Transferring to UWaterloo... is it even worth applying?

[Cpt_Adama]

I'm a first year student at University of Manitoba, last year before graduating high-school I only applied to UManitoba since it was closest to where I live and all my friends were going there. I did know what I wanted to do so it would have been financially irresponsible to study out of my province, anyways, now I want to pursue a degree in Computer science and was hoping to get into UWaterloo. My highschool grades were

Chem 93
Physics 96
English 81
Pre Calculus (Advanced Functions in ontario) 96
Calculus and Vectors 80

My grades in the first semester of uni were
Chem B+
Bio B
Calculus 1: A
Computer Science 1: A+
History: A

(UofM grading scale:
a+ = 90-100%
a = 80-90%
b+ = 75-80%
b = 70- 75%
c+ = 65-70
c = 55-65
d <55)
I highly doubt that waterloo is gonna give much weight to my high school marks and my Uni grades are okay I guess but nothing spectacular, I'm guessing that UWaterloo does not accept a lot of transfer students. I have heard rumours that unless you apply out of high school it is impossible to get into UWaterloo comp sci. I understand that it is probably really difficult to go from one uni to waterloo, but is there a realistic chance that Waterloo accepts students who have attended a year at a different university? Should I bother throwing in my ~$200 for application?

[DemonWasp]

First off, your high school grades are excellent. Were you applying right out of high school, you'd almost certainly be accepted immediately. Your university grades are pretty decent too (particularly, Calc and CS are important, and you did well in both).

Secondly, it is not impossible to get into UW when not right out of high school, though it is less likely. My dad did manage to go back to UW for his CS bachelor's (and later Masters) quite a while after high school.

Judging by this page: http://ugradcalendar.uwaterloo.ca/default.aspx?pageID=767 , in section 15, UW does accept out-of-UW transfer students. Your grades are good enough that (assuming the material you studied is equivalent to some UW course) you'd get the credit transferred. If you have actual course descriptions, you could compare to the UW course calendar and see if they would count towards your BCs or BMath (Honours CS) degree. You may have to talk to a UW CS advisor.

Further, this page: http://ugradcalendar.uwaterloo.ca/?pageID=10200 seems to indicate that you would get in, based on your grades. It's more a question of how much of your first year you'd be able to transfer to your degree at UW.

Look here too: http://www.findoutmore.uwaterloo.ca/admissions/transfer.php

Ultimately, you should see about talking to an advisor at UW. I'm not certain, but I think your best bet are the CS advisors; you can find their office hours and phone numbers here: http://www.cs.uwaterloo.ca/current/people/officeHours.shtml . They should be able to provide you with definite answers, or at least a referral to someone else at the university who can. They will probably encourage you, as I am, to apply.

Good luck!