Help Please

[implosion]

hi, so next year i'm going into Gr. 12 and i'm not sure if i'm going to take a victory lap. also i'm not 100% sure of what i want to take for a career but right now I'm assuming Computer Engineer and i was wondering what kind of marks i would need to get into Waterloo or McMaster (that's what i'm thinking of, more for Waterloo). Next year i'm taking: Advanced Functions, Calculus and Vectors, Chemistry, Physics, English, Computer Information Science, Computer Engineering and accounting. this year my marks were Math: 79, English: 76, Chem + Physics: 70 and my computer marks were 84. also this is going to sound like a really stupid question but when after graduating as a computer engineer... where would i work, like at ibm or something ? and what kind of daily tasks would i do ?

[Tony]

Most Universities publish their expected cut-off marks for each discipline. Check with the Universities you are interested in. I would think that Engineering is typically in the 80s. Keep in mind that your admission is also influenced by the contents of the "Additional Information Form" (AIF at UWaterloo, might be called differently elsewhere).

There's an article on more information on Computer Engineering, that you might find useful.

[implosion]

Thanks that was a bit of help... but on [url]electronicinfo.ca [/url] it says there looking at "Individual selection from the mid-80s." but on this other site that my guidance counselor gave me myblueprint.ca it says that its cut off mark was 70%. As well according to my marks... what would be the odds of me getting into either.. waterloo, mcmaster or toronto and how tough is the math + science in gr. 12 compared to gr.11 cuz i heard that calculus & vectors was the hardest course in our school "apparently". also how much does the co-op pay for computer engineering ?... because in the 5 years its gonna cost me 100 000ish.. which i only have 10 000 for right now.... i know this is going to sound really stupid but could you explain to me a pratical day for a computer engineer / programmer (daily - hourly activities + routine)... im just confused...

[DemonWasp]

I can't speak for UToronto or McMaster, as I'm a UWaterloo student (I didn't even apply to McMaster, though I did apply to Toronto...just in Engineering Science).

The cutoff for UWaterloo CS isn't terribly high (high 70s, I think), though the CE cutoff is probably somewhat higher (they are not the same program or material). To have a better chance of getting in, improve your English, Math, and (science of your choice) marks (as I recall, these always factor towards the final percentage UW sees - that's their policy).

Math and science do get more challenging in grade 12, but it's a fairly small increase. The increase from grade 12 to university can be substantially larger. Don't avoid taking courses now because they may be hard: take them now so they're easier later. If you are going into a computer-related field you WILL NEED calculus and vectors (you probably won't be able to get in without those courses, and even if you did, it'd be hard).

Coop pays quite well in many cases. I can only speak to the CS program (which tends to pay the best, out of all coop programs), and my numbers are like this:
- work and school alternate terms
- approximate pay per 4-month work term (1st-3rd work terms): $10,000-$13,000
- approximate cost of the next term of school: $5000-$5500 (tuition + books + transport, not counting food and residence, which can add another $2000 fairly easily).
- I graduate with a positive amount of cash.

Also: note that Google Is Your Friend: http://www.cecs.uwaterloo.ca/students/prospective/ should tell you a whole lot about co-op at UW. Specifically, the links on this page: http://www.cecs.uwaterloo.ca/students/salary.php should give you a fair idea of what coop students get paid (expect that CS / CE courses will be somewhat above the average in their bracket).

I won't say my day is typical, but it goes something like this:
(School Term)
Drag my sorry carcass out of bed (10am).
Blur through my morning routine (10am-11am).
Bike to first class (4km), arrive late, curse the Gods for my own laziness.
Spend the spare hour after that class trying to make sense of it (bring Advil and headset for this step; 12pm-1pm).
Go to more classes, until the day is over at 3:30.
Return home, spend much of the evening working on various assignments; accomplish all the "easy" questions, then realise there's another side to the problem-set, curse the Gods some more (4-11pm).
Spend leftover time playing videogames (11-2am)
Realise it's 2am and I have class at 11am; immediately become comatose.

(Work Term)
Drag my sorry carcass out of bed (8am).
Blur through my morning routine (8-9am); bike to work (4km).
Go to work. Follow supervisor's instructions, if she has any. (9-5)
Go home, play videogames for a while (5:30-7).
Get bored of games, work on my own coding projects for a few hours. (8pm-1am)
Become distracted by something shiny, lose interest. (1am-2am)
Realise it's 2am and I have work at 9am; immediately become comatose.

[changturkey]

I have a friend going in to Comp.Eng. at UWaterloo, I think he had an 86 AVG.

[implosion]

i might be able to pull off an average of 86... though my science marks are really crap (but i can pull em up) and i suck at english.. aha, good to know that co - op pays that much.. almost half of how much i need for the year.. how much could i sell my books for ?... ps. you only go to school for 3 hours... isn't computer science / engineer really heavy in math / physics / chemistry ? a distant friend got into waterloo.. and he has like 3 hours of physics then an hour of math.. etc.

ps. LOL @ " curse the Gods for my own laziness "

but what i meant by daily activities was after graduating and becoming something in computer science / engineer ... thats what a bit hazy... i kinda get what'd i do.. but. ugm.. yea

[StealthArcher]

Calculus and Vectors should be easy if you work at all. I loafed my ass off in my final year and got an 85. Chem12U I missed 1 1/2 months of classes over the sem., got ~20 on two tests. Aced the exam with a 96, and wound up with 87. It' not too hard, just make sure to 'study', not memorize temporarily.

