FAQ for COSC Applicants

• COSC is a major offered by the CSE department.
• CSE actually runs two different majors: COMP and COSC.
  COMP is the default major.
  COSC was designed to be more flexible and be used as a 2nd major.
  • The University allows students to declare an additional major if they meet some basic requirements and the two associated departments agree to allow the students to take both.
• COSC is NOT a double major PROGRAM. No such program exists.
• The CSE admin office works with students to coordinate their study plan and requirements (as examples):
  • Since there are many possible double major combinations, the HKUST computer system often cannot successfully handle pre-scheduling for double major students. The CSE admin office works with students before the semester starts to help them get the quota they need for taking required courses (this is not always guaranteed but is usually successful).
  • Technically, students need to satisfy the requirements of both of their majors, e.g., the different language requirements. The CSE admin office works with the other major's department to decide out which courses from one major's requirements can substitute for the other major's requirements.
• Admission to COSC is not automatic. We normally require an A- CGA but will exceptionally accept students with slightly lower CGAs if they have shown good performance in their technical subjects. This should be discussed with the COSC coordinator. Further details on this are provided in the later section on "Eligibility".

• So far we have graduated students paired with MATH, PHYS, ELEC, MATH-ECON, RMBI, QFIN, QSA, CHEM, and LIFS.
• We also have current students paired with ACCT, CBME, DA, DSCT, ISD, ECOF, EVM, GBUS, and MECH.
• Others are possible but would require discussions between the CSE admin office and the other department to work out details. If you are interested in double majoring with a different department please contact us; we're already in preliminary discussions with other departments about double majoring and would be happy to have concrete applicants.
• As a side note. From experience we know that double majoring with MATH, PHYS, MATH-ECON and RMBI can be completed within the normal 4 year time frame. This is because these majors contain some overlapping courses that can be double-counted towards both majors. While double majors with other departments is doable if no double counting is possible, finishing might require an extra one or two semesters.

• The official University policy is:

  With the approval of the relevant Major-program Coordinators, students may complete the requirements for more than one major program. Except in the case of specifically approved dual-degree programs, students may graduate with only one degree.

  Students who wish an additional major to be recorded on their transcript, must normally register in the major no later than the last day of the add/drop period in the first regular term of their final year of study.

• COSC will normally only start considering admission requests only AFTER:
  1. Students are already enrolled in their first major:
     e.g., for SENG students, this means they must have already received the results of the major allocation exercise.
  2. The student's first two semester grades have been posted:
     e.g., QFIN students who entered HKUST with their major already decided still must wait until the end of their 2nd semester.
  3. Some possible exceptions to the above:
     • If a student has entered HKUST as a transfer student the 2-semester rule might be reduced down to one semester.
     • These exceptions will be dealt with on a case-bycase basis. Please discuss with the COSC coordinator if you fall into one of these categories.
• The actual semester in which you declare your additional major is up to you:
  1. Waiting longer gives you more time to decide whether a double major is right for you.
  2. Declaring earlier gives you more flexibility in designing a schedule that permits you to graduate with four years with time to rake an exchange semester.

1. Check your eligibility. We normally require a 3.7 CGA.
   1. We will exceptionally accept students with slightly lower CGAs on a case-by-case basis if they have shown good performance in their technical subjects. This should be discussed with the COSC coordinator.
   2. If you had a low CGA in your first and/or 2nd semester but showed sustained high TGAs in subsequent semesters we would also consider you on a case-by-case basis.
2. Students have taken at least one COMP programming course:
   Normally this will be one of COMP 1021, COMP 1022P or COMP 1022Q. If a student tested out of those, then it would probably be COMP 2011 or COMP 2012. If the student has taken a university programming course elsewhere, the programming course rule might be waived.
3. After getting all the approvals you should submit the paperwork as described on our website. The process differs depending upon the major you are currently registered for. Please see Instructions for Submitting Enrollment Forms for COSC Students for details.

• The HOME department of double major students is the department they belonged to before declaring their 2nd major.
• As an example, consider two students who are double majoring in CSE and MATH:
  Student 1 started in CSE and then declared MATH as her 2nd major.
  Student 1's home department is CSE.
  Student 2 started in MATH and then declared CSE as his 2nd major.
  Student 2's home department is MATH.
• For administrative purposes students belong to the SCHOOL OF THEIR HOME DEPARTMENT:
  • As an example, students do exchange under the auspices of their home department's school. So, if your home department is CSE, you can do exchanges with Engineering's exchange partners while if your home department is MATH you can do exchanges with Science's exchange partners.
  • As a 2nd example, students must satisfy the academic requirements of their home department's school. So, if you are a double major MATH/COSC student with home in MATH you must complete the School of Sciences academic requirements while if your home is in CSE you do not have to complete those requirements (the School of Engineering does not have any official school requirements that need to be satisfied).

While adding an extended AI major to a double major is formally possible, it is not recommended.

Double majoring is already intense, because students need to complete all of the requirements of both programs. COSC was explicitly designed to provide students with maximum flexibility within those constraints. This permits them to take advantage of non-course offerings, e.g. exchange semesters, participating in multiple UROPs, joining clubs, internships, etc. Adding an extended AI major would add even more course requirements, reducing this flexibility. In our opinion, this tradeoff is not advisable for most students.

For those who still want to add an extended AI major, there are some important technical details to consider.

In what follows, +AI refers to an extended AI major. The majors are listed as first major + second major. E.g., (COSC+AI) + Physics means COSC with extended AI as first major, with an additional Physics major.

• The major being extended is your first major. Examples:
  • (COSC+AI) + QFIN is possible but QFIN + (COSC+AI) is not.
  • students doing COSC as first major with MATH(GM) as second major will be enrolled as (COSC+AI) + MATH(GM).
  • students doing MATH(GM) as first major with COSC as second major will be enrolled as (MATH(GM)+AI) + COSC.
  All of these would be reflected in the statement on your diploma, e.g., as
  BACHELOR OF SCIENCE in Computer Science with an Extended Major in Artificial Intelligence, and in Mathematics with Second Class Honors, Division I
• Some majors, such as DSCT and RMBI, cannot support an extended AI major. So, COSC students with such programs as first major cannot enroll in an extended AI major. E.g., (COSC+AI) + DSCT is possible but (DSCT+AI) + COSC is not possible.
• At least 12 of the credits being used for the extended AI major must be single-counted. That is, they cannot be used to fulfill any other requirements for graduation except for the 120-credit degree requirement. In particular, those 12 credits may not be used for, e.g., first and second major requirements, school requirements and common core requirements.

• Many courses can be counted towards the requirements of both majors. This should be taken into account during the creation of the study plan.
• There is more information in this additional FAQ concerning double counting non-COSC courses to satisfy the COSC elective requirements. Many basic math courses also count towards the requirements of both majors.
• THERE IS NO UNIVERSITY LIMIT ON THE NUMBER OF CREDITS THAT CAN BE DOUBLE COUNTED.
• There are also two sets of pertinent HKUST regulations:
  • The single counting rule:
    To graduate with an additional major, students admitted in 2015-16 or after must take all the requirements specified for that major, within which they must complete at least 20 single-counted credits. These 20 credits cannot be used to fulfill any other requirements for graduation except for the 120-credit degree requirement and the University English Language requirement.
    • The language is very precise. If you are taking three majors, then the 2nd and 3rd major must each include 20 single-counted credits.
  • Double counting of Common Core courses:
    Some courses can be used to fulfill both Major and University Common Core Requirements. Each major has its own specific restrictions stated in the academic calendar. Students should pay attention to the rules of their specific majors. For example,
    • The COSC rule states: Students may reuse a maximum of 6 credits of these courses to count towards both Requirements.
    • While the MATH rule states: Students may reuse a maximum of 9 credits of these courses to count towards Common Core Requirements.
  • We emphasize that these restrictions are not HKUST Common Core rules implemented by the Common-Core office. They are major regulations implemented at the departmental level and will be shown this way on the academic regulations part of the SIS.
• Our experience is that, at least with the majors with which we currently pair, with careful early planning it is possible to complete both majors within 4 years while spending one semester on exchange and also participating in UROPs.

• Yes, but they are quite rare.
• HKUST labels anything after your first major an additional major. A 2nd additional major (a "triple" major) is possible, But, every additional major needs to satisfy the 20-credit single counting rule. This means that you need at least 40 additional single counted credits to graduate with a triple major.

Technically, yes but ...

• If COSC is your 1st major, you will need to switch back to COMP. COMP has a lot of requirements, e.g FYP, industrial training, track requirements for electives, no double counting of electives with other majors, that you would not have been satisfying with COSC. So if you drop your other major and switch back to COMP in your final year you might not be able to graduate and will have to extend your studies.
• If COSC is your 2nd major, you just drop COSC and keep your first major as your only major.

• At the time of this writing, SBM will only approve additional majors if they can be completed within the normal 4 years of study. No plan that requires more than 4 years will be accepted. (Note: Some non-SBM departments will accept such plans as special cases.)
• For non-SBM major wanting to take an additional major in SBM:
  Non-SBM majors looking at SBM majors sometime think they will be "easy" to complete because many of them require a small number of credits compared to, e.g., SENG and Science majors.
  This is false. SBM has a VERY large school course requirement. The design of SBM majors assumes that students have already completed that school requirement.
  Non SBM students need to make up most of these courses. Before applying for a SBM additional major, first contact the offering department and ask them for the list of non-major SBM courses that you will need to take in addition to the ones formally listed in the major. It can be quite large.