CS Departmental Scholarships

The CS Scholarship Committee consists of Don Colton (chairman), Leslie Fife, and other CS faculty. Scholarships are routinely awarded for Fall, Winter, Spring, and Summer each year.

For calendar year 2004, we expect to offer about 20 scholarships worth $500 each in Fall and Winter, and about 10 scholarships worth $250 each in Spring or Summer.

Scholarships are awarded on a competitive basis to students who meet the minimum requirements, and score highly enough in the other evaluation areas (areas of interest to the committee).

05 May 2004 email to CS students

From: Don Colton 
Subject: CS Scholarships Fall 2004

Aloha

The time has come to apply for CS Department Scholarships for Fall
2004.  We plan to give 22 scholarships of $500 each.  There appear to
be 43 students who meet the minimum qualifications.

Please note that a number of current scholarship holders will be
graduating in either April or June.  That means more money for the
students who are still here.  Even if you do not expect to earn a
scholarship for Fall, it is good to apply so that the faculty are more
aware of you in preparation for the Winter 2005 scholarships.

The official deadline to apply is May 15.  Since that day is a
Saturday, we will also accept applications that are completed by May
17 (Monday).  However, that is less than two weeks from now.

If you already know that you will not apply (for example, you have too
many scholarships already, or you are going on a mission, or you will
graduate before Fall), please let us know in a reply to this email and
we will not ask you again and again.

Application Process: To apply, complete the following steps on or
before May 17:

(1) Use MAPPER (http://mapper.byuh.edu/) to record or update your
    academic plan leading to graduation.  When you have it perfect (as
    much as possible), press SYNC and then press FILE.

    You MUST perform this step between May 5 and May 17 (inclusive).

(2) Register for Fall 2004 with at least twelve credits.  If you
    cannot register for some reason, explain it in your email
    (3) mentioned below.  You are currently registered for xx credits.

(3) Send an email to  stating the following
    things:

    (a) "I wish to be considered for a Fall 2004 CS department
    scholarship."

    (b) "I intend to graduate from BYUH with a BS in Computer Science."

    (c) You may include any additional comments you believe will be
    helpful to the committee as they review your application.

Minimum Qualifications: To receive a scholarship, the following things
must be true:

(1) You are officially registered as a Computer Science major.
    As of 05 May 2004, this is true for you.

(2) Your official cummulative grade point average at BYUH is 2.500 or
    higher.  As of 05 May 2004, your official cgpa is x.xxx.

(3) You must attempt at least twelve credits of coursework in Fall.
    If you fall below that, your scholarship will be rescinded
    automatically.  You appear to be enrolled for xx credits.

(4) If you have more than 150 credits, you must have a waiver of
    advanced standing from the Academic Exceptions Committee.

Competitive Qualifications: The awarding of scholarships is determined
by competitive review of the candidates.  The following factors are of
special interest in this competitive process:

(1) Your BYUH cummulative grade point average, the higher the better.
    For comparison, in Winter 2004 the scholarship recipients had GPAs
    ranging from a low of 2.891 to a high of 4.000, with a median GPA
    of 3.615.

(2) Your GPA in classes of special interest to the CS department.
    These include CS classes, discrete math classes, and possibly
    others.  Also the number of credits of A grade earned in such
    classes.  It is important to impress your teachers.

(3) Your service to the CS department and/or the School of Computing,
    such as by tutoring (volunteer or paid), outstanding contributions
    in class participation as judged by your instructors, outstanding
    performance in computer programming contests, active involvement
    in the ACM club, etc.

We are pleased to be able to offer so many scholarships, and look
forward to your application.

Thanks!  Bro Colton, chairman of the CS scholarship committee

Older Information

Last updated Wed, Jan 21, 2004

Following are the requirements and evaluation areas for determining the best applicants.

UNIVERSITY REQUIREMENT: Have a 2.500 GPA or higher

To be considered for a CS departmental scholarship, you must have an official cummulative grade point average (CGPA) of 2.500 or higher. "Official" means whatever appears in the BYUH "Datatel" database.

