Summary of 2023-24 Undergraduate Calendar Changes

Note: the following changes affect returning students only. All new students admitted for Fall 2023 should follow the 2023-24 Undergraduate Calendar and also refer to the First Year Course Selection Guide.

Email sent to all continuing BCS students on May 19, 2023:

*Updated on May 26, 2023 to reflect new prerequisite changes for COMP 4108

Dear Computer Science students,

The School of Computer Science (SCS) would like to inform you of changes to the BCS curriculum as reflected in the 2023-24 Undergraduate Calendar. This email is intended to summarize the main changes, inform you of how your program may be impacted, and remind you of other important academic related rules and issues. Please consult the 2023-24 Undergraduate Calendar for all changes, including changes to course descriptions, and preclusion and prerequisite statements. Please note that the School of Computer Science enforces all calendar prerequisites and reserves the right to have students de-registered from courses due to lack of prerequisites, after sufficient notice to the student asking them to withdraw.

Though this email may seem lengthy, it contains important information. If at any time you need advising, please contact your Undergraduate Advisors.

Although the goal of this email is to make you aware of the main calendar changes and to inform you of other matters, please note that it is still the student’s responsibility to be aware of all University rules and regulations as well as those pertaining to their program, as per the Undergraduate Calendar: 1.1 Student Responsibility.

IMPORTANT INFO AND REMINDERS

***Fall 2023/Winter 2024 registration for returning students begins on July 7 (check your time-ticket on Carleton Central). One week prior to your time-ticket opening, please check your draft schedule(s) or your registration course planning tool to make sure nothing has changed and that there are no new conflicts with your course selections. Day/time, room and instructor changes are rare, but still possible. Please also read the “section information” under each course on the Public Class Schedule for important information. Course conflicts are prohibited as per University regulations, unless otherwise noted on the Public Class Schedule.

• Always be aware of important dates and deadlines, including financial and academic withdrawal dates: The Academic Year (Graduate and Undergraduate Studies) < Carleton University. Please note that as of Fall 2022, the academic withdrawal date is no longer the last day of the term, and there are also early and late term courses in all terms.
• For courses taken on campus, please see the SCS Laptop Requirement.

Your Audit, Program and Calendar Year:

• Run and monitor your academic audit on Carleton Central regularly, especially after any registration activity, to make sure it’s correct and there are no “courses set aside” that should not be. If you are uncertain of something, see any discrepancies or have questions, please contact your Undergraduate Advisors. *Please read the “Important Notice” paragraph at the very bottom of your audit.
• Your audit shows the “Catalog Year” your program is under (e.g. 202230 = 2022/2023 academic year). Refer to the appropriate calendar for your program under Calendar Archives. Your audit should reflect what is in the calendar, unless there have been curriculum changes since. Every year, the School informs all students by email of any relevant changes to the BCS programs and what to watch for on their audit.
• For prerequisites and preclusions, regardless of your Catalog Year, always refer to the most recent Undergraduate Calendar.
• Students whose program is under an older Catalog Year and who change their program elements (i.e. add/drop a stream, move from Major to Honours or vice versa), will have their new program under the most recent Catalog Year.

Electives, Prohibited Courses, 1000-level Courses, Prerequisites and Preclusions:

• Be aware of the electives and prohibited courses for the BCS program. Also refer to the Computer Science program section of the Undergraduate Calendar for the most up-to-date list. NEW: As of Fall 2023, BUSI 1401 and BUSI 2401 are prohibited and cannot be used for credit in the BCS or any combined Computer Science program. Please see below for information regarding BUSI 1401 for students who currently have or would like to add a Minor in Business.
• The maximum number of credits at the zero and 1000-level that can be used for your entire program is 7.0 credits, as outlined in the calendar section 2.2.1 Maximum Credits Below the 2000 Level. This information also appears on the academic audit, under “summary of program requirements”.
• For prerequisites and preclusions, as stated above, always refer to the most recent Undergraduate Calendar.
• The School enforces all calendar prerequisites. Any exceptions for 2023-24 (due to calendar changes) are outlined below and are also noted on the Public Class Schedule.
• The School, after notifying students, will de-register any students who fail to meet the prerequisites of a course, including minimum grade requirements as per the Undergraduate Calendar.
• When a course “precludes additional credit” for another course, this means you cannot get credit for both courses. It does not mean that the two courses are equivalent, though in some cases they may be. If two courses that preclude each other are taken, only the most recent attempt can count towards your program and for credit; the other course will be forfeited on your audit under “courses set aside”. Please refer to 2.1.9 Credit for Closely-related Courses.
• When a course is repeated, the best grade is used for CGPA calculations and towards the program requirements. The Best Grade rule applies to direct repeated courses and cross-listed courses but not precluded courses. For more details please see FAQ: Repeating Courses – Academic Advising (carleton.ca).

For all BCS Honours programs:

• As of Fall 2022, COMP 4905 [0.5] Honours Project and COMP 4906 [1.0] Honours Thesis are optional in all BCS Honours programs. In place of COMP 4905 or COMP 4906, you may take any other COMP at the 4000-level course(s) to fulfill the degree requirement as shown in Part C of your academic audit. Please see https://carleton.ca/scs/current-students/undergraduate-students/honours-project-and-directed-studies/ for more details. Continuing BCS students were sent an email on April 4, 2022 outlining this change.

