Difficulty of CS/CE.. at UW/UoT etc.

[Tony]

implosion @ Wed Feb 04, 2009 6:45 pm wrote:

i heard that if you fail english during second year that they kick you out ? @ waterloo

Just to clarify this point : UW has an English proficiency test (which could be bypassed by an English course) that needs to be passed in order to proceed past second year in your major.

[DemonWasp]

The ELPE (English Language Proficiency Exam) was, in my experience, laughably easy. If you pass grade 12 english you should be fine. Even if you fail it, you can write it again, or just take an English course.

[jernst]

Horus @ Wed Feb 04, 2009 7:21 pm wrote:

I thought u don't even need to take English in university. Unless you are like ESL or sth...

You may want to take English if you plan on going to grad studies at certain schools. I've found a few programs at the masters and phd level in Canada that seem to have a requirement for undergrad english. (I didn't take it unfortunately)

[Prabhakar Ragde]

jbking @ Wed Feb 04, 2009 4:57 pm wrote:

It may also be worth noting that courses may change between now and when you get to those upper year courses as I remember when I was at Waterloo there would a few courses I wanted to take but they didn't offer them after some government cutbacks.

Courses are not cancelled because of "government cutbacks". There are only so many teaching tasks among permanent faculty (who continue to be paid regardless of cutbacks), with some extra slack through hiring sessional instructors, and they decide what to offer each year based on what people have asked to teach, who is qualified to teach it (some people may have left or be on sabbatical), and what historic demand has been like. A course that has a waiting list each term will tend to be offered regularly; one that had only ten students last time it was taught might be offered more sporadically.

To the OP: you can move back and forth between Waterloo CS and Math pretty easily, or combine them. Combining CS with Econ is also possible because there's a fair amount of free choice (more so than in a typical major). We try not to admit students that we don't think will make it through. Many struggle in first year (it is an adjustment) but recover. Some don't, for various reasons (some not having anything to do with ability). Going into an easier program is like going to an easier exercise class. You'll get through it, but you'll also reap less benefit. --PR