Advice for Waterloo Computer Science

[Snario]

Hello, I have a few questions.. Seeing as a majority of you currently go to Waterloo, I'd really appreciate your experience.

1) The Advanced Level Math and CS courses. Worth it? How would you rate them in terms of difficulty? How about in relation to the CCC? Is it possible (or realistic)to get close to 100 on the midterms and final exams?

2) Electives ... I really don't know what to do for electives. Any advice? Good options? Go for the bird courses or follow something else? What are breadth requirements? Also if I want to minor in Physics or Math, what courses should I take?

Thanks, and please feel free to throw in anything else that I may seem to be unclear on.

(P.S. I only have two days)

[Dreadnought]

The advanced courses can be very rewarding if you enjoy what is taught, however, they are not easy by any stretch of the imagination. If you have the required minimum mark for the Euclid to be given permission to enroll now, you can do that if you are feeling confident. If not, I suggest going to the info session that will likely take place during orientation week and go to the classes for the first week or two. if you still like the courses, talk to the professors and they should enroll you into the class.

It's hard to rate them in terms of difficulty. From my understanding, the advanced math courses serve more as an entry point to pure math rather than anything else (don't let that discourage you though) and the advanced CS will take a much more mathematical approach to the subject (which may or may not be for you). Remember, there's a difference in being in the top 5-10% of students in math at a high school and being in the top 5-10% of students in math at a university (especially Waterloo).

As for the marks, if your taking a class to see big numbers on your grade transcript you're doing it wrong.

As for electives, take what you like. CS students take the same classes as math students in first term, so you can't really take any more math. The first physics course you can take is PHYS 121 (with or without a lab wince you're not a science student).

If you want a complete listing of plans and courses from all faculties, here's a link to the undergraduate calendar.

[michaelp]

Hey, I'm in the same boat as you! I'm also going to Waterloo for computer science co-op as well, and still haven't picked those darned courses which need to be chosen by June 20th.

The breadth and depth requirements for the degree can be found here with a very handy chart to print out which can be found here. Also, a list of courses you can take in the fall can be found here. Take a good look through that list, it definitely has quite a few interesting courses.

What I was thinking of taking as first year electives was PHIL145 (critical thinking), PSYCH101 (introductory psychology), SCI206 (The Physics of How Things Work), and PHYS121 (mechanics). One thing I was wondering was that how do you schedule the lab course for PHYS121, PHYS121L, because there are no slots for it when you pick your electives, and when you do choose it, the course PHYS121L does not show up under your lab electives. I had also thought about taking some AFM courses, but most of the later years require you to be in the accounting and financial management program, so it's not good for the breadth/depth requirements.

In terms of advanced courses, I was going to take the advanced computer science course, CS145, but not math. I scored 60 on this years CCC and 67 on Euclid. I'm pretty sure I'll be able to handle a more advanced CS course, but don't wanna screw myself over by taking the advanced math as well.

Anyways, I hope that helps you choose your courses. And if anyone has an idea about that physics lab thing, please chip in!

[Dreadnought]

The cutoff for the advanced courses is usually 80 % on the Euclid.

Basically, the way your first term will look is (14- can be substituted for 13- for advanced courses).
CS 135 (cs majors can't take 115 I think)
Math 135
Math 137
2 electives (+ labs if any)

You only get 2 electives, they ask you to choose 4 in case they can't fit you in.
For the labs, I think there is an option when you choose your electives to indicate you want to take the lab. I'm not sure though, the first term has a different enrollment process from other terms.

[Brightguy]

Snario @ Mon Jun 18, 2012 6:10 pm wrote:

1) The Advanced Level Math and CS courses. Worth it? How would you rate them in terms of difficulty? How about in relation to the CCC? Is it possible (or realistic)to get close to 100 on the midterms and final exams?

It really depends on the person, and the instructor. I didn't take the advanced level, although I might if I could do it over again. I started taking the harder versions of courses which had them in third year. Sure, it's possible to get perfect on exams, you just can't count on it.

Snario @ Mon Jun 18, 2012 6:10 pm wrote:

2) Electives ... I really don't know what to do for electives. Any advice? Good options?

