Software Engineering BSSE

Major: Software Engineering
Degree Awarded: Bachelor of Science in Software Engineering (BSSE)
Calendar Type: Quarter
Minimum Required Credits: 186.5
Co-op Options: Three Co-op (Five years); One Co-op (Four years)
Classification of Instructional Program (CIP) code: 14.0903
Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) code: 15-1132; 15-1133

About the Program

Additional Information

For more information about this program, please visit the BS in Software Engineering webpage on the College of Computing & Informatics website.

Degree Requirements

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Co-op cycles may vary. Students are assigned a co-op cycle (fall/winter, spring/summer, summer-only) based on their co-op program (4-year, 5-year) and major.

COOP 101 registration is determined by the co-op cycle assigned and may be scheduled in a different term. Select students may be eligible to take COOP 001 in place of COOP 101.

Program Electives

Independent study courses and special topics courses must be approved by the department prior to enrollment to satisfy a program elective requirement.

• Computing & Informatics electives: any non-required CS, INFO, SE course numbered 300 or higher; a well as CT 210, CT 200, CT 320, CT 330
• Science electives: any CHEM (except CHEM 111, CHEM 112, CHEM 113, CHEM 114, CHEM 151), BIO (except BIO 161, BIO 162, BIO 163; can take only one of BIO 100, BIO 107; can take only one of BIO 101, BIO 109), PHYS (except PHYS 050, PHYS 100, PHYS 105, PHYS 151, PHYS 160, PHYS 305, PHYS 324, PHYS 405; cannot take both PHYS 131 and PHYS 181), ENVS, ENSS, PHEV.  
• Business electives: any ACCT, BLAW, BUSN, ECON, ENTP, FIN, HRMT, INTB, MGMT, MIS, MKTG, OPM, OPR, ORGB, STAT, TAX
• Social Studies electives: any AFAS, ANTH, HIST, GST, JWST, PSCI, PSY, SOC, WGST
• Arts & Humanities electives: any ARCH, ARTH, CMGT, CJS, COM, CULA, DANC, EDEX, EDUC, ENGL (except ENGL 101,ENGL 102, ENGL 103, ENGL 105), ESTM, FASH, FMST, FMVD, GST, INTR, LING, MUSC, PHIL, PHTO, THTR, VSCM, VSST, WRIT,  GMAP 260, ANIM 140, ANIM 141, ANIM 211, ANIM 212, and Foreign Language Courses from: ARBC, CHIN, FREN, GER, HBRW, ITAL, JAPN, KOR, SPAN

Writing-Intensive Course Requirements

In order to graduate, all students must pass three writing-intensive courses after their freshman year. Two writing-intensive courses must be in a student's major. The third can be in any discipline. Students are advised to take one writing-intensive class each year, beginning with the sophomore year, and to avoid “clustering” these courses near the end of their matriculation. Transfer students need to meet with an academic advisor to review the number of writing-intensive courses required to graduate.

A "WI" next to a course in this catalog may indicate that this course can fulfill a writing-intensive requirement. For the most up-to-date list of writing-intensive courses being offered, students should check the Writing Intensive Course List at the University Writing Program. Students scheduling their courses can also conduct a search for courses with the attribute "WI" to bring up a list of all writing-intensive courses available that term.

Sample Plan of Study

5 year, 3 coop (Spring/Summer Cycle)

*

Co-op cycles may vary. Students are assigned a co-op cycle (fall/winter, spring/summer, summer-only) based on their co-op program (4-year, 5-year) and major.

COOP 101 registration is determined by the co-op cycle assigned and may be scheduled in a different term. Select students may be eligible to take COOP 001 in place of COOP 101.

4 year, 1 coop (Spring/Summer Cycle)

*

Co-op cycles may vary. Students are assigned a co-op cycle (fall/winter, spring/summer, summer-only) based on their co-op program (4-year, 5-year) and major.

COOP 101 registration is determined by the co-op cycle assigned and may be scheduled in a different term. Select students may be eligible to take COOP 001 in place of COOP 101.

Co-op/Career Opportunities

Co-Op Options

Two co-op options are available for this program:

• five-year/three co-op
• four-year/one co-op

Career Opportunities

The demand for software engineering professionals is quite strong. Graduates can expect career opportunities in software design and development in a variety of application areas. Software engineering graduates are particularly well suited to work as members or leaders of software project teams; they have knowledge and skills to help them develop quality software within schedule and cost constraints.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics' Occupational Outlook Handbook, software developer is among the fastest growing U.S. careers requiring at least a bachelor's degree, with an estimated 409,500 new jobs by 2030. Although they have jobs in most industries, many software developers work in computer systems design and related services firms or software publishers. The field's rapid growth is mainly due to the increase in demand for computer software, especially in healthcare.

Most software engineering students enter the professional world right after graduation, but some continue their studies in advanced software engineering programs.

Job titles of recent software engineering graduates include:

• Software Engineer
• Software Architect
• Software System Project Manager
• Software Project Team Leader

Visit the Drexel Steinbright Career Development Center page for more detailed information on co-op and post-graduate opportunities.

3675 Market Street

The College of Computing & Informatics is located at 3675 Market. Occupying three floors in the modern uCity Square building, CCI's home offers state-of-the-art technology in our classrooms, research labs, offices, meeting areas and collaboration spaces. 3675 Market offers Class A laboratory, office, coworking, and convening spaces. Located at the intersection of Market Street and 37th Street, 3675 Market acts as a physical nexus, bridging academic campuses and medical centers to the east and south, the commercial corridors along Market Street and Chestnut Street, and the residential communities to the north and west.

