Academic Programs

Possible career options:

Game designer
Systems analyst
Hardware engineer
Information processing specialist
Software engineer
Product marketing manager
Professor
Quality assurance engineer
Reliability engineer
Test engineer
Computer animator
Network administrator
Network manager
Web developer
Robotic engineer
Virtual reality modeler

Schools our graduates have attended:

Carnegie Melon University
Georgia Institute of Technology
Princeton University
University of Illinois
University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill

Positions our graduates have held:

System administrator, Ford Motor Company
Programmer/analyst, Microsoft
Database specialist, Ashland Inc.
Group program manager, RealNetworks, Seattle
Director of cancer research, University of Kentucky
Lead architect, Intel Corporation
Senior vice president, Sony Corporation

Opportunities in the major:

Local internships with national firms
Annual programming competition
Association for Computing Machinery

Program Overview

Do you like computers? Do your friends and family ask you to help them with their technology? Have you been called a geek?

If you answered "yes" to any or all of these questions, then a computer science major could be right for you.

But wait a minute. Do you cringe at the thought of spending the next 40 years as a programmer? Not to worry! Computer science is about more than programming. It’s also about learning to get the computer to be the best tool for whatever task you need done. And with computers becoming ever more important tools in business and industry, this is a perfect time to take a closer look at computer science.

What can I do with a computer science major?

Transylvania's computer science major includes a concentration from any liberal arts discipline on campus. See how it can work:

1. I like computers, but I'm tired of search engines that just give me more work to do. I know what I want to find, so why can't the computer figure it out and give me back the things that really matter instead of all this fluff?

Psychology—This person is interested in artificial intelligence, the branch of computer science that makes computers more useful. Studying psychology helps you understand how the mind works.

2. After seeing Shrek 14: The Ogre Strikes Back, I'm convinced that I want to be an animator for Pixar or Disney or somebody. I'm tired of making flipbooks while listening to lectures; I want to move on to the next level.

Studio art—The techniques this person learns in studio art will translate into the medium of computer presentation.

3. I like to build my own computers, which are, quite simply, the ultimate in terms of performance. Can I ever get too much CPU speed? Too much memory? I doubt it.

Physics—This person has a passion for engineering—a dream of building the next great machine or making the next technological breakthrough. Physics provides the foundation to explore computer engineering in-depth.

4. I like to watch things blow up—in the movies, that is. Special effects are fascinating and have changed movies forever. I want to know how to get things on the screen to look like I imagine them. I'm interested in the rest of the movie as well—if the main character can't act, then all the explosions in the world won't save the film.

Theater—Learning about the technical side of theater will help this person pursue the dream of special effects.

5. Wait a minute, I do want to program for a living.

Computer science or mathematics—Someone interested in programming can choose to concentrate in either of these disciplines. If you plan to go to graduate school, math is the better option.

All computer science students who want work experience in the field have such opportunities.

Possibilities include internships at national firms such as IBM, Perot Systems, and Lexmark. Transylvania students have also participated in several outside research projects, including a National Science Foundation program with NASA.

Transylvania University admits students regardless of age, race, color, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation, disability, veteran status, national origin, or any other classification protected by federal or state law or local ordinance.