Computer Science & Management Information Science

UT Austin's Computer Sciences (CS) curriculum is devoted to computer theory and design. By contrast, the Management Information Systems (MIS) curriculum emphasizes the application and use of computer systems in business and organizational settings.

At other institutions these two disciplines may be combined in the same academic department or curriculum. Even at institutions with separate CS and MIS programs, subject matter and course content between the two disciplines may be distributed differently than at UT.

As a result, courses originally taken as “computer science” at other institutions may transfer as MIS rather than CS credit. This can be problematic for students in some UT degree plans (such as the Bachelor of Arts in the Colleges of Liberal Arts and Natural Sciences) where CS, but not MIS, counts toward mathematics/science requirements.

Generally:

• End-user topics such as operating systems, application software (database, spreadsheet, word processing, visual presentation, etc.), and BASIC or COBOL languages transfer as MIS credit.

• Theory-oriented topics such as computer architecture, assembly language, or data structures and C++, Java, PASCAL, or FORTRAN languages transfer as CS credit.

Students should be aware of these distinctions in order to select coursework which will transfer in the appropriate UT department.

In the Texas Common Course Numbering (TCCN) system used at community colleges, computing courses designed for university transfer are identified by the prefixes BCIS and COSC: