Graduation Requirements

To receive the degree of Bachelor of Science in Computer Science, a student must satisfy all general University of New Mexico regulations concerning baccalaureate programs and the student must complete all work defined by the following groups. Only courses with a grade of C- or better may be used to satisfy any of the requirements defined herein. The following courses cannot be used to satisfy any of the requirements listed below: Reserve Officers Training Corp (ROTC), recreational physical education (PE-NP), Introductory Studies courses (e.g., IS-E 100) and mathematical courses prior to calculus.

If you need any additional information, please contact an Undergraduate Advisor in the Computer Science Department.

Click on a requirement below to view more information.

1. Completion of 120 semester hours

IMPORTANT: Completion of 120 credit hours is required to graduate, regardless of the number of hours that a major and a minor require. In other words, if a major requires 80 hours and a minor requires 30 hours, this adds up to 110 credit hours, which is 10 credit hours short of the required 120.

2. Completion of at least 42 hours in courses numbered 300 or above.

3. Completion of 51 hours in computer science with a grade of C or better.

The 51 hours must consist of one of CS 151L or CS 152L completed with a B- or better and the following courses:

  • ECE 238L Computer Logic Design
  • CS 241L Data Organization
  • CS 251L Intermediate Programming
  • CS 261 Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science
  • CS 293 Social and Ethical Issues in Computing
  • CS 341L Introduction to Computing Systems
  • CS 351L Design of Large Programs
  • CS 357 Declarative Programming
  • CS 361L Data Structures and Algorithms I
  • CS 362 Data Structures and Algorithms II
  • CS 375 Introduction to Numerical Programming
  • CS 460 Software Engineering
  • CS 481 Operating Systems Principles

The remaining 9 hours are technical electives of the student’s choosing to be taken from among the Computer Science Department offerings. Certain courses in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering are also acceptable as technical electives. All courses used as technical electives are subject to the approval of the undergraduate advisor and must be completed with a grade of B or better.

  1. CS 259L may be substituted for CS 152L and CS 251L but only 5 hours of credit are awarded. The computer science hour requirement is reduced to 50, but the overall graduation requirement remains at 130. The following rules apply to completion of CS courses:
  2. Department offerings below the 300-level cannot be used as technical electives. The following courses also cannot be used as technical electives: CS 394, 401, 492 and 494.
  3. At most, 3 hours of CS 499 may be used toward satisfaction of this requirement.
  4. At least 15 credits at or above the 300-level used to satisfy requirement must be taken from full-time University of New Mexico faculty.
  5. At least 18 credits must be taken in the Computer Science Department at the University of New Mexico.

4. Completion of the mathematics sequence

  • MATH 162 and 163 (Calculus I and II). A grade of B- or better must be earned in
  • Math 162 MATH 314 or 321 (Linear Algebra)
  • STAT 345 (Elements of Mathematical Statistics and Probability Theory)

5. Nine hours of communications skills

  • English 101,
  • English 102
  • and one of English 219 (Technical and Professional Writing),
  • English 220 (Expository Writing), or
  • Communication and Journalism 130 (Public Speaking).

Passing an authorized proficiency examination may satisfy part of this requirement. English 101 and 102 will be waived if the student obtains: 1.) an ACT score of 29 or higher; 2.) an SAT score of 650 or higher. See the University of New Mexico Catalog for additional ways to gain exemption from English 101 and 102. When a student is exempted from English 101 and 102, the student’s total credit requirement is reduced to 128, the minimum allowed by the University for a bachelor’s degree. Students may have to take additional hours to bring their total to at least 128.

6. Satisfaction of University Core Curriculum

Requirements in humanities, social sciences, fine arts and second language plus additional non-technical courses to total a minimum of 30 credit hours. A description of the University Core Curriculum can be found in the UNM Catalog.

7. Four science courses (of 3 or more credit hours)

These courses are taken by science and engineering majors, two of which must come from one of the following sequences, including the laboratories. The remaining hours can be more advanced courses in the discipline chosen for the sequence or they can be additional introductory laboratory science hours. Physics is recommended for students in the School of Engineering.

  • Astronomy 270, 270L and 271, 271L
  • Biology 201, 202
  • Chemistry 121, 123L and 122, 124L
  • Earth and Planetary Sciences 101, 105L and 201L
  • Env Sc 101, 102L and Earth and Planetary Sciences 201L. Students may not take both EPS 101,105L and Env Sc 101, 102L.
  • Physics 160, 160L and 161, 161L

8. Course work sufficient to satisfy requirements of a minor

Minors approved by the College of Arts and Sciences are generally acceptable for Computer Science majors. The University of New Mexico Catalog should be consulted for the requirements for completing a minor in various fields of study. An interdisciplinary minor of not less than 24 hours can be developed to suit the goals of individual students; the Undergraduate Curriculum Committee of the department must approve such a minor. The following courses taken from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering satisfy the requirement:

Minor in Computer Engineering: ECE 203L, ECE 206L, ECE 213, ECE 321, ECE 322, ECE 338 and ECE 438. Minor in Electrical Engineering: ECE 203L, ECE 206L, ECE 213, ECE 314, ECE 321 and two of ECE 322, ECE 340, ECE 360, ECE 371, or ECE 445.

No course included in the mathematics requirement for CS majors (STAT 345, MATH 314, 321, or 375) may be applied towards the mathematics minor. Mathematics minors may not use Department of Mathematics courses for Teachers and Education Students in constructing the minor. MATH 317 and MATH 327 cannot be used in constructing the minor.

Statistics minors must substitute 6 hours of advanced statistics for STAT 145 (not accepted by the department) and STAT 345 (already required of all computer science majors.)

Students minoring in business cannot minor in Management Information Systems (MIS). In particular, the following courses cannot be used in constructing a minor: MGMT 290 (STAT 245), 324, 330, 331, 336, 337, 437, 439, 459, 460, 461 or any course related to CS or computer applications. Courses taken to satisfy the requirements for a minor may also be used to satisfy the requirements of categories 1, 2, 5, 6 and 7.


All courses taken to satisfy the graduation requirements are subject to final approval by an undergraduate advisor. Courses taken for Credit/No Credit (CR/NC) may only be used to satisfy graduation requirement #1 (completion of 130 semester hours). At most, 24 semester hours taken for CR/NC may be applied towards the baccalaureate degree.

In general, no one course may be used to satisfy more than one requirement of categories 3, 4, and 8.

Due to the cross listing of various courses within the University and the different requirements for the minor from department to department, this has a number of implications. For example, computer engineering minors cannot use ECE 438 as a technical elective in fulfilling requirement 3.

One exception to the general rule is that mathematics minors can count the required sequence in mathematics and CS 375 toward the minor in mathematics.