CS50’s Changing Demographics

David J. Malan

Not only does each semester at Harvard University begin with a week-long “shopping period,” during which students can attend any courses they’d like before officially enrolling, students also have up to the semester’s fifth Monday to add or drop courses as well. With this semester’s fifth Monday (2 October 2017) now behind us, here’s a look at CS50’s (changing) demographics.

Fall 2017’s enrollment on campus is 691, among whom are

626 students from Harvard College,

24 students from the Graduate School of Design,

11 students from Harvard Kennedy School,

9 students from Harvard Business School,

8 students from Harvard Law School,

6 students from the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences,

3 students from the Graduate School of Education,

and 4 students from MIT.

Fall 2017’s total is up slightly vis-à-vis Fall 2016’s:

Enrollment off campus via Harvard Extension School, meanwhile, is 111. (And over 1,000,000, we’re told, via edX.)

Women now compose 44% of CS50’s student body, a 29-year high:

And an increasing number of CS50 students, 66% as of Fall 2017, continue to describe themselves as among “those less comfortable”:

Indeed, it was with those changing demographics in mind this year that we recruited 81 teaching fellows (TFs) and course assistants (CAs) to CS50’s staff, up from 74 last year.

Also worthy of note is that 28% of undergraduates are now taking the course SAT/UNS (i.e., Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory, aka SUS), up from 7% in Fall 2016 (and 9% in 2015), likely the result of CS50 having changed its default “grading status” from letter grade (aka LG) to SAT/UNS this year: