Baruch College’s Weissman School of Arts and Sciences has given its students something long-desired: a computer science major.

Students can declare their intention to pursue a computer science major beginning in the fall 2023 semester. Prior to this, the only computer-related major offered at the school was computer information systems. Baruch started offering a computer science minor in fall 2021.

As a prerequisite to being a computer science major, Baruch students must complete calculus I and II with a combined GPA of 3.5 in both. This can be satisfied in four ways.

The first is to take MTH 2610, Calculus I, and MTH 3010, Calculus II. Each course is worth four credits. However, Calculus I can be satisfied with an AP Calculus AB exam score of four or five.

The second is to take one of MTH 2205, Precalculus and Elements of Calculus 1B, MTH 2206, Applied Calculus or MTH 2207, Elements of Calculus I and Matrix Algebra, along with MTH 3006, Elements of Calculus II. This will combine for a total of eight credits, like option one.

The third is having AP Calculus BC credits by scoring a four or five on the exam. This will transfer to Baruch at MTH 3010, which will give the student eight credits.

The final option is to take MTH 2630, Analytic Geometry and Calculus I, worth five credits.

If a student goes for the first, second or fourth option, they must have a combined GPA of at least 3.5 in all the calculus classes. If the student chooses the third option, they must score a four or five on the AP exam, otherwise the AP exam will only count as four credits.

Once done with the calculus classes, there are seven core courses all computer science majors will be required to complete.

The first is MTH 3150, Discrete Math: An Invitation to Computer Science, which is worth four credits. The second is a choice of MTH 3300 or CIS 2300, An Introduction to Programming, worth three credits. A prerequisite to completing the computer science major is students must score at least a B in both of these classes.

MTH 4300, Algorithms, Computers and Programming II, worth three credits, MTH 4320, Data Structures and Algorithms, worth four credits, MTH 4350, Computer Architecture, worth four credits, MTH 4355, Operating Systems, worth four credits and MTH 4360, Complexity and Computational Models, worth four credits, are the remaining five core courses.

Additionally, there will be optional concentrations in other disciplines offered. Students can be computer science majors with a concentration in bioinformatics, computational linguistics and computational psychology.

Students who opt to take a concentration will only have to take one or two computer science electives, in addition to the core courses. The other electives will come in the respective field they are concentrating in.

For students who choose no concentration, four computer science electives, in addition to the core courses, will have to be taken.

There are 10 electives offered in computer science. They include CIS 4560, Ethical Hacking, MTH 4250, Cryptography and MTH 4330, Introduction to Machine Learning. For the full list, see Baruch’s computer science program courses.

However, for upperclassmen, at least those graduating in spring 2024 or earlier, the computer science major might not be a viable option.

“We recommend not to try that,” the website says. “We expect 1-2 of the core CS [computer science] courses not to start running by that time.”

It remains to be seen how this will impact the number of applications to Baruch and the makeup of the major at the school as a whole.