BUSI 1401 – For BCS Honours students who have a Minor in Business or plan to add the Minor in Business in the future:

• BUSI 2400 was replaced by BUSI 1401 in the Minor in Business. If students took BUSI 1401 prior to Fall 2023, the course is usable as credit towards the Minor in Business and also toward the BCS electives (if any remain to be taken). As of Fall 2023, BUSI 1401 is a prohibited course for all BCS and combined Computer Science programs and students will not be able to use it as credit towards a Minor in Business or as a BCS elective. However, the Sprott School of Business has agreed to allow BCS students to use COMP 1005/1405 instead of BUSI 1401 in the Minor in Business. Sprott will have the affected audits amended to reflect this change. Please do not register in BUSI 1401 as of Fall 2023—it will not be usable as credit under any circumstances. If you need advising on the Minor in Business, please contact bcom@sprott.carleton.ca.

The following is a summary of the calendar changes you need to be aware of, effective Fall 2023. For course descriptions, prerequisites and preclusions, please refer to the 2023-24 Undergraduate Calendar. See the “section information” notes under each course on the Public Class Schedule for additional information including registration priority and course delivery (where applicable). Course conflicts are prohibited unless otherwise noted.

NEW and REVISED BCS PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS

New stream name

Computer and Internet Security Stream has been renamed to Cybersecurity Stream. These two streams have the same program requirements; only the name is different.

Please note: The Computer and Internet Security Stream (BCS-5J2) is no longer available to move into, however it remains in the 2023-24 Undergraduate Calendar for one more year. Students currently in the Computer and Internet Security Stream will be able to graduate with it if they so choose. Students who are currently not in this stream but would like to be for graduation purposes, i.e. to have the stream name “Computer and Internet Security” on their official transcript (stream names do not appear on the diploma) will need to contact the Registrar’s Office to request to be manually added to program code BCS-5J2: registrar@carleton.ca before October 1, 2023 for November 2023 graduation.

Students who would like to move into the newly renamed Cybersecurity Stream (BCS-5J3) may do so by submitting the Change of Program Elements request on Carleton Central. IMPORTANT: As BCS-5J3 is not active until Winter 2024, the earliest students can graduate with the Cybersecurity Stream is Winter 2024 (February graduation). This means that fourth year students wanting to graduate in Fall 2023 (November) will not be able to have this new stream name and should not submit a Change of Program Element request.

New and renumbered courses

NEW:  COMP 4114 Quantum Computing and Information. Prerequisite is COMP 2804, precludes additional credit for MATH 4821 and MATH 5821. This course is offered in Fall 2023.

RENUMBERED:  COMP 2108 Applied Cryptography and Authentication: Formerly COMP 3109 (and COMP 4109 before that) and a requirement in both the Computer and Internet Security Stream and the new Cybersecurity Stream. Prerequisites are COMP 1406 with C- or above, and COMP 2804. Precludes additional credit for COMP 3109 (no longer offered) and COMP 4109 (no longer offered). COMP 2108 becomes a prerequisite for COMP 4108 (see below for more information). COMP 2108 is offered in Fall 2023 and Winter 2024, and COMP 4108 is offered in Winter 2024 only.

Please note: students in the Computer and Internet Security Stream in catalog years prior to 2023-24 will have either COMP 3109 or COMP 4109 showing under Part B of their audit. If this requirement has not yet been satisfied, you must take COMP 2108 and the audit will accept it in place of COMP 3109 or COMP 4109. If you do not see this substitution on your audit once you have registered in COMP 2108, please contact scs.ug.advisor@carleton.ca with your student number.

Course with new prerequisites—and what we will accept this year

COMP 4108 Computer Systems Security: Requirement for both the Computer and Internet Security Stream and the new Cybersecurity Stream. New calendar prerequisites are (COMP 3000 or SYSC 4001) and COMP 2108*. *We will accept the old and new COMP prerequisites moving forward. I.e.:  COMP 2108 or 3109 (no longer offered) or 4109 (no longer offered). All students must have prerequisite COMP 3000 or SYSC 4001. This course is offered in Winter 2024 only.

COMP 4701 Computing Society and Ethics: Prerequisites are any two of the following: COMP 2108*, COMP 3004, COMP 3005, COMP 3008, COMP 3105, COMP 3106, COMP 3308, COMP 3804. *We will accept the old and new COMP prerequisites in Fall 2023 only. I.e.:  COMP 2108 or 3109. This course is offered in Fall 2023 only. Please note: COMP 4701 cannot be taken again for credit if it was already taken under COMP 4900 Special Topics in Winter 2020, Fall 2020 or Fall 2021.

Co-operative Education (co-op)

There are changes to the eligibility criteria for students. Please see the Co-operative Education information in the 2023-24 Undergraduate Calendar and contact the Co-op office with any questions: co-opprogram@carleton.ca.

This email will also be posted at https://carleton.ca/scs/current-students/undergraduate-students/help-selecting-courses/.

Please reach out to scs.ug.advisor@carleton.ca if you have any questions or need advising.

Wishing you all good health and much success in your studies!

Edina Storfer, Anum Saeed & Mark Williams

Undergraduate Advisors

School of Computer Science

5302 Herzberg

(613) 520-2600 ext. 4364

scs.carleton.ca