 90: CS46A, CS46B, MATH30, MATH31, MATH42, CS146.
  4. These are minimum requirements and do not guarantee admission due to impaction.
  5. According to Presidential Directive 2009­-05, applications submitted by students who have earned 90 units or more will not be considered.
  6. Students can only apply up to TWO times to the Computer Science major and they must have fewer than 90 units.

Applications will be accepted twice per year, with deadlines of December 1st for Spring semester (notification by approximately February 3) and May 1st for Fall semester (notification by approximately June 30).  

Review of applications will occur only after the application deadline.

Applications for Change of Major should be submitted to the College of Science Student Success Center.

Due to impaction, even if the student has met all the requirements, there is no guarantee of admission to the Computer Science major.  Final admission will depend on the capacity of the new major and the ranking based on the GPA in the courses required to apply and the SJSU Cumulative GPA.  

The department follows this change of major policy for reinstatement.

Questions? Contact College of Science Student Success Center

* CS49J is considered to be a required course for those students, and only those students, who need it to satisfy the CS146 prerequisite Java language requirement.