Curriculum

Oregon State's postbaccalaureate computer science online curriculum prepares you for the computer science profession in areas such as software engineering, mobile and web development, and databases – helping you to accelerate your career in any sector of employment. All courses in this program are developed and taught by Oregon State instructors who are actively involved in the field.

Four passions drive Anousha Farshid: music, problem-solving, coding and building ideas from scratch. She finds ways to blend them all thanks partly to her online computer science studies with Oregon State. Read more »

Degree requirements

You must complete 60 quarter credits of major courses to graduate with your B.S. in Computer Science. You are only required to enroll in computer science courses, enabling you to focus on your studies within the major and graduate quickly.

Curriculum details are available on OSU's official academic catalog.

Honors degree online

As an undergraduate degree-seeking student, you can apply to earn an honors degree online in your academic major. Earning this prestigious degree gives you the opportunity to collaborate with faculty on research, complete a comprehensive thesis experience and engage in co-curricular activities.

Sample course topics

This computer science postbacc program includes courses from a range of topics including:

• Programming fundamentals
• Mobile and web development
• Databases
• Software engineering
• Computer systems and networking

Program rigor

This program is very rigorous and requires you to take ownership of your learning and time. The courses are intense and fast-paced. Many of our students juggle work, personal responsibilities and school. Review our flexible academic plans to help you decide how many courses per term you can balance with your available time and financial resources.

Math requirement

A strong aptitude in mathematics is imperative to succeed in computer science. The ability to logically think through problems, break them down into simpler problems and apply transformations and rules are the same requirements to be successful in both mathematics and computer science.

This computer science program includes one required math class (CS 225 – Discrete Structures in Computer Science). This class provides the mathematical foundation for students planning to enter software development and related fields. It includes topics in Boolean and relational algebra, graph theory, inductive proofs and combinatorics.

Some sub-areas require advanced math courses (e.g. graphics, scientific computing, machine learning, etc.), but most developers do not need upper-level math courses.

If you plan to apply to graduate school in computer science or work in areas such as computer graphics, simulations game design or bioinformatics, you may want to consider taking additional math and statistics courses.