As occasionally mentioned on this forum: If you like showmanship, Larry Smith's ECON 101/102 is very entertaining economics. You can see a sample of his teaching style in his TED talk. He doesn't seem to be teaching this fall, though.

michaelp @ Mon Jun 18, 2012 10:52 pm wrote:

What I was thinking of taking as first year electives was PHIL145 (critical thinking), PSYCH101 (introductory psychology), SCI206 (The Physics of How Things Work), and PHYS121 (mechanics). One thing I was wondering was that how do you schedule the lab course for PHYS121, PHYS121L, because there are no slots for it when you pick your electives, and when you do choose it, the course PHYS121L does not show up under your lab electives. I had also thought about taking some AFM courses, but most of the later years require you to be in the accounting and financial management program, so it's not good for the breadth/depth requirements.

I took all those courses. I thought PHIL 145 was fantastic; it made a huge impression on me. SCI 206 was fun and easy. PHYS 121 was math-heavy and so a lot harder than your typical elective. I don't think the lab part is required because I didn't take it. PSYCH 101 might be nice if you get a good instructor; unfortunately I wasn't able to get the one I wanted.

P.S. You can switch classes in the first 2 weeks of term, assuming openings are available. I missed my enrolment window almost every term.

[Ultrahex]

Since you already seem committed to going to Waterloo (otherwise I would attempt to deter you if you enjoy social interaction).

1) The advanced level CS and MATH courses are definitely worth it; I took some but not all of them but overall a better learning experience (and thus more rewarding).

2) Choose whether you want to take a minor; OR do depth and breadth very early (it is worth your time considering this early on).

My Personal Experience:
I took CS135, CS136 (the advanced CS courses were not available, and are actually not extremely different than my offering after sitting on 145, 146 lectures).

My electives were PHYS 121 - Physics 1, CHEM 120 - Chemistry 1 which are the mainstream physics and chemistry courses (same courses that that phys and chem majors would take).

While I did take CHEM and PHYS early on (and actually resulted taking PHYS 122 - Physics 2, and PHYS 241 - E&M); the course material was lacking in my opinion, and for the most part poorly taught especially in PHYS241 which had a terrible prof.

I now am in my final term at the University of Waterloo wishing I had chosen my courses a fair bit differently, probably should have finished my Combinatorics and Optimization Joint Major.

I am not really to certain Computer Science at Waterloo is totally worth it since the C&O program is actually a ton better than CS with a lot of history at UW. The first few years of CS will be relatively boring for most hardcore CS programmers as a fair bit is potentially just chug work and the advanced CS and MATH courses try to advanced past this but once you do not have a choice to do advanced stream you will have to deal with the slowness of regular lecture and learning at UWaterloo.

If you are feeling up to it, do a CS & C&O major but this of course depends on what you plan to specialize in; as at the end of degree you are just a name on a piece of paper if you have not made yourself something more than that outside of university.

Oh right, don't expect to get 100's in almost any of your courses, it is just something you cannot expect, things are extremely hard in university but not hard as in theoretically hard but hard in terms of making your brain think fast enough and your hand to write fast enough. The only time my marks suffered were in courses where I thought the content was bull**** and I was not interested in actually learning the material or I was going through a rough time mentally outside of my university life.

4B Computer Science,
University of Waterloo Student

[DPXJube]

I know this is someone else's thread but I don't want to flood the frontpage with another Waterloo computer science thread so I'll use this to ask my question.
Math has always been a field where I struggle in, I can get good marks in it but it takes considerably a LOT more effort then every single other course. Anyway, of the 3 math's in grade 12 is there a particular one that is "preferred" by Waterloo if I want to get into Computer Science?

[apython1992]

Welcome to the forums!

Out of the three 12U math courses offered in Ontario, the two that are more needed/useful for math/cs/science (as far as entrance requirements are concerned) are Calculus and Advanced Functions. This is true for Waterloo CS - see http://www.findoutmore.uwaterloo.ca/programs/Computer%20Science. Both of them are required courses. Computer Science compared to other majors out there is pretty heavily dependent on math, and you will have to take quite a bit of it. Not trying to scare you at all, but it may save you from having to switch majors later than you would like should you not enjoy the math side of things.

[randint]

Haha, I'm thinking, well, I'll be applying [to Waterloo] next year [entry: Fall 2013], so I do not know what will happen. I'll be taking 3 math courses in Grade 12 somehow (hint, Data is extremely useful for any math major @ UW, you will be required to take STAT 230/231 or 240/241) and so yeah. But then, I want to get away with not satisfying the breadth and depth requirements by simply getting a minor in Physics (SCI205, PHYS121/122/124/131L/132L/234/242/242L/256/256L/263/334/358/363) should satisfy the 9 lecture + 4 lab requirement as long as I pass all of them. I'm also considering a CO major...

[Snario]

That's basically what I'm doing lol.