Department of Software Engineering Resources

Advising Resources

Email: Advisors aim to respond to messages within 3 business days

Open Advising: The SE Advising Team offers regular drop-in hours for students with brief 5-10 minute questions. Click the link to find your advisor's drop Open Advising Hours.

Appointments: Students may use Starfish to schedule an appointment with their academic advisor. 

Enrollment and curriculum FAQ’s for SE students available here

 

Last names beginning A-G

Last names beginning H-L

Last names beginning M-Z

 

Information for New Students

Undergraduate Resources

Undergraduate

To be considered for admission to Software Engineering you must have a high school diploma and a demonstrated ability to do college level work. Admission decisions are based on high school courses and grades, as well as standardized tests if applicable.

More info from the Office of Undergraduate Admissions.

More info about Software Engineering BS Degree.

Transfer

Are you a community college student interested in transferring after you earn your associates? Work with our academic advisors to develop a course plan that will help you stay on track with the Software Engineering curriculum.

 

Transfer Credit Pre-approval

Software Engineering majors must go through the central RIT process for transfer credit articulation, if you have questions please reach out to an SE advisor. Please review transfer credit processes and policies here: RIT Transfer Credit Policies

 

Undergraduate electives are listed on the Software Engineering BS degree program page.

Students may also choose another course with advisor approval. Submit the Elective Approval Form for review.

Specification

Minimum Requirements

CPU

i7 or higher, 4 or more cores preferred

Memory

16GB

Video

Integrated Graphics is acceptable

Hard Drive

512GB SSD, 1TB SSD recommended

Screen

13" and larger recommended

Network

Wireless ac or higher

USB Ports

3.0, 3.1, or C, minimum 2 ports

Video Ports

HDMI or display port

Operating System

  Windows-10 Pro, Enterprise, or Ultimate

Forms & Curriculum Flowcharts

Some RIT student forms are found on the Registrar's website. Other, department-specific forms are found below.

IBM Academic Initiative
The Software Engineering department is a member of the IBM Academic Initiative which provides accredited and approved academic members with access to a wide range of IBM products for instructional, learning and non-commercial research (see https://www.research.ibm.com/university/index.html). Offerings include no-charge licenses for IBM software (including WebSphere, DB2, Lotus, Tivoli, Rational, and others), as well as training materials, books, and other supplies. Some items are directly available to students via the Student Portal. Others need to be obtained by a registered faculty member. Contact Professor Scott Hawker for further information.

DreamSpark (formerly Microsoft Academic Alliance)
Through an agreement with Microsoft, the Software Engineering Department is pleased to announce that all Software Engineering students can download a variety of Microsoft products off the web free of charge. If you are interested in this opportunity, follow this link to get started.
If for whatever reason you are not allowed to download software, either you are not registered as an SE student, are not taking an SE class, or have let your SE password expire. If your SE account allows you to log in in the labs, your DreamSpark access should work.

Instructions:

  1. log into DreamSpark. This login is your SE account name and password.
  2. Once logged in successfully, click on software. This will bring you to a pull-down choice of software to download and once checked out, select the appropriate CD-key. If you have problems, please stop by 70-1527.

For quick problems, send an email.

Palo Alto Networks
www.paloaltonetworks.com/

Google Cloud Platform
https://cloud.google.com/

BS/MS Resources

Plan of Study

For students earning an undergraduate degree in Software Engineering, view the Plan of Study (PDF) for course requirements. These requirements will be completed in addition to the requirements for the undergraduate degree, and students will work with both their undergraduate academic advisor as well as the graduate program coordinator to ensure timely planning of these courses.

Admissions Guidelines

  • Have third year standing in the Software Engineering major
  • Have attended RIT for at least one semester
  • Possess a grade point average of at least 3.25
  • Have completed at least one co-op block

The deadline to apply is the last day of classes in order to be considered for the following semester.

 

To start the application process and learn more, please fill out the BSMS Interest Form.

We offer an accelerated BS/MS program in Software Engineering and Cybersecurity or Computer Science. This program is for undergraduate students who wish to earn a BS in Software Engineering and an MS in Cybersecurity. A student accepted into this program will be able to take up to three graduate courses (9 credit hours) in Cybersecurity and apply them to both the BS and MS degree requirements.

