4 Year Course Plan

Students entering the 2023-2024 academic year

This grid is intended to serve as a guide and should be adjusted for individual circumstances in consultation with academic advisors. Course availability is subject to change. Changes will be announced by the department.

Courses with "L" indicate Lab – course names are located in the Legend box on the right.

Freshman Year

Fall Units Winter Units Spring Units
ECE 3 or
CMPSC 81		 4 CMPSC 16 4 CMPSC 24 4
ECE 52 4 ECE 1A 1 ECE 1B 1
MATH 3A 4 MATH 3B 4 MATH 4A 4
WRIT 1E or
2E		 4 PHYS 7A 4 PHYS 7B 4
    WRIT 2E or
50E		 4 WRIT 50E or
GE Elective		 4
TOTAL 16   17   17

Sophomore Year

Fall Units Winter Units Spring Units
ECE 10A 3 ECE 10B 3 ECE 10C 3
ECE 10AL 2 ECE 10BL 2 ECE 10CL 2
MATH 4B 4 ECE 15A 4 ECE 139 or
PSTAT 120A4		 4
CMPSC 323 4 PHYS 7C 4 ECE 152A 5
CMPSC 403 5 MATH 6A 4 PHYS 7D 3
        PHYS 7L 1
 TOTAL 18    17    18

Junior Year

Fall Units Winter Units Spring Units
ECE 154A 4 CMPSC 130A 4 CMPEN Electives 8
CMPEN Electives 8 CMPEN Elective 8 GE 8
GE 4 GE 4    
TOTAL 16   16   16

Senior Year

Fall Units Winter Units Spring Units
ECE 189A5 /
CMPSC 189A6		 4 ECE 189B/
CMPSC 189B		 4 ECE 189C or
CMPEN Elective		 4
CMPEN Electives 8 ENGR 1017 3 CMPEN Elective 4
GE 4 CMPEN Elective 4 GE 4
    GE 4    
TOTAL 16   15   12

1 Students with no prior computer programming background should take either ECE 3 or CMPSC 8.
2 ECE 5 is also offered in winter quarter.
3 CMPSC 32 is also offered in spring quarter. CMPSC 40 is also offered in winter and spring quarters.
4 PSTAT 120A is offered each quarter. ECE 139 is offered only in the spring quarter and is better suited for future upper division electives for the Computer Engineering major.
5 ECE 153B is the prerequisite to ECE 189A. 6CMPSC 156 is the prerequisite for CMPSC 189A.
7 ENGR 101 may be taken any quarter of the senior year.

Curriculum Catalogs

Requirements

Students must follow the 4 Year Course Plan according to year of entrance in the College of Engineering "GEAR" for a close-up look at the required units of coursework for:

  • preparation of the major
  • upper division major
  • math, science, engineering
  • university and general education requirements

The ECE Student Affairs Office has print copies of past 4 Year Plans and the COE has online versions from the most current year to 2012-13.

Course Name Legend

Electrical & Computer Engineering
  • ECE 1A: Computer Engineering Seminar
  • ECE 1B: Ten Puzzling Problems in Computer Engineering
  • ECE 3: Introduction to Electrical Engineering
  • ECE 5: Introduction to Electrical and Computer Engineering
  • ECE 10A/AL; 10B/BL; 10C/CL: Fundamentals of Analog & Digital Circuits and Systems
  • ECE 15A: Fundamentals of Logic Design
  • ECE 139: Probability & Statistics
  • ECE 152A: Digital Design Principles
  • ECE 154A: Introduction to Computer Architecture
  • ECE 189A-C: Senior Computer Systems Project

Course Names w/ "L" indicate Lab

Computer Science
  • CMPSC 8: Introduction to Computer Science
  • CMPSC 16: Problem Solving with Computers I
  • CMPSC 24: Problem Solving with Computers II
  • CMPSC 32: Object Oriented Design and Implementation
  • CMPSC 40: Foundations of Computer Science
  • CMPSC 130A: Data Structures and Algorithms I
Other Departments
  • ENGR 101: Ethics in Engineering
  • MATH 3A: Calculus with Applications, First Course
  • MATH 3B: Calculus with Applications, Second Course
  • MATH 4A: Linear Algebra with Applications
  • MATH 4B: Differential Equations
  • MATH 6A: Vector Calculus with Applications, First Course
  • PHYS 7A: Course Name TBA
  • PHYS 7B: Course Name TBA
  • PHYS 7C: Course Name TBA
  • PHYS 7D: Course Name TBA
  • PHYS 7L: Course Name TBA
  • PSTAT 120A: Probability and Statistics
  • WRIT 1E: Approaches to University Writing for Engineers
  • WRIT 2E: Academic Writing for Engineers
  • WRIT 50E: Writing and Research Process for Engineers

Course Names w/ "L" indicate Lab

Course Schedules

The following areas have websites with course schedules for each quarter:

Prospective Students refer to the online UCSB General Catalog / Schedule of Classes and Current Students refer to Gaucho On-Line Data (GOLD)