Computer Science Canada As always, another wandering soul~ |
| Author: | cheese_cake [ Mon Jun 06, 2011 2:22 pm ] |
| Post subject: | As always, another wandering soul~ |
SOooo, i got into waterloo CS (i applied so because my teacher encouraged me & i had an interest in computers) but i still am not entirely sure of what i want to do in the future. however, i most definitely want to going into something which would allow me to develop things, preferably physical things. i guess my biggest concern is what my options are. i took a look at the plans offered & they seem rather narrow... i suppose i'll start by asking what i could branch out to without transferring (unless transferring does gives me much more options). i am also curious as to what kind of jobs a CM student could start with or eventually hope to get. |
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| Author: | Tony [ Mon Jun 06, 2011 2:33 pm ] |
| Post subject: | RE:As always, another wandering soul~ |
CS is rather flexible in terms of the number and types of elective courses that you could take. Enrollment into Engineering classes will likely be restricted by capacity though. As for developing physical things -- look into picking up an Arduino dev kit http://www.arduino.cc/ |
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| Author: | cheese_cake [ Mon Jun 06, 2011 2:49 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: RE:As always, another wandering soul~ |
aside from electives, i was wondering about what route/programs/plans would open more career options. like, according to (http://www.cs.uwaterloo.ca/current/courses/checklistsandsequences.shtml#checklists) i seem to be restricted to computer science, bio informatics, business, digital hardware, software engineering. is there a simple way to understand what i could possibly do in the form of a tech-tree similar to those in games? |
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| Author: | Tony [ Mon Jun 06, 2011 3:13 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: RE:As always, another wandering soul~ |
cheese_cake @ Mon Jun 06, 2011 2:49 pm wrote: bio informatics, business, digital hardware, software engineering.
Besides options, you could also pick up a minor in just about every discipline. It's all essentially electives. It's just that a certain combination of electives will add an "with an option/minor in ..." to your degree. Though if you are in co-op, your work experience will have a _far_ greater impact on your career opportunities, than what your degree will say. |
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| Author: | cheese_cake [ Mon Jun 06, 2011 3:30 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: As always, another wandering soul~ |
should i just go with the flow & see what pops up @_@? |
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| Author: | Tony [ Mon Jun 06, 2011 3:37 pm ] |
| Post subject: | RE:As always, another wandering soul~ |
You will still have the core courses of your major keeping you in check. For the rest of them -- my personal suggestion is to take a course from every other program, and see what interests you. I found that I enjoy Philosophy and some Psychology. Ninja edit: and I wouldn't have thought of either when first applying to Universities. |
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| Author: | cheese_cake [ Mon Jun 06, 2011 3:43 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: As always, another wandering soul~ |
you you by any chance know what (http://ugradcalendar.uwaterloo.ca/page/MATH-Digital-Hardware-Option-1) would eventually lead to? |
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| Author: | Tony [ Mon Jun 06, 2011 3:49 pm ] |
| Post subject: | RE:As always, another wandering soul~ |
You'll get to... take the ECE courses listed. Presumably you'll get to go a step closer to the hardware than a typical CS student. I can't really say much more. |
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| Author: | cheese_cake [ Tue Jun 07, 2011 4:24 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: As always, another wandering soul~ |
are that a lot of people who are admitted into uW CS(regular/co-op) each year? roughly how many? & what academic averages do they tend to sport? |
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| Author: | Tony [ Tue Jun 07, 2011 4:30 pm ] |
| Post subject: | RE:As always, another wandering soul~ |
I thought it was maybe ~400 at Waterloo. After the first 2 years, about half will not continue to pursue a Computer Science major (so upper year classes get to be reasonably small in size). Academic averages at admission time would be the published "cut-off" mark and up. |
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| Author: | cheese_cake [ Tue Jun 07, 2011 4:48 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: As always, another wandering soul~ |
oh sorry, i meant to ask what averages they get while at waterloo. |
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| Author: | Tony [ Tue Jun 07, 2011 5:18 pm ] |
| Post subject: | RE:As always, another wandering soul~ |
~15% drop from the admission average is typical. Some profs would try to adjust the curve so that their class would average out at ~70% (which is considered to be a decent mark). 80%+ means that you are doing really well. |
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| Author: | cheese_cake [ Tue Jun 07, 2011 10:40 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: As always, another wandering soul~ |
ic... & for those who decide not to continue with a computer science major, what is usually the reason? where do they usually go? also, how about drop out rates in the math faculty? |
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| Author: | Tony [ Tue Jun 07, 2011 11:06 pm ] |
| Post subject: | RE:As always, another wandering soul~ |
The drop-out is defined as "no longer pursuing", but that also includes everyone who simply changed to a different major. First year is pretty much the same for everybody in Math, so it's fairly easy to switch to a variety of other programs. Some might find their electives to be interesting enough to change the major. And naturally some simply can't keep up with the workload or find CS to not be what they imagined it to be. I don't know what the breakdown of those reasons is, or what the numbers average out to be for the whole faculty. |
