Undergraduate Programs

The Office of Undergraduate Academic Advising and Student Services under the Undergraduate Programs Office is a one-stop shop for your needs. From transfer orientation, to holistic academic advising, and graduation parties, our work spans the entire cycle of a student's time in the Department of Computer Science.

There is a wealth of information included on these pages and they are updated often. Looking for information about course information/offerings, registration dates/force-add, undergraduate research, student organizations/getting involved, graduate school/accelerated programs, career preparation, study abroad, changing your major/applying to or transferring to Virginia Tech, visiting campus, upcoming events, need a form, and so very much more???

We encourage you to peruse our pages to learn more about the team, see current news and events, and review detailed information curated to support both our current students and future students. If you can't find what you're seeking, drop us a line at csundergrad@vt.edu.

Planning for a Transition To Computer Science-Current Virginia Tech Students

At Virginia Tech, students must submit an application in HokieSpa to change their major or add an additional major to their academic record. This application is only open three times each academic year. The next application is open December 1, 2025- January 7, 2026. If the application is approved, students will be notified January 9, 2026. The application cycle closes after Fall 2025 grades post on December, so that that semester's courses and GPA can be included in the application review.

Students wanting to change or add a major in Computer Science, Data Centric Computing or Secure Computing will need to meet all change of major course requirements, and have a minimum GPA of 3.0 for guaranteed admission. Students with a GPA of 2.8 or higher are also encouraged to apply if they have all course requirements met.

The application is submitted to and reviewed by the College of Engineering's Academic Affairs Office, who outlines the process, requirements, and deadlines on their Change of Major website.

To assist students in their planning, we will be offering multiple opportunities to learn more about the CS majors, and plan for upcoming semesters in anticipation of a major change or a major to be added.

Good to know:

Change/add a major advising sessions will take place twice a month.
Students interested in the Computer Science, Data Centric Computing or Secure Computing majors should attend.
Students currently delcared in the CS, DCC, or SC majors should schedule with their assigned CS advisor and should not attend these sessions.
For each session, there will be both an in-person and a virtual option to attend.
Scheduling a session will take place via Navigate using "Explore Computer Science" as the service type.

Dates (please make note of the different times dependent on the date). Location information will be provided once scheduled in Navigate.

Tuesdays, 2:00pm-3:00pm

September 16th
October 7th
November 11th
January 13th
February 10th
March 17th
April 7th

Wednesdays, 10:00am-11:00am

September 24th
October 22nd
November 19th
January 28th
February 25th
March 25th
April 22nd

Schedule Your Session

Students that wish to add a minor in Computer Science and/or Human Computer Interaction should submit their application in HokieSpa during the open application cycle. The next application is open December 1, 2025- January 7, 2026. If the application is approved, students will be notified January 9, 2026. The application cycle closes after Fall 2025 grades post on December, so that that semester's courses and GPA can be included in the application review.

To add either minor, students must be in a current, degree-granting major (not in General Engineering). This means that a student in General Engineering would submit two applications during the open cycle: one to change their major to a degree-granting major, and a second to add the minor(s). Even if all requirements are met, the minor application will not be approved if the major application is not.

The application is submitted to and reviewed by the College of Engineering's Academic Affairs Office, who outlines the process, requirements, and deadlines on their Minors website.

To assist students in their planning, we will be offering multiple opportunities to learn more about the CS majors, and plan for upcoming semesters in anticipation of a major change or a major to be added.

Good to know:

Add a minor advising will take place once a month.
Students interested in the Computer Science and/or Human Computer Interaction minors should attend.
Students currently delcared in the CS and/or HCI minors should schedule with their assigned minor advisor and should not attend these sessions.
For each session, there will be both an in-person and a virtual option to attend.
Scheduling a session will take place via Navigate using "Explore Computer Science" as the service type.

Dates (Location information will be provided once scheduled in Navigate).

Thursdays, 11:00am-12:00pm

September 25th
October 16th
November 20th
February 19th
March 26th
April 23rd

Schedule Your Session

Registration and Support Updates: Force/Add Request, and Teaching Assistants

Force/Add Course Availability

Some CS courses are already open to maximum capacity on the timetable and do not have additional space for force-adds. Those courses are not included on the CS force-add form. Students should monitor drop/add regularly for an opening in the course. Force-add requests, are requests, and may not be approved based on capacity, timing of the request, priority of the students, date submitted, etc. We will do our best to accommodate all requests, but there is no guarantee.

If you are a student outside of the CS/DCC/SC Major or CS/HCI Minor who is facing a registration error for a CS course that is required for your major/minor, please contact csundergrad@cs.vt.edu.
Students not facing registration errors, but simply want to enroll in a course that has reached enrollment capacity, should continue to monitor the drop/add system for an opening if the course is not included on the force-add form.
Force/adding is not an option to enroll in courses for which a student does not yet meet the requirement such as courses that are major and/or classification restricted. This includes requests from students planning to change their major that want to enroll in courses restricted by major as well as students that want to enroll in junior or senior level courses but have not yet earned enough credits.

