Computer Science (BA) - College of Engineering & Applied Science

Pursue your passion—for finance, public health, animation, chemistry, or another field—while gaining in-demand CS skills.

Combine a Bachelor of Arts in Computer Science with another major or two minors and open the door to more career opportunities in your chosen profession. This major is ideal for students with diverse interests. You don’t need prior Computer Science experience to pursue this major.

Program Type

Major

Program Format

On Campus

Career Outlook

Tech skills are increasingly vital in many careers and mastering the basics can increase job security.

Job flexibility: With a solid background in computer science, you will find a wide range of opportunities open to you in case your interests change.

According to Code.org:

Wisconsin has averaged 9,705 open computing jobs each month.
These jobs have an average salary of $80,546.

Yet there were only 1,261 graduates in computer science in 2018.

Northwestern Mutual employees UWM computer science students on capstone projects. (UWM Photo/Troye Fox)

What to Expect

As a BA in Computer Science major you will cover the core of the discipline including:

Programming
Theory & algorithms
Social & ethical issues
Computer architecture

You choose electives to broaden your knowledge or specialize in one of these areas:

Artificial intelligence, data mining & machine learning
Computer graphics & human-computer interfaces
Computer networks & operating systems
Computer security & information security systems
Databases & information systems
Programming languages & compilers

Along the way you will take courses from your complementary major or minor.

Pairing Computer Science with Other Interests

Students who elect to earn two majors might couple their Computer Science studies with a BS in Public Health, a BS in Freshwater Science or a BA in Animation, to name just a few.

Those who elect to couple their BA in Computer Science with two minors or certificates have dozens of options including programs in crime analysis, biology, environmental studies, education, the arts, nutrition, political science, psychology and urban studies.

In all cases, your advisor will help you choose the academic path that best matches your interests.

Honors

You will be eligible for these honors in the major during your studies and upon completing your degree.

Students at UWM have many opportunities to earn honors recognition.

UWM’s College of Engineering & Applied Science program provides many opportunities to pair classroom learning with hands-on experiences outside the classroom. The college’s location in Wisconsin’s largest city, with a broad network of industry partnerships, gives you easy access to well-paid internships and co-ops, as well as other important opportunities to enhance your resume.

Did you know?

93 percent of UWM engineering and computer science students complete paid, work-related experiences including internships, co-ops and research opportunities
91 percent land a job or commit to graduate school before graduation.

_{SOURCE: UWM First Destination Survey, December 2019}

“Computer science experience has been an advantage in financial technology. Now it’s becoming more useful in investment management as cybersecurity becomes a bigger concern among financial institutions and professionals, and as electronic-born investments such as cryptocurrencies and non-fungible tokens become more mainstream.”

Reid PezewskiBA Computer Science + BBA Finance

Our students have had many hands-on opportunities to develop their skills and to determine what type of career experience they would like after graduation, while often earning a significant paycheck over summer breaks and even during the academic year.

Here are some of the businesses where our computer science students have had internships, co-ops or careers:

Amazon
Baird
Blue Yonder
Direct Supply
FIS
GE Healthcare
Johnson Controls
Kohl’s
Northwestern Mutual
Rockwell Automation

In your senior year, you’ll team up with other students to complete a Capstone Project, during which you’ll use what you’ve learned in class to complete an experience similar to a real-world employer project. Past students have created online games, apps, management software and more.

Some students elect to work with Northwestern Mutual, who mentors many of our students in their Capstone Projects. This partnership –between the college and a Fortune 500 company in downtown Milwaukee – was created because computer science technologies are evolving so quickly, industries are having a hard time finding people with the exact skill set they need.

Data Science Club at UWM

A medium for collaborative and interdisciplinary discussions, support, and awareness of best practices in the diverse and rapidly growing field of data science.

Game Design & Development

Members come together and construct projects and ideas from all sides of gaming.

Google Developers Group at UWM

Members explore programming technology and enhance their skills in computer-related categories.

The Computer Society

Encourages education enrichment in computer science and related fields; provides opportunities for social activities with faculty members.

Robotics Association at UWM

Members design, build, test, program and compete in robotic competitions against universities from around the world.

Women in Computing

Dedicated to promoting diversity in computer science and tech through outreach; provides professional, academic and social support to women interested in computer science and technology.

For full descriptions and contact information of all engineering and computer science related student organizations and clubs, click here.

Big Data Analytics and Visualization Lab

This lab is focused on developments of new computational approaches and software tools for various types of massive data processing, data mining and visualization using both knowledge-based and data-driven techniques.

Biorobotics Laboratory

This lab works with previously gathered data in order to create a design whose aim is to assist disabled individuals.

Connected Systems Institute

This lab works with students, faculty and private sector partners to help ensure that industry has the talent it needs to benefit fully from Industrial Internet of Things connectivity.

Design Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory

This lab strives to enhance people’s health and well-being by designing software that will help identify health problems early, suggest a plan of action, and provide evidence that justifies that plan.

UWM students have a wealth of additional resources available to them within the College of Engineering & Applied Science. From computer labs and tutoring resources to teaching labs and spaces to create or collaborate. Details here.

As a top tier R1 research university, our students have the opportunity to work with faculty engaged in leading-edge research in areas such as:

Object-oriented programming
Cryptography
Computational robotics
Intelligent dialog systems
Artificial intelligence
Extensible languages

Undergraduates in Computer Science also have the opportunity to participate in the Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowships (SURF) program which has a profound impact on students’ preparation and advancing to graduate programs. The SURF program helps students to improve professional preparation through research by closely working with our faculty to explore, discover, and transform ideas into reality.

Both graduates and undergraduates have the opportunity to participate in the annual Student Research Poster Competition to see who can best represent their research visually on a poster and verbally by describing it to judges.

This optional course is co-taught by an engineering professor and an art professor. Interdisciplinary teams of student engineers, artists and designers present ideas professionally, deliver presentations and take an idea from concept to design to prototype.

Directed by the Lubar Entrepreneurship Center, the UWM Student Startup Challenge is an optional, co-curricular program that fosters our students’ innovative and entrepreneurial ideas. You can work alone or as part of a team as you gain the skills that come from entrepreneurial experience.

What you’ll do

Drawing on the expertise from your other specialization, you might:

Find digital solutions to problems in commerce, science, entertainment, industry, healthcare or any other sector of the global economy.
Derive insights from the behavior of computer users or the data collected from computer systems to guide decision making in organizations
Create or assess applications or systems that run on a computer or another device.
Plan and carry out security measures to protect an organization’s computer networks and systems.
Find more effective and efficient solutions for an organization’s current computer system.