Director of Undergraduate Studies / Computer Science / Yale

Advising

For Yale Computer Science, there are designated advisors for each class that provide academic advising. Peer advisors are also available to convey their personal experiences with classes, and to give advice about industry positions. If you are having difficulty reaching your class advisors or the peer advisors, the Associate DUS or the DUS can act as a backup for advice.

The class advisors for Fall 2024 are:

• Senior
  • Ruzica Piskac (Systems), Wed 2-4 PM, in AKW 208 and over Zoom
  • Smita Krishnaswamy (ML/AI), by appointment
  • Andre Wibisono (Theory), Thurs 3-4 PM over Zoom
• Junior
  • Yang Cai (Theory), Wed 4-5 PM over Zoom (Please book a time ahead)
  • Robert Soule (Systems), by appointment
  • Katerina Sotiraki (Theory/Cryptography), Tues 10-11 AM over Zoom (Please contact beforehand if you plan on attending)
• First Year/Sophomore
  • Yongshan Ding (Systems/Theory), Mon 3-4 PM, AKW 204 and over Zoom
  • Alex Wong (AI/ML), Wed 2-3 PM, at 17 Hillhouse, Room 325
• BS/MS program
  • Associate DUS Stephen Slade

The peer advisors for Fall 2024 are:

• Bradley Lewis
• Brandon Yee
• Ananya Purushottam
• Helen Zhou

Majors in Computer Science and Mathematics, Computer Science and Psychology, and Electrical Engineering and Computer Science are advised to seek advising from both CS advisors and the DUS of the other department represented in their major.

Majors in Computer Science and Economics and Computing in the Arts should contact the DUS for those programs instead. If you need an administrative approval that only the DUS can provide, make an appointment here.

FAQs

• Master spreadsheet of CS course attributes (e.g., what counts for outside-CS electives, courses with significant math content for CS+Math, advanced AI for CS+Psych, etc.)
• CS course requirements (e.g., skip core course, outside CS elective) FAQ: see major courses faq.
• 490 senior project FAQ: see end of 490 page.
• 290 independent project FAQ: see end of 290 page.
• bs/ms program FAQ: see end of bs+ms page.
• Certificate in programming FAQ: see end of Certificate page.

Mailing list

Majors in Computer Science, Computer Science and Mathematics, Computer Science and Psychology, and Electrical Engineering and Computer Science are strongly encouraged to sign up for the cs-majors mailing list.

A second mailing list cs-majors-jobs is used for job postings that may be of interest to CS majors. Membership in this list is optional and independent of membership in the cs-majors list.

Note: The mailing list links may require VPN to access if you are off-campus.

Information about academic programs and classes

• Yale College Programs of Study (the official source for information about programs), including
  • Catalog of courses in Computer Science
  • Overview and requirements of the majors:
    • Computer Science
    • Computer Science and Mathematics
    • Computer Science and Psychology
    • Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
  • Other related majors:
    • Computer Science and Economics
    • Computing and the Arts
    • Computing and Linguistics
• Yale University Course Search (the official source for information about current courses)
• Major roadmaps produced by the Registrar’s Office
• Course flowchart produced by the CS Peer Advisors
• Certificate in Programming
• CPSC 280 Directed Reading
• CPSC 290 Directed Research
• CPSC 490 Senior Project including descriptions of past projects (VPN access required)
• Combined B.S./M.S. in Computer Science
• DUS and faculty resources

Dates

• YCPS calendar with pertinent deadlines

Web sites for various relevant organizations

• The Yale College Dean’s Office has pointers to just about anything you might want to know about undergraduate academics at Yale.
• The Yale Department of Computer Science home page has pointers to resources more specific to Computer Science.
• The Departmental Student Advisory Committee (DSAC) maintains a web page providing many links.
• Yale Science and Engineering Research describes opportunities, workshops, and programs for the support of undergraduate research.

Career planning resources

• The most current information is on the DSAC website.
• Office of Career Strategy
• The Yale CS Career Fair will be on September 20, 2024 this year.
• (From 2009) Hacking a Google Interview: Mastering Programming Interview Questions
• (From 2014) Mor Harchol-Balter, Applying to Ph.D. Programs in Computer Science

Advice from majors

• The most current information is on the DSAC website.
• The Peer Advisors put together this advice from the Class of 2024.
• The Classes of 2013, 2012, and 2011 were also asked to pass along some of the insights they gained during their years as a major. Some advice still applies, also keep in mind how the field and major have changed over the last 10+ years.
• (From 2012) Advice on preparing for software engineering interviews.