What you need to know about CMSC 483
Introduction
One of the signature experiences of the Longwood Computer Science program is our two course sequence: CMSC 283 and CMSC 483. The CMSC 283 course is designed to prepare you for an internship or other practical experience, while CMSC 483 is typically completed at the end of such an experience and consists of a presentation about your work to the students in CMSC 283.
Typically, to pass CMSC 483, students complete an internship (which can be either paid or unpaid) with a company or non-profit organization. However, there are two alternative ways to satisfy the practical experience requirement: a directed study with a professor (typically a research project) or an “equivalent practical experience” such as a side project.
Requirements
No matter which type of experience you plan to completely, you must ensure that it satisfies the following requirements:
- CMSC 283
- You must complete CMSC 283 before beginning your internship.
- 40 hours
- You must complete at least forty hours of programming, database development, or other serious computer science work.
- 200-level or higher
- The work must be at a high enough level that it applies knowledge you have learned in the major. To ensure this, we require that you apply what you have learned from at least two 200-level or higher CMSC courses to at least some portion of the project.
- An approved experience
- Your experience must be approved by the internship director of the computer science program before you begin it.
Approval Process
Students cannot directly enroll in CMSC 483. Instead, you will submit a proposal to the Internship Director. Upon approval, you will be automatically enrolled in the course for the semester following the one in which you complete your practical experience.
Your proposal should be about two paragraphs and include the following information:
- The name of the company, individual, or organization with which you will be working
- Your job title (if any) or role within the project
- The timeframe in which you plan to complete the experience
- A short description of the planned work, including enough detail to show that you will satisfy both the 40 hour requirement and the 200-level or higher requirement.
A note about directed study projects
Directed study projects take a significant amount of time for a professor to supervise -- often for no extra pay. This means that professors can usually only afford to offer a directed study to a small number of students (usually no more than two or three) each year. Furthermore, being offered a directed study is a privilege -- not something you should expect or take for granted.
Longwood does offer a number of sponsored summer research programs, such as PRISM, which provide students with the opportunity for funded directed research. The application process for these opportunities is handled directly by the directors of those programs. If you apply for such a program, be sure to ALSO contact the computer science internship director for CMSC 483 approval. More information about PRISM can be found at http://www.longwood.edu/studentresearch/prism/resources-for-current-students/. Information about other opportunities for funded research through the campus are at https://www.longwood.edu/office-of-student-research/student-funding/.
Presenting your Work
Once you have completed your internship or other approved experience, you will need to present your work to the CMSC 283 course. See these Presentation Guidelines for more information about what is expected in your talk.
Which kind of experience is right for me?
Advantages of an internship
There are several advantages to completing an internship with a company or non-profit:
- You gain experience with technical skills not easily learned in the classroom
- Experiencing a real software development environment will teach you new soft skills, too
- An internship provides networking opportunities that may lead to a job or a second internship
- Many internships are paid
For this reason, I typically recommend that most students complete at least one (and preferably two) internships before graduation -- even if they also complete a directed study or other approved experience.
Advantages of a directed study
There is one scenario in which a directed research project is a superior choice to an internship. If you are planning on graduate work, experience conducting undergraduate research can be a major plus on your application. This is particularly true for “pure” computer science programs (in which case, you may want to also pick up some extra math classes, such as linear algebra or possibly Calc II).
Advantages of an alternative approved experience
Well, none really -- which is why we generally recommend one of the other two options. But if you can't get an internship or directed study, this may be your only option.