Brock University is located in St. Catharines, Ontario (that’s near Niagara Falls). It’s a medium sized University, and its suburban campus is a home to about 16,000 undergraduate students. Computer Science is offered under the Faculty of Math as a 3 year BSc, 4 year BSc Honours, or 4.5 year BSc Honours Co-op.

We’ve invested in new equipment to ensure that you will be working with the latest state-of-the-art technology. We’ll prepare you for a career in Information Technology (IT), an industry that is transforming our world and workplaces. You will study data structures, operating systems, database systems, industry-standard programming languages, software engineering and user interfaces.

You can take specialized courses in object-orientation, computer graphics, intelligent systems, computer networks, advanced Internet, expert systems, robotics, parallel computing and compiler construction.

Sounds pretty hands on, and straight forward. Though I’m not sure what “advanced Internet” could be about. Honours students will get to choose either Software Engineering or Intelligent Systems streams.

“Java is used as the primary language in most courses.” [citation] The first year CS starts out fairly trivial — some Calculus, some general Math. Introduction to Computer Science could be exempted from, given prior programming experience. First year Computer Science will cover concepts such as arrays, string, linked-lists, stacks, queues, searching and sorting. Given that the language of instruction is Java, object orientated programming will also, naturally, be covered. There shouldn’t be a problem with entering this program with no programming background.

The fourth year Computer Science gets more interesting. A full-year independent project is a good start toward the grad school. Courses in cryptography, operating systems design, and compiler construction will be offered. There’s also an applied direction available, with expert systems, machine learning, and robotics.

Getting into Computer Science at Brock University is fairly easy. Only two high school courses are required: English and either Advanced Functions or Calculus — each with a minimum mark of 70%. Overall average in mid 70s should be sufficient.

Brock also offers a few related degrees: Computing and Business, Computer Science and Mathematics, Network Communications, and Solid-State Device Technology.

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