Advising and Registration Information for Current and New
CS Students (Majors and Minors)

This page contains information about the advising and registration process for undergraduate and graduate classes for computer science students and professors.

Advisee-Advisor Assignments

Undergraduate students who have not yet declared a concentration will have to go to the CAS Advising Office (CAS Room 105) to obtain the registration code. To avoid this in the future, you should submit the Declaration or Change of Major/Minor Concentration form (CS code is 0701) to CAS and email the CS Department Secretary (csdept @ cs.bu.edu). The secretary will find a computer science faculty advisor for you who can give in-depth advice about your interests and career plans and discuss your computer science degree program.

Undergraduate students who have selected computer science as a major or minor concentration should clarify who their advisor is for the current semester: Go to www.bu.edu/studentlink, click on "Academics" and then on "Academic Advising." Your advisor, a full-time computer science professor, should be listed there. If not, contact the Department Secretary (csdept @ cs.bu.edu) or the Director of Undergraduate Studies. If you have selected computer science as your minor concentration, a CS professor should be listed as your second advisor. If you wish to have a specific advisor, you need to fill out the Request for Change of Advisor Form, which is also available in the CS office (MCS Room 138). The selected faculty member must agree to be your new advisor and sign the form, which you then need to bring to the CS office.

Graduate students who do not have a computer science advisor, please contact the Department Secretary or the Director of Graduate Studies.

Professors can see a list of their current advisees by following the faculty link www.bu.edu/link, and then click on "Advisees List."

Scheduling an Advisee-Advisor Meeting

Students are responsible for scheduling an appointment with their advisors well in advance of their registration start dates listed below. To make an appointment, do not call or send emails. Instead, sign up for a meeting on the signup sheets that are posted outside the advisors' offices (some professors use web-based sign-up sheets instead and will inform you about the link). To find your advisor's office, check the CS Department Directory. Professors will have several hours of advising appointments available each week during the end of October and beginning of November. Professors may use the sample advising signup sheet.

Registration Start Dates

For details on when registration for next semester begins and when the students can start to register see the Registrar's home page.

Preparing for an Advisee-Advisor Meeting

Students should work out their course schedule for the upcoming semester. It is also beneficial to work out a tentative multi-year schedule for the courses required for the CS degree. This will help ensure a timely graduation date. It will also guide decisions on taking additional, non-required courses that strengthen students' computer science education. Students must prepare this schedule by filling out the appropriate form:

The form will help you plan your education at BU so that you will fulfill the general CAS program requirements as well as the Computer Science degree requirements by the time you graduate. You need to plan the upcoming semester by looking at next semester's schedule. The schedule is available from the CS Department's web page. You may use a schedule worksheet. To plan for future semesters, please use the schedules of past semesters at www.cs.bu.edu/courses as guidance. Check also the University's online BU course catalogue.

Recommendations for the Advisee-Advisor Meeting

During the meeting, advisee and advisor will go through the student's "Degree Advice Report" and discuss the schedule that the student prepared. Questions may be:

Advisee and advisor may also talk about the student's career plans:

At the conclusion of the meeting, the advisor will give the student the Academic Advising Code (AAC). This code will allow the student to access to the university telephone and web registration system. Do not ask the staff in the CS office for your code, as it is available only from your advisor. If you have to use the Registrar's registration form, then your advisor will sign this, and you need to take it to the Registrar during the walk-in period.

Last updated on March 21, 2006
Maintained by Steve Homer, homer @ cs. bu.edu