Student Resources

Courses

Thinking of registering for a Computer Science class for Spring ’25 but not sure what to take? Get some recommendations based on your background.

Looking to create a four-year plan or just learn about what courses are going to be offered? Check out the courses that will be offered in the next four years.   

Have a specific career path in mind, and wondering what courses you should take? Check out suggested courses for various career paths.

Hardware and Software

All the software needed for our courses is freely available, from the introductory courses all the way up to our senior capstone project course.

In many courses, we provide students with a pre-configured laptop containing all the software you will need for that course. Other courses with simpler requirements require students to install the required software onto their personal laptops. If you don't have a laptop that meets the requirements for one of these courses, please contact your instructor and we will work with you to ensure you have what you need to succed.

We also provide a desktop computing environment within our Computer Science Student laboratory located in VanderWerf 115. We work hard to make sure that our labs have the computing resources that you need to make the most of your time at Hope. See what software is available in the Computer Science labs!

Request software

We want to make sure you have the tools you need to succeed! 

If there is software that you feel would be helpful in completing your work that is not currently available, please email the department chairperson at cschair@hope.edu.

Departmental Policies

Attendance

Class attendance is a course requirement. Students are expected to attend every class session. When circumstances prevent a student from attending a class, the missing student must report the reason for not attending to the course instructor, preferably before the class session itself but in no circumstance later than the class period following the absence. This reporting must be either in person or by phone. Each failure to report on an absence in a timely manner will result in the student's final grade in the course being reduced by one level, e.g. B to B-.

Pre-Requisites

Whenever one computer science course is a prerequisite for another computer science course, a student must complete the prerequisite with a grade of C- or higher to qualify for enrollment in the next course.

Internships

A student who wishes to complete an internship must make arrangements with the department's internship director during or before the advising period. The current internship director is Dr. Jipping (jipping@hope.edu).

In order to qualify for an internship, a student must have a 3.0 grade point average in computer science courses, have taken a sufficient number of courses to prepare for the internship, and have the approval of the department. The director of internships will work with the student to find a suitable placement. While we will attempt to fill all requests, a placement for an internship cannot be guaranteed.

Get more details on internships here. 

Independent Studies

Independent studies are usually arranged at the initiative of the student, who contacts the professor prior to or during the advising period. After the student discusses the proposed project with the professor, the professor must then agree to supervise the project and the student and professor determine the number of credit hours (either 1, 2, 3 or 4) to be earned. Next, the chair of the department must approve the independent study arrangement. With the professor's and the chair's approval, the student may then register for CSCI 490.

Get more details on independent studies here.