In general, any three graduate courses in the CSEC MS program will be acceptable to be counted toward both awards. For example, the following three core courses can be double-counted toward the SE Security Application Domain and the MS in Cybersecurity:

CSEC-601 Research Methods & Proposal Devel (3 Credits)
CSEC-603 Enterprise Security (3 Credits)
CSEC-604 Cryptography and Authentication (3 Credits)

This three-course overlap will give students the opportunity to complete both degrees in six calendar years, given careful planning and execution. Our typical advising strategy is to count all three CSEC graduate courses toward application domain, so students should plan accordingly.

To be considered for admission into this program, students will need at least a 3.25 cumulative GPA, have at least third year standing, and must have attended RIT for at least two terms. Students are required to maintain at least a 3.0 cumulative grade point average to stay in the program. Admission to the program is decided jointly by the SE department and the CSEC department, and bridge course requirements will be decided on a case-by-case basis.

Students should also consult the MS in Cybersecurity: http://www.rit.edu/gccis/computingsecurity/academics/ms/overview

Students interested in this program should use a Change of Program form. We encourage students to wait until at least the end of their second year at RIT before making this request, but should also take their course enrollment choices into account as early as possible.

For further questions, contact your advisor or Prof. Meneely.

Student Employment

* For graduate level students only 

Course Assistants (CA) assist with class instruction, grade homework and labs, and hold office hours.  Generally, work about 10 hours a week.

Graduate Assistants (GA) assist with special projects for the department, professional- level admin support, prepares PowerPoint presentations, data entry, collating marketing materials, etc. Generally work 10-20 hours week. 

Student Labbie would hold open lab hours for students to come in and work.  This position would also assist with checking equipment in/out during Sr. Project meetings, aiding in access to team rooms and printing assistance and maintaining cleanliness in tour team rooms (straightening chairs, cleaning white boards).   We also have 1-2 Sr Labbie positions.  In this role, you are responsible for training the new labbies with process and procedures as well as alerting the SE Office of any equipment issues or supply needs.

For more information on how to apply, please contact SE Office Manager at 585-475-4921

Graders assist professors by grading homework assignments and/or projects (NOTE graders do not grade exams). The amount of time that you will spend grading varies but it will typically not exceed 10 hours per week.

If you are interested in working as a grader, review the schedule of courses for the term in which you want to grade. Identify the course(s) you are qualified to grade for and make an appointment to see the faculty teaching the course to discuss your interest and qualifications.  Note: it’s likely that faculty will have different requirements for graders. Also, they will expect that you are a student in good standing and that you have taken the course you want to be a grader for.  If you are selected by the faculty, they will email the SE office and we will reach out to you for hiring details.

We hire students to work in the SE main office. Students working in the office help out with various clerical tasks such as answering the phones, making copies, helping staff setup events, and so on. The number of hours that you will work varies but your hours will be sometime during the normal workday (Monday through Friday 8:30am to 4:30pm).  Generally, work about 10 hours a week. *Note that we do not typically hire students enrolled in any of the SE programs to work in the office.

You can find postings for this job position at the Career and Co-op Services website

Students in the following majors may not apply for the clerical positions: Computer Science, Software Engineering, Data Science Computer Security, Computational Math and Computer Engineering.

Please find postings for all on-campus employment and co-op opportunities at the Careers Services and Co-op page.   

For department Co-op requirements and general information, please visit the department's Co-op Resources page. 

Student Organizations

Society of Software Engineers (SSE)

  • One of the oldest and largest student-led organizations on RIT's campus.

Women in Computing (WiC)

  • Encouraging the advancement of women in computing.

Change of Program

If you are looking to switch into the SE program, please fill out our interest form. We will have 1-2 SE program overview sessions each semester for students looking to come into the SE program from another program at RIT. This is the first step in the change of program process, and will allow you to learn about SE, meet faculty, and chat with our advisors. Change of Program - Into SE information sheet.

If you are looking to switch out of the SE program, please visit with your academic advisor to discuss future plans.

For information on pursuing a double major with Software Engineering, view the info sheet here

Accreditation & Honors

Accreditation

  • The Bachelor of Science degree program in Software Engineering is accredited by the Engineering Accreditation Commission of ABET.
  • RIT's Institutional Research and Policy Studies office maintains enrollment data for the software engineering program. This data is available on their website.

Honors Society

  • Software engineering students can join the engineering honor society, Tau Beta Pi, once in their third, fourth, or fifth year. You can find more information about eligibilityevents, and more on their website.