Grades to get into Computer Science University?

[twincam]

Do i need good English grades to get into Computer Science or Computer Engineering course at a University?

[nike52]

Well, how good are your other marks and other factors that are taken into consideration such as extracurriculars? It's kind of relative. Low 80 average is the average for waterloo http://www.math.uwaterloo.ca/navigation/Prospective/requirements_chart1.shtml#computer_science.
http://www.utoronto.ca/prospect/viewbook/0809/02_Admission-Information.pdf
Brochure says Particular attention paid to English and Math. So yes, you do need good English grades. 80 I think would be a good English mark.

[jernst]

If you go to laurier the english requirements are lower than some schools, i think it was a 70 or so when i first started there, might be different now though

[Zeroth]

UBC entrance requirements are pretty strict, and same for SFU. I managed to skirt those by first attending a local university college, then transferring to UBC.

I could have gotten into UBC in the first place, except I had no chem courses.

The requirements for Universities in general are:
Two Grade 12 science courses(chem and physics are recommended)
English 11, but English 12 is immensely helpful
Math 12 very important, and if your school offers calculus, TAKE IT.
One language taken over three years(IE: Japanese 9,10, and 11)
For all of these courses you need at least a C. For Math 12, you need a B at least.

Besides this info, your counsellors should be able to help.

U of Waterloo has very strict entrance requirements, but after you get in, the marks needed for each successive year get lower and lower. UBC does the same thing.

Hope that helps.

[Prabhakar Ragde]

Zeroth @ Wed Jun 25, 2008 9:14 am wrote:

U of Waterloo has very strict entrance requirements, but after you get in, the marks needed for each successive year get lower and lower.

Not quite. The continuation average (what you have to maintain to stay in the program) is constant. It is higher than the admission cutoff, but those marks are from high schools, and students' averages drop from high school to university. --PR

[rdrake]

Anything above 70% in English should be fine. Anything lower and you need to get your priorities straight.

Universities seem horribly annoyed getting students who cannot write.

[Clayton]

I had a 63%, and I still got into a good University. So let's just say... it depends

[DemonWasp]

On the topic of English marks, be warned: UWaterloo (and possibly other universities) demands that ALL incoming students write the English Language Proficiency Exam (ELPE). It's not a difficult exam by any means...if you're fluent enough to carry on a conversation and can write a moderately-coherent paragraph.

If your English mark is towards the 50-60% range, then you may want to start paying a lot more attention in English class. Not only will it help with the ELPE, but it'll improve your admission average. Since the exam is like 30% of your mark, those of you with 60%-range grades can bring them up substantially with a decent exam mark.

[Prabhakar Ragde]

In selecting students applying to get into the "advanced" first-term CS 145 course at UW, I'm looking at their English marks, among other things. Not that a high mark there is particularly reliable. UW used to exempt students who got 80% in grade 12 English from writing the ELPE, but they required it of students who hadn't done two years of high school in Canada, and some of those got over 80%... but failed ELPE (which really is as simple as DemonWasp indicates). --PR

[Bored]

Well I got into an honours comp sci at Carleton with an $11000 scholarship, and i had only a 65% in English. How you may ask, well the rest of my marks, especially my math and computer marks which were in the 90's. So basically if your Enlgish mark was low, make sure the rest of your marks aren't.

[Reality Check]

Wow 11k. That's pretty damn good. I only got 2k from Waterloo...Congrats though!

[iluvchairs112]

I got an 80 in gr 12 english but my other marks were all low 90s so they ended up averaging out to 90 so I get 2k from Waterloo

[Tony]

Waterloo isn't known for high scholarships (at least not for giving out many or exceptionally large ones). Out of all the Universities that I've applied to (obviously with the same marks), Waterloo's was by far the least.