1. What is the purpose of this FAQ?
2. What is the Honors Software Engineering concentration?
3. How does the Honors SE concentration differ from the standard CS major?
4. What are the admission requirements for the concentration?
5. When do students apply for admission to the concentration?
6. When are students notified of admission to the concentration?
7. What groups of courses comprise the concentration?
8. What are the Core Liberal Studies course requirements?
9. What are the Learning Domain Requirements?
10. What are the Core Major classes for Freshman and Sophomore years?
11. What are the Core Major Classes for Junior year?
12. What are the requirements for continuing in the concentration in the Senior year?
13. What are the Core Major classes for Senior year?
14. What electives options are available?
15. Can a student in the concentration take a non-honors section for a course when an honors section is offered?
16. Where can I get more information about the concentration?

1. What is the purpose of this FAQ?

This FAQ is intended to provide CTI students, faculty, and staff with a 'quick reference' guide to the Honors Software Engineering (HSE) concentration. The FAQ addresses questions about admission , requirements for continuation, and coursework. 

(top)

---

2. What is the Honors Software Engineering concentration?

The HSE concentration is intended as a specialization of the standard Computer Science (CS) major. The concentration provides highly motivated students with the opportunity to study advanced topics in software engineering normally accessible only to graduate students. Courses planned for the concentration include topics drawn from all areas of software engineering. Many courses will be based upon corresponding courses offered in the graduate curriculum. 

(top)

---

3. How does the Honors SE concentration differ from the standard CS major?

Some of the differences between the HSE concentration and the standard CS major include:

• Expectation of high academic achievement in the student's GPA for admission and continuation in the concentration.
• Access to Honors courses which provide the student with the opportunity to study topics normally available only to graduate students.
• Exposure to a much broader spectrum of software engineering disciplines.
• Deeper investigation of advanced software engineering practice during the senior year.

(top)

---

4. What are the admission requirements for the concentration?

Students are admitted to the Honors SE concentration based on the following criteria:

• GPA, both overall and in courses relevant to the concentration.

• Completion of the course requirements for the freshman and sophomore years.

• Evaluations from the applicant’s CTI instructors regarding:

  • Ability and willingness to contribute constructively in class.

  • Demonstrated ability to work in groups.

  • Overall suitability for participation in the honors concentration.

• Choice of electives, in particular selection of honors courses where available in both CTI and liberal arts curricula.

Students may also submit a statement of strictly no more than 300 words explaining any exceptional low marks, other relevant considerations, etc.

 (top)

---

5. When do students apply for admission to the concentration?

Interested students should apply for the concentration by the end of the winter quarter of their sophomore year. Students will be notified of their admission status during the spring quarter.

(top)

---

6. When are students notified of admission to the concentration?

Students will be notified of their admission status during the spring quarter of their sophomore year.

(top)

---

7. What groups of courses comprise the concentration?

Three groups of courses comprise the Honors SE concentration:

• A Liberal Studies Program, with both Core Liberal Studies course requirements and Learning Domain requirements.
• Core Major Classes for freshman and sophomore years, junior year, and senior year.
• Electives

Each of these is described in further detail under other headings in this FAQ.

(top)

---

8. What are the Core Liberal Studies course requirements?

• Liberal Studies Core: 6 courses/24 quarter hours required.

• First Year Program: (16 quarter hours required) Discover Chicago or Explore Chicago, Focal Point Seminar, and Composition and Rhetoric I and II.

• Sophomore Seminar: (4 quarter hours required) Sophomore Seminar on Multiculturalism in the United States.

• Junior Year Experiential Learning: (4 quarter hours required).

• Senior Capstone: All CTI majors require that students complete the senior capstone in their major field.

(top)

---

9. What are the Learning Domain requirements?

Thirteen courses (52 quarter hours) are required and are distributed across six learning domains as follows:

• Arts and Literature-AL: Three courses required (12 quarter hours). At most two courses from the same department or program.

• Philosophical Inquiry-PI: Two courses required (total 8 quarter hours).