The uCity Square building offers:

• Speculative lab/office space
• World-class facilities operated by CIC
• Café/restaurant on-site
• Quorum, a two-story, 15K SF convening space and conference center
• Adjacent to future public square
• Access to Science Center’s nationally renowned business acceleration and technology commercialization programs

Drexel University Libraries

Drexel University Libraries is a learning enterprise, advancing the University’s academic mission through serving as educators, supporting education and research, collaborating with researchers, and fostering intentional learning outside of the classroom. Drexel University Libraries engages with Drexel communities through three physical locations, including W. W. Hagerty Library, Queen Lane Library, and the Library Learning Terrace, as well as a vibrant online presence which sees, on average, over 8,000 visits per day. In the W.W. Hagerty Library location, College of Computing & Informatics students have access to private study rooms and nearly half a million books, periodicals, DVDs, videos and University Archives. All fields of inquiry are covered, including: library and information science, computer science, software engineering, health informatics, information systems, and computing technology. Resources are available online at library.drexel.edu or in-person at W. W. Hagerty Library.

The Libraries also make available laptop and desktop PC and Mac computers, printers and scanners, spaces for quiet work or group projects and designated 24/7 spaces. Librarians and library staff—including a liaison librarian for computing and informatics—are available for individual research consultations and to answer questions about materials or services.

CCI Commons

Located on the 10th floor of 3675 Market Street, the CCI Commons is an open lab and collaborative work environment for students. It features desktop computers, a wireless/laptop area, free black and white printing, and more collaborative space for its students. Students have access to 3675 Market's fully equipped conference room with 42” displays and videoconferencing capabilities. The CCI Commons provides technical support to students, faculty, and professional staff. In addition, the staff provides audio-visual support for all presentation classrooms within 3675 Market. Use of the CCI Commons is reserved for all students taking CCI courses.

The computers for general use are Microsoft Windows and Macintosh OSX machines with appropriate applications which include the Microsoft Office suite, various database management systems, modeling tools, and statistical analysis software. Library-related resources may be accessed at the CCI Commons and through the W.W. Hagerty Library. The College is a member of the "Azure Dev Tools for Teaching” platform that allows students free access to a wide array of Microsoft software titles and operating systems.

The CCI Commons, student labs, and classrooms have access to networked databases, print and file resources within the College, and the Internet via the University’s network. Email accounts, Internet and BannerWeb access are available through the Office of Information Resources and Technology.

CCI Learning Center

The CCI Learning Center (CLC), located in 3675 Market Street's CCI Commons student computer lab, provides consulting and other learning resources for students taking courses offered by the Computer Science Department. The CLC is staffed by graduate and undergraduate computer science students from the College of Computing & Informatics.

The CLC and CCI Commons serve as a central hub for small group work, student meetings, and TA assistance. 

Research Laboratories

The College houses multiple research labs, led by CCI faculty, in 3675 Market Street including: the Metadata Research Center (MRC), Interactive Systems for Healthcare (IS4H) Research, Economics and Computation (EconCS), The TeX-Base Lab, SPiking And Recurrent SoftwarE (SPARSE) Coding, Human-System Evaluation and Analysis Lab (H-SEAL), Applied Symbolic Computation Laboratory (ASYM), Software Engineering Research Group (SERG), Social Computing Research Group, Vision and Cognition Laboratory (VisCog) and the Vision and Graphics Laboratory. For more information on these laboratories, please visit the College’s research web page.

Evaluations

The College of Computing & Informatics works continually to improve its degree programs. As part of this effort, the software engineering degree is evaluated relative to the following Objectives and Outcomes.

Program Educational Objectives

Within three to five years of graduating, alumni of the program are expected to achieve one or more of the following milestones:

• Graduates of the program obtain employment as software developers where their software and communication skills eventually propel them toward technical and administrative leadership positions in industry and government.
• Graduates of the program demonstrate an ability to continue to learn throughout their career and to keep pace with changing technology as appropriate to their positions.
• Graduates of the program specialize and enhance their software engineering knowledge by enrolling and completing technical graduate courses and other technical education to position them to advance software engineering practice as senior technical staff members or managers.
• Graduates of the program specialize and enhance their software engineering knowledge by enrolling and graduating from MSc and PhD degree programs to position them to contribute to the intellectual foundations of the discipline of software engineering as researchers in industrial and government laboratories as well as in academia.
• Graduates of the program advance toward becoming leaders in disciplines other than software engineering by enrolling and graduating from graduate-level degree programs in complimentary disciplines such as law and business where the BSSE serves as an educational foundation.
• Graduates of the program will demonstrate an awareness of their professional and social responsibility as software engineers by participation in professional activities and application of their knowledge for the good of society.

Software Engineering Student Outcomes

The program enables students to attain by the time of graduation:

• An ability to apply knowledge of mathematics, science, and engineering
• An ability to design and conduct experiments, as well as to analyze and interpret data
• An ability to design a system, component, or process to meet desired needs within realistic constraints such as economic, environmental, social, political, ethical, health and safety, manufacturability, and sustainability
• An ability to function on multidisciplinary teams
• An ability to identify, formulate, and solve engineering problems
• An understanding of professional and ethical responsibility
• An ability to communicate effectively
• The broad education necessary to understand the impact of engineering solutions in a global, economic, environmental, and societal context
• A recognition of the need for, and an ability to engage in life-long learning
• A knowledge of contemporary issues
• An ability to use the techniques, skills, and modern engineering tools necessary for engineering practice