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| Author: | cheese_cake [ Mon Jun 13, 2011 10:26 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: As always, another wandering soul~ |
say i want to do a minor, is there a checklist available ? |
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| Author: | Tony [ Mon Jun 13, 2011 10:51 pm ] |
| Post subject: | RE:As always, another wandering soul~ |
Yes, but those would be provided by the department that offers the program in which you want to minor. E.g. Philosophy -- http://philosophy.uwaterloo.ca/undergraduate/degreereqs.html Quote: The Philosophy Minor requires successful completion of a minimum of five academic course units (ten courses) in Philosophy with a minimum cumulative average of 65%, including: - no more than three PHIL courses at the 100-level |
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| Author: | cheese_cake [ Tue Jun 14, 2011 1:05 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: As always, another wandering soul~ |
i see... thanks. also, how many courses do students usually take a term? |
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| Author: | Tony [ Tue Jun 14, 2011 10:39 am ] |
| Post subject: | RE:As always, another wandering soul~ |
About 5 is the suggested sequence for CS. |
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| Author: | cheese_cake [ Tue Jun 14, 2011 2:10 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: As always, another wandering soul~ |
ok... choosing courses here... i have selected CS135, opted out of advance math, & signed up to be considered for physics themed MATH137... i am obliged to take PHYS121 & it's still asking me to fill in 3 other non math electives before i continue.... i havent even been told if i'm enrolled into MATH135 but i'll assume so....doesnt that mean i will have to sign up a total of 7 courses @_@? |
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| Author: | Tony [ Tue Jun 14, 2011 6:15 pm ] |
| Post subject: | RE:As always, another wandering soul~ |
You might be picking courses for the entire first year (Waterloo is kind of weird with their pre-enrollments). The suggested course sequence for BCS is http://www.cs.uwaterloo.ca/current/programs/suggested/2010-2011/bcs.shtml |
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| Author: | cheese_cake [ Tue Jun 14, 2011 7:20 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: As always, another wandering soul~ |
awesome. thx. |
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| Author: | cheese_cake [ Mon Jul 18, 2011 12:08 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: As always, another wandering soul~ |
does this look right for a time table? |
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| Author: | Tony [ Mon Jul 18, 2011 12:15 pm ] |
| Post subject: | RE:As always, another wandering soul~ |
Yup. We've recently had schedule discussions over here -- http://compsci.ca/v3/viewtopic.php?t=29005 |
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| Author: | cheese_cake [ Sat Jul 30, 2011 12:55 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: As always, another wandering soul~ |
oh, i've been curious, but at waterloo what do international students or just students in general do when they get kicked out of the rez admitted in fall and have troubles finding a place to go to after their last paper? |
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| Author: | cheese_cake [ Tue Aug 30, 2011 11:41 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: As always, another wandering soul~ |
does anyone know where/how to get second hand textbooks for computer science? or is anyone selling theirs? |
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| Author: | Cool.Breeze [ Wed Aug 31, 2011 12:14 am ] |
| Post subject: | RE:As always, another wandering soul~ |
Don't bother buying the textbook for CS 135, it's available online for free, just google "how to design programs" (the name of the book) and click the first link. The notes are much more useful than the textbook though, you can do well in the course without ever looking at the textbook. There is a used book store on campus on the bottom floor of the SLC, you have to be quick though, required books usually sell quickly. |
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| Author: | mirhagk [ Wed Aug 31, 2011 7:43 am ] |
| Post subject: | RE:As always, another wandering soul~ |
You can use eBooks instead of physical copies? |
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| Author: | Cool.Breeze [ Wed Aug 31, 2011 1:42 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: RE:As always, another wandering soul~ |
mirhagk @ Wed Aug 31, 2011 7:43 am wrote: You can use eBooks instead of physical copies?
lol yes, why wouldn't you be able to? You can use whatever you want for learning the course material. Usually the prof's own course notes are your best resource by far though. |
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| Author: | mirhagk [ Wed Aug 31, 2011 9:50 pm ] |
| Post subject: | RE:As always, another wandering soul~ |
So you don't HAVE to buy the course textbooks? If you borrowed it from someone, or somehow saw a "legal" copy online, you could just do that lol? |
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| Author: | Cool.Breeze [ Wed Aug 31, 2011 10:33 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: RE:As always, another wandering soul~ |
mirhagk @ Wed Aug 31, 2011 9:50 pm wrote: So you don't HAVE to buy the course textbooks? If you borrowed it from someone, or somehow saw a "legal" copy online, you could just do that lol?
Correct, no one is gonna force you to do anything. You can borrow textbooks off a friend, use online versions, sign the textbook out from the library, or not even use the textbook at all. It's your choice. Also, like I said above, the text book for CS 135 (How to Design Programs, Felleisen) is made freely available online by the publisher. Just google "How to Design Programs", click the first link, and start reading. |
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