However, if you are a new student, your Datatel CGPA will be 0.000 initially. You can also be considered for a scholarship. In this case, you must provide evidence of your potential. We will consider previous grades, especially in CS and Math and Science classes, and your current performance in CS 101, but we will also look at any other evidence you provide.

UNIVERSITY REQUIREMENT: Have 150 credits or less

To be considered for a CS departmental scholarship, you must have an official credit count of 150 or less. Beyond 150 is called "advanced standing." However, if you have more credits because you transferred them in, or they are EIL credits, you can apply for a waiver. See Ivy Keawe for details.

DEPARTMENT REQUIREMENT: Be a declared CS major

To be considered for a CS departmental scholarship, you must be officially declared as a CS major. "Officially" means that CS (specifically "647BS") appears in your "major" field in the BYUH database. This setting can be changed by any academic advisor. See Ivy Keawe for assistance.

DEPARTMENT REQUIREMENT: Intend to Graduate from BYUH as a CS major

To be considered for a CS departmental scholarship, you must declare that you intend to graduate from BYUH with CS as your major (or one of your majors). You must state this as part of your scholarship application.

Formally Request a Scholarship

Typically to be considered for a CS departmental scholarship, you must request it during the application period. (However, in rare cases, you may be nominated for a scholarship by a member of the CS scholarship committee. This allows us to recognize students who may not feel they are good enough, but really are.) The request is usually framed as an email message to the chairman of the committee: Don Colton. The request must contain the following elements:

(1) A specific request to be considered for a scholarship.

(2) A statement that you will take enough credits to be a full-time student during that semester or term (12 for Fall/Winter, 6 for Spring/Summer). If you fail to carry that many credits, your scholarship will be reversed.

(3) A statement that you are a CS major and that you intend to graduate from BYUH as a CS major.

(4) Tell us your MAPPER login (not password) where your plan is saved. More on MAPPER appears below.

(5) If you have any financial restrictions, such as a maximum amount you are permitted to receive (IWES for instance), please tell us. If you are applying to the Math department or any other department for a scholarship, tell us that also.

Use MAPPER to Show Us your Major Academic Plan

Visit MAPPER at http://mapper.byuh.edu/ to create and save your Major Academic Plan (MAP).

It is possible to create a plan but then fail to save it. If you fail to save your plan, we will not see it, and you will not get credit for doing it.

It is possible to create and save a plan, but not authenticate yourself and synchronize your plan with your transcript. If you fail to SYNC your plan, we will not know with certainty that the plan is actually yours, and you will not get credit for doing it.

To get credit for doing your plan, you must SYNC it and SAVE it.

It is also possible to create and SYNC more than one plan. For this reason, you must tell us the login where your plan is saved.

Have a Good Plan

Your MAPPER plan should indicate no problems (or maybe a few minor problems).

It should also show you making good progress toward your CS major. In particular, you should be taking a reasonable load of CS classes in the semester for which you seek the scholarship.

Good Grades

Grades are the easiest-to-measure aspect of scholarship. The more scholarly you look, the more likely you will get a scholarship. You can focus on the following evidences of scholarship.

(1) Cummulative Grade Point Average. The higher the better.

(2) CS Grade Point Average. The higher the better.

(3) CS A Grades. We count the number of CS credits you have earned with a grade of A (or A-). We may include classes like MATH 201 and IS 280. The more As the better.

Service to the Department

We also consider service to the CS department. If you are a tutor (including a volunteer tutor), a system administrator, an ACM programming competition winner, a CS club officer, or you do something else that we recognize as helping or promoting the CS department, it will increase your scholarship rating.

Summary

The CS department is delighted to offer scholarships to as many students as possible. Scholarships help students pay for their education. Scholarships help US attract and retain the students who will help us grow and improve the CS department. It is a win-win deal. We hope you will apply.