FAQ

After the Common Application opens August 1st, you must submit your application by the NOVEMBER 1ST EARLY ACTION DEADLINE for competitive departments like computer science. Applying by November 1st automatically qualifies you for merit-based scholarships and a guaranteed admission decision by January 15th. You technically have until December 1st to submit your application, but those who meet the November 1st deadline receive priority.

The only way to qualify for merit-based scholarships is by meeting the November 1st early action application deadline, which automatically qualifies you. 

Enrollment between West Lafayette and Indianapolis is not interchangeable because each location contains a specific number of seats for students. This is why you will select your desired location in your application. Admitted students may request to switch locations by completing a Change of Major/Location (COLO) form in their admitted student portal, but Purdue cannot guarantee COLO requests will be granted.   

In short, the only similarity between the John Martinson Honors College (JMHC) and the Computer Science Honors major is that they share the word “honors”. They are otherwise unrelated. The JMHC encompasses different majors across Purdue and is an optional component in your application that you may complete should you desire to join the JMHC. CS Honors is exclusive to the CS major that students may be invited to join after completing their first semester at Purdue.  

While both locations share the same curricula, rankings, and tuition, Purdue University in Indianapolis outlines some location-specific characteristics if you’re unsure about which location is the best fit for you.  

Yes! If you have earned college credit from another institution, you can see how your credits will transfer to Purdue through our transfer credit course equivalency guide. Purdue also accepts credits from testing services like AP, IB, and more. To learn more about how your credits and/or test scores will transfer to Purdue, please refer to our transfer credit guidelines.

Yes! Purdue’s School of Languages and Cultures (SLC) in the College of Liberal Arts offers online language placement testing. To learn more, check out the SLC language placement testing page.

The CS department is considered a closed program, meaning that it does not accept transfer students from other universities in either West Lafayette or Indianapolis. If you are a current Purdue student and want to switch to a major in the CS department, please read the section below for information. 

As a general rule, any request to switch to (or add) another major, known as a Change of Degree Objective (CODO), is subject to space availability. Due to the high demand for CS, DS, and AI, you must meet additional academic requirements for an approved CODO request, including earning at least an A- in CS 18000 and earning at least a B in a Purdue calculus course. This means you cannot CODO until after you are enrolled at Purdue and have completed at least one semester. Your academic advisor will help you through the CODO process.  

It is very feasible to pursue multiple programs by adding another College of Science major! You will need to reach out to your academic advisor, who will help ensure you meet the CODO requirements for your intended major. Adding a major outside the College of Science (referred to as a Dual Degree/Program) is also possible but requires additional coursework*. This is because each college/school sets their own individual Dual Degree/Program policies.  

*The College of Liberal Arts waived their Dual Degree/Program policy requirements with their Degree + Program, meaning students in the College of Science can double major in the College of Liberal Arts as easily as double majoring in the College of Science. 

You can easily add an undergraduate minor from any college/school across Purdue, all with varying levels of credit hour requirements. Similarly, you can choose from a diverse list of undergraduate certificates. Generally, minors are often more coursework-focused and on average require more credit hours compared to certificates, which often incorporate experiential or project-based elements.

There are many ways to learn about the opportunities available to you as a Purdue student and as a member of the Department of Computer Science, but a great place to start is by checking out our Office of Student Experience. 

We do! Aside from the services offered by Purdue’s Center for Career Opportunities and College of Science Career Development resources, the Department of Computer Science is fortunate in offering department-specific support and opportunities for our students. Some of these include our annual career fair, our corporate partners program, resume review, one-on-one appointments with our student affairs team, and more.

We understand that every student has their own way of learning, and to be a successful student, you’ll need to know what studying habits work the best for you. Some of the resources we provide include tutoring services, office hours for individual courses, and the departmental help room. Most importantly, we encourage a collaborative atmosphere here in our department – talk to your neighbors, form study groups, find a study buddy! 

Your class sizes will vary, but your lecture sizes will typically shrink the more you progress through your degree and specialize in your studies. However, your larger courses will include opportunities to learn in smaller environments as well. For example, a course may enroll 400+ students for a single lecture section, but that same course will also have weekly labs where each lab section will only have 25-30 students. 

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While some students in the College of Science have coops, internships are much more popular. Students in the computer science department can certainly find internships as soon as the summer after their first year, and we encourage freshmen to attend our annual department career fair. Internships for freshmen are not as common as internships for sophomores and juniors and are often at smaller companies or startups.

Students can only speak with an academic advisor after they have accepted their admittance offer from Purdue and are assigned an advisor. This typically happens around the end of May/early June. You will then meet virtually with your advisor over the summer so that they can help you register for your fall semester classes. Students in the CS department receive priority registration, meaning you will not compete with outside majors for your classes and should therefore be able to register for the appropriate classes each semester.