[DemonWasp]

A CS major at UWaterloo takes 5 classes per term. Usually, there are three that are an hour each M/W/F, and two that are 90 minutes each Tu/Th...three hours a day of class. Of course, you could have 4 classes that are 1hr M/W/F, but it's less common. Whatever you get, it's a good bet they won't be contiguous though.

Don't be fooled by the low amount of class time...you still have tutorials and labs to go to (depending on what courses you take, of course), and you still have problem sets to do every week or so (for most of the courses that matter)...those consume a lot of time.

And yes, most of my classes now are either math or computer science. I'm taking a lot of physics too, but that's my choice (you don't need a whole lot of physics in CS); I happen to be pretty good at physics (98% final in grade 12).

After graduation, there are a lot of different paths you could follow. As a CS major, the obvious choice is a programming job (there are an awful lot of positions available), but you could also get a research position if you wanted to continue at university. As a CE major, then you may be looking towards working at a hardware company, though I can't really elaborate because I'm not clear where the CE's end up. The variety of jobs may be surprising: everywhere from Google to the major banks to database companies to Microsoft, to...etc; you will find that there are literally hundreds if not thousands of software groups you haven't even heard of.

Your daily activities then would be a 9-5 job with occasional overtime...in most cases. Some places may give you "flex hours" so you can choose to shift your day around a bit. It becomes a lot less boring if you're interested in what you're working on.

* Note: at UW there's a program called "Software Engineering" (aka the softies) which is a bit of a merge of the Math (CS) and Engineering (CE) faculties.

[iluvchairs112]

Definitely you'll want a mid 80 average. My friend got into UW for engineering (I believe SE but I am not completely sure) and he had an 85-86 avg. However his english mark: 75. Make sure all your marks are above 80 though, especially advanced functions & calc. As long as your english is above 70 and your other marks are quite a bit better (esp math courses) then you should be fine.

if you're leaning towards engineering, your physics & chem need to be higher (similar to math marks). if you're leaning towards computer science, your computer science mark needs to be higher, like your math marks. as well as a couple other electives that will raise your avg (computer engineering or something math related or even a science like physics or chem, just to prove you can lol).

good luck

[changturkey]

And if you don't get in to Waterloo it's not the end of the world either.

[implosion]

yeah. its true... i also said mcmaster or Toronto... but the only one to respond the most to help me was DemonWasp and he's from UW... but yeah... i'm aiming really hard to get into waterloo... kinda weird.. because i'm not 100% sure of what i want to do... but so far i'm kinda guess computer engineering. What is Calculus.. i know what vectors is. My friends sister was in it and she dropped out within the week because she said it was too hard? See my problem that is when it comes to tests / quiz / exams i just blank out ... like on my math exam (gr.11) i had an 80 and then on my exam i have no clue but i got a 70% on it and i thought it was suupperr easy.. i was really confident. My computer science / engineering courses are going to be really easy to get a 90 in because all of our test / quiz's are open book... yet our exam isn't... kinda effed us over. could someone elaborate more on a comptuer engineer / programmer (Science) ??.. places to work (besides obv. ibm, microsoft) (ps. is there any microsoft place around here... i know there is an ibm in toronto.. i think).
ps. how long is the job security.. i was on workopolis and most of the contracts i've seen were for like 6 months.

[changturkey]

Dunno about the jobs, but yeah it seems like alot of users on here go to or have been at UWaterloo. I heard that (don't hold me on this) if you are decent enough at physics (which you should be for engineering anyways), Calc&Vec shouldn't be too hard. I am taking Grade 12 Physics before Calc&Vec so I am somewhat in the same situation as you. I know what you mean by blanking out on tests, fortunately that doesn't really happen to me, it's more of procrastination and well, bad math teacher.

[implosion]

yeah, i just saw your post.. kinda in the same situation... though i'm really not keen on taking a victory lap... i don't know why but i'm just taking it as a negative thing.. even though i know its not... also i'm taking its gonna be awkward to be the only gr.13 in a gr.12 science class... aha.. i'm a pretty quiet guy. aha procrastination, i know what you mean... my math teachers are just plain creepy.. and my science teachers.. aha they go by everything soo fast then your scared to go in for extra help... this year i'm gonna have to suck it in.... i love math and science... but its just applying them lol ... for physics on our exam we already have all of the formulas and constants... so i guess that will be really helpful, though i'm not sure how many there will be... now i'm looking into software engineering ... though i still can't decide..

[Tony]

Calculus is about dividing things by zero -- limits, areas under graph.

As for places to work -- just about everywhere. A lot of large corporations develop their own internal software. Did you know that Toronto hospitals (well, the ones that are part of the UHN anyway) are building (have build already?) their own fiber-optical network? Apparently it's cheaper to halt downtown Toronto traffic and dig up the streets, than to have their data moved by existing utility companies. There is a lot of tech innovation and development going on there.

Wallmart's foundation lays in software.

The Dark Knight came with its own software unit, with something like 12 people. (or so I figured from actually staying through the credits.)

workopolis is not the place to go looking for a job. I get more interesting job opportunities in my email inbox (like actually technical jobs, I'm not referring to spam), than are listed on workopolis. Also, a "contract" is not the same as full-time employment.

[implosion]

Yeah, still the job area seems a bit awkward to me... has anyone heard of S.A.P.. my cousin works for a job hiring company and she said that is a really good area of IT to get into but she never really explained it to me and i suck at researching. Also i heard from other people that when some people decide to go into computer engineering in university they don't realize what there getting into then end up dropping it. Also in a hypothetical situation, lets say i just hit all 80s in my courses... would i still have a chance to get into waterloo, mcmaster, or toronto ? and having computer information science and engineer help my chance of getting in since some other schools in the area don't offer the course ?