Data Science, BS (CS)

About the Program

Majoring in data science at Purdue will place you at the forefront of an emerging field and prepare you for an exciting career at the intersection of computer science and statistics.

Created jointly by Purdue’s Department of Computer Science and Department of Statistics, the data science major will open pathways to careers in virtually every area of society, from healthcare, security and sustainability to education, business and economics.

Curriculum and Degree Requirements for College of Science

A College of Science degree is conferred when a student successfully completes all requirements in their degree program.  Students will complete coursework or approved experiential learning activities to meet the following three degree components:

1. Major
2. Science Core Curriculum
3. Electives

Students may use any of the following options to meet College of Science degree requirements:

• Purdue Coursework
• AP, IB, and CLEP credit.  The use of AP and IB coursework varies between College of Science degree plans.
• Transfer Credit. Students should consult the Admissions Transfer Credit Resource page for all available transfer options.

College of Science degree programs vary widely in their approval and use of the proceeding options and thus students are strongly encouraged to work closely with their academic advisors and to regularly consult their MyPurduePlan to view the use of each option in their degree plan. 

Most College of Science degree programs contain elective credits students may use to pursue courses that relate to their interests or which support their major area of study. The elective area of a degree plan may also be used to complete minors, second majors and certificates such as the Entrepreneurial Certificate. With the exception of courses on the No Count List, any Purdue course may be used to meet the elective area of a student’s degree plan.

College of Science Core Requirements

All Students starting Purdue University Fall semester, 2007 or later are required to pursue the 2007 Science Core curriculum.

The College of Science Core Curriculum requires the completion of approved coursework and/or experiential learning opportunities in the following academic areas:

• Composition and Presentation  
• Computing   
• Cultural Diversity (Language and Culture)   
• General Education  
• Great Issues in Science   
• Laboratory Science   
• Mathematics    
• Science Technology and Society   
• Statistics   
• Teambuilding and Collaboration    
• No Count List   

Earning Core Curricular Requirements through Experience

Students may meet selected core curriculum requirements through approved experiential learning opportunities. Interested students should contact their academic advisor for more information on this option and incorporating experiential learning into their four-year program of study. For more information on earning requirements through experience, please click here.

Degree Requirements

120 Credits Required

Data Science Major Courses (47-51 credits)

• CS 18000 - Problem Solving And Object-Oriented Programming ♦ (satisfies Computing, and Team-Building and Collaboration, for College of Science core)
• CS 18200 - Foundations Of Computer Science
• CS 25100 - Data Structures And Algorithms
• CS 37300 - Data Mining And Machine Learning
• CS 38003 - Python Programming
• CS 44000 - Large Scale Data Analytics
• MA 35100 - Elementary Linear Algebra
• STAT 35500 - Statistics For Data Science (satisfies Statistics for College of Science core)
• STAT 41600 - Probability
• STAT 41700 - Statistical Theory

•  

• CS 24200 - Introduction To Data Science or
• STAT 24200 - Introduction To Data Science

•  

• MA 26100 - Multivariate Calculus or
• MA 27101 - Honors Multivariate Calculus

Other Departmental/Program Course Requirements (29-52 credits)

Electives (17-44 credits)

Enrollment in freshman seminar course CS 19300 - Tools is required with CS 18000. It is not a degree requirement.

Grade Requirements

• CS 37300 must be completed with a grade of C or better prior to the start of the Capstone Experience.
• *For this degree, all major required courses, all major electives (selectives), and their pre-requisites, regardless of department, must be completed with a grade of C or better.

GPA Requirements

• 2.0 Major and Graduation GPA required for Bachelor of Science degree.

College of Science Pass/No Pass Option Policy

• Only free electives and courses at the 50000-level general education requirement may be taken under the pass/not-pass option. 
• The pass/not-pass grade mode may be entered for courses which are not required by a student’s major(s), minor(s) or science core curriculum.
• Grade mode Passing is equivalent to at a minimum grade of C- had a letter grade been awarded.
• Students may elect to use the pass/not-pass option for no more than 20% of the 124/120 credit requirement for graduation and for no more than two courses per academic year (Fall-Summer).
• The pass/not-pass option cannot be elected for a course that has already been completed with a letter grade. University Regulation.
• Students may take elective credit while abroad using the P/NP mode.  In the case of universities which only post P/NP, the University will apply a calculation process to determine a letter grade.
• Department of Languages and Cultures P/NP policy and Language Placement results. Students must take advanced coursework for a letter grade to receive credit for lower-level language courses.

College of Science Transfer Credit Policy

College of Science degree programs vary widely in their approval and use of non-Purdue originated credit (AP, IB, CLEP, and transfer credit). Students work closely with their academic advisors and degree plan audits to review the use and approval of each non-Purdue credit option.

Computer Science Transfer Credit Policy

• Equivalent 10000 and 20000-level Computer Science (CS) transfer credit courses (including credit from regional campuses) may be used to meet degree requirements if those courses were taken prior to admission to the Purdue West Lafayette Data Science, B.S. CS program.
• CS transfer credit at the 30000-40000-level may not be used to meet degree requirements. As exception to this policy is the application of pre-approved Study Abroad coursework.

University Requirements

Sample 4-Year Plan

Pre-Requisite Information

For pre-requisite information, click here.

World Language Courses

World Language proficiency requirements vary by program. The following list is inclusive of all world languages PWL offers for credit; for acceptable languages and proficiency levels, see your advisor. (ASL-American Sign Language; ARAB-Arabic; CHNS-Chinese; FR-French; GER-German; GREK-Greek(Ancient); HEBR-Hebrew(Biblical); HEBR-Hebrew(Modern); ITAL-Italian; JPNS-Japenese; KOR-Korean; LATN-Latin; PTGS=Portuguese; RUSS-Russian; SPAN-Spanish)

Critical Course

The ♦ course is considered critical.

In alignment with the Degree Map Guidance for Indiana’s Public Colleges and Universities, published by the Commission for Higher Education (pursuant to HEA 1348-2013), a Critical Course is identified as “one that a student must be able to pass to persist and succeed in a particular major.  Students who want to be nurses, for example, should know that they are expected to be proficient in courses like biology in order to be successful.  These would be identified by the institutions for each degree program”. 

Disclaimer

The student is ultimately responsible for knowing and completing all degree requirements.

Consultation with an advisor may result in an altered plan customized for an individual student.

The myPurduePlan powered by DegreeWorks is the knowledge source for specific requirements and completion.