Force/Add Form Semester Information

Spring 2026

The force/add request form will open twice: December 8-12, 2025 and January 12-22, 2026. The form will open and close at 12:00pm on the applicable dates. The list of courses, if any, available to request to force-add will be available when the form opens on December 8th. Not every course is on the list because not every course has an option for force-add. If it is not on the list below, please assume that the course is not an option to force-add. The list of available courses is subject to change as classes fill.

Force/add requests will not be accepted for courses with no available seats. Once the course is full, it is full even though the course is online. These courses are available to be force/added. If a course is not on the list, it is not available to be force/added. If you think this is in error and a course should be on the form, please contact csundergrad@vt.edu.

Not all force/adds for CS courses/courses required for CS students go through the CS Department. For examples, please see below.

CS 3654: CMDA
CS 2164: Political Science (contact course instructor for force/add)
CS 4164: BIT/Pamplin
CS 5000 course level and above: CS Graduate Programs Office
MATH 2534, 2204, 2114, 3134: Mathematics

This information is a snippet of the information specific to force/adds requests in Computer Science. For additional details, please visit the Class Registration and Force/Add section of our CS Students site. To learn more about the force/add process for different programs across the University, review the Student Advising information.

Many Computer Science courses employ teaching assistants (TAs). CS TAs hold office hours, work side-by-side with instructors in course labs, monitor online course forums and carry out other related duties. Teaching assistants gain valuable professional experience for their future career.

Teaching Assistant Locations By Course


TORG 1070 is a large space with tables for groupinqs, smaller workspaces, and high rectangular desks with outlets.
Location	Class	Instructor(s)
TORG 1070	CS 1114	Cao, S., Stephens, Wang, T.
TORG 1070	CS 2114	Ellis, Farghally, Petit
TORG 1070	CS 2506	Jian, Senger
TORG 1070	CS 3114	Richards, K., Shaffer
TORG 1070	CS 4104, 4134	Cao, Y. Hoang, Manesh, Mantri, Wang, X.,
TORG 1070	CS 4604	Hamouda


The 1120 space is also clusters of desks with whiteboards around the room. It has outlet towers for students to share. Due to a situation involving a student’s charging brick, a floor outlet and fire, we have taped the floor outlets closed and ask that students not open them.
Location	Class	Instructor(s)
TORG 1120	CS 3304	Gulzar, McPherson
TORG 1120	CS 3704	Brown, Nizamani
TORG 1120	CS 3714	Richards, K.
TORG 1120	CS 3724	Bowman, McCrickard
TORG 1120	CS 3744	Chen, Y., Gracanin
TORG 1120	CS 3754	Gracanin
TORG 1120	CS 4254	Richards, T.
TORG 1120	CS 4264	Hicks
TORG 1120	CS 4304	Sundararajah
TORG 1120	CS 4804	Vu
TORG 1120	CS 4824	Zhou


MCB 106/110 has multiple spaces/rooms inside the full space. 110 is a separate room off of the main 106 space. There are also two smaller rooms off the main space in 106.
Location	Class	Instructor(s)
MCB 106	CS 1054	Sullivan
MCB 110	CS 1064	Lewis
MCB 106	CS 2064	Hillman
MCB 106	CS 2104	Emebo, Sullivan, Nizamani, Se.
MCB 106	CS 3604	Dunlap, Ribbens
MCB 106	CS 3654	Nizamani, Se., Nizamani, Sa.
MCB 106	CS 3714	Edmison
MCB 106	CS 3824	Sashittal


This space is utilized solely for 2505 and has groups of tables and desk as well as a whiteboard.
Location	Class	Instructor(s)
TORG 1230	CS 2505	McPherson, Senger


Classes utilizing lab space:
Location	Class	Instructor(s)
Gilbert 4112	CS 3314	Tilevich
MCB 638	CS 3714/3754	Balci
MCB 124	CS 3214	Back, Williams
MCB 116 (additional lab space)	CS 3714	Balci, Richards, K.

Computer Science offers Credit By Exam (CBE) options for CS 114 and 2114 for current Virginia Tech students. For students who want to earn course credit for CS 1114 and/or CS 2114, they can attempt the CBE during the following:

Canvas Link Opens- September 21st
Paperwork due: October 5th
Priority deadline: October 17th (submitting your completed exam by this date will allow us to submit your credit, if exam passed, to the Registrar's Office so that you can course request accurately)
Exam closes: October 26th

CS 1114 Credit By Exam

CS 2114 Credit By Exam