• Religious Dimensions-RD: Two courses required (8 quarter hours). One "Patterns and Problems" and one "Traditions in Context". Note: One course from either Philosophical Inquiry or Religious Dimensions must be a course in ethics. PHL/REL/MGT 228 is strongly recommended.

• Scientific Inquiry-SI: One course required (4 quarter hours). This course must be designated as a lab course. Neither CTI nor mathematics courses are acceptable.

• Self, Society and the ModernWorld-MW: Three courses required (12 quarter hours). These courses must be chosen from at least two different departments.

• Understanding the Past-UP: Two courses required (8 quarter hours). One "pre-1800" category and one "1800-1945". In addition, the two courses must be chosen from different geographical categories: Asia; Latin America; Africa; North America or Europe; inter-continental or comparative history.

(top)

---

10. What are the Core Major classes for Freshman and Sophomore years?

Freshman Year (prior to admission to the concentration):

• CSC 211      Programming in Java I
• CSC 212      Programming in Java II
• CSC 313      Data Structures in Java
• MAT 140    Discrete Mathematics I

• MAT 150     Calculus I

Sophomore Year (prior to admission to the concentration):

• CSC 321     Design and Analysis of Algorithms
• CSC 309     Object Oriented Programming in C++
• CSC 323     Data Analysis and Statistical Software I
• CSC 319    Database Technology
• MAT 141    Discrete Mathematics II
• ENG 204    Technical Writing
• CMN 212    Small Group Communication or CMN 220 Public Speaking

(top)

11. What are the Core Major classes for Junior year?

After admission to the concentration:

• CSC 343   Introduction to Operating Systems
• SE 330     Object-Oriented Modeling
• SE 350     Object-Oriented Software Development
• SE 352     Object-Oriented Enterprise Application Development
• CSC 347   Concepts of Programming Languages
• SE 370     Software Development Processes

(top)

---

12. What are the requirements for continuing in the concentration in the Senior year?

To maintain the level of the honors concentration, all required senior-level courses will have as a part of their prerequisites:

• Completion of all of the six junior-level courses CSC343, SE330, SE350, SE352, CSC347 and SE370;

• No grade below B in any of these courses;

• An average GPA for these six courses of 3.5 or better; and

• An average GPA of at least 3.3 overall.

(top)

---

13. What are the Core Major classes for Senior year?

1.        Software Engineering Studio I & II (honors), a two-class sequence: SE 391 and SE 392.

2.        Five 300-level CTI electives. Three of these five must be from the following list:

• SE 368    Software Measurement and Project Estimation
• SE 360    Structured Document Interchange and Processing
• SE 355    Distributed Software Development
• SE 356    Software Development for Mobile Systems
• SE 357    Concurrent System Development
• SE 358    Software Development for Limited and Embedded Systems
• SE 375    Design and Architecture of Secure Software Systems
• SE 380    Design of Object-Oriented Languages
• SE 354    Enterprise Component Architecture
• CSC 345  Computer Architecture
• CSC 348  Introduction to Compiler Design
• CSC 358  Symbolic Programming
• CSC 380  Foundations of Artificial Intelligence
• CSC 389  Theory of Computation

Students may also take other advanced SE graduate classes or CSC535 - Formal Semantics of Programming Languages, as an independent study, by arrangement with the instructor, subject to approval of the program director.

(top)

---

14. What electives options are available?

Students may choose four open electives in consultation with the advisor.

(top)

---

15. Can a student in the concentration take a non-honors section for a course when an honors section is offered?

Students in the concentration will normally be expected to take either an honors section of these classes, or earn a grade of A- or A in a non-honors section, for admission/retention in the concentration.  If CTI does not offer honors sections of a prerequisite course, then a grade of A- or better will be expected for registration in the prerequisite.

Additional rules and restrictions apply. Refer to the Undergraduate Bulletin for the HSE concentration for details.

(top)

---

16. Where can I get more information about the Concentration?

Additional information is available in the Undergraduate Bulletin.

(top)

This page was last updated on Thursday, 11 April 2002.