Are you interested in helping people solve problems in a variety of fields? Do you enjoy making technology work for you, instead of the other way around? Consider minoring in Computer Science at Converse.
Computing increasingly touches every aspect of our lives—social, economic, political, environmental—you name it. Just as a basic understanding of computers is fast becoming a job requirement for most careers, demand is growing for people with the technical proficiency to bridge the gaps between what is technically possible and what people really need.
Degree Offered
- Computer Science minor
Related Programs
About Computer Science
The minor in Computer Science is a valuable addition to a wide variety of majors. As computers transform across disciplines, you can make yourself more valuable to employers by adding a foundation in computer science to your major expertise.
Converse’s hands-on, practice-oriented approach to computer science is designed to give you the skills you’ll need to stay current in the fast-changing world of technology and apply that technological knowledge to the particular context of your major field.
Converse is a great place to study Computer Science. Small classes allow subjects (and sometimes even whole courses) to be tailored to the interests and abilities of individual students. Our instruction strikes a balance between hands-on practice—how things are done today—and grasping the underlying reasons why things are done that way, which will continue to inform how things are done tomorrow in this fast-changing field.
Solving real-world problems is a persistent focus right through the Computer Science minor curriculum, so our graduates arrive in the workplace with experience working on problems that extend beyond the classroom.
Computer Science at Converse offers motivated students rich opportunities for taking part in original research. These experiences give students an understanding of real-world computing challenges that classwork alone cannot match.
- Computer-science minors Gretchen Marlow ‘18 and Alex Schlesener ‘18 built the first site on the World Wide Web focused on assisting American Sign Language students to find the meaning of an unfamiliar sign.
- A series of students built a visualization tool for organic chemistry reactions that is currently used to teach Converse’s organic-chemistry sequence.
- Haley Cromer ’20 is working on tools that use sound and kinesthetics which assist students who are blind or visually impaired to program computer graphics.
Using computers to solve general problems takes programming. Accordingly, the computer science minor sequence begins with two courses on programming and the principles that shape it. The other prescribed course in the minor is on database design, which is essential to data science and to a great deal of business programming.
Beyond those three courses, you are free to choose three more electives from a wide variety of CSC courses, as well as discrete mathematics and statistics. The minor consists of 20 credit hours.
Requirements for a minor in computer science are as follows:
- CSC 201: Introduction to Computing (4 hours)
- CSC 202: Data Structures (4 hours)
- CSC 305: Database Design (3 hours)
- CSC Electives – Three courses (9 hours) chosen from the following:
- CSC courses numbered above 210 (not including 305)
- MTH 205: Discrete Mathematics
- ECN/BAD 300: Descriptive and Inferential Statistics
What are common careers in Computer Science?
Computer science mixes well with a wide variety of fields–there are possibilities to match nearly any interest. Converse graduates who minored in computer science have gone on to graduate study in a wide variety of areas, including:
- English
- Mathematics
- Operations research
- Digital production arts
They work in fields including:
- Software
- Information technology
- Banking and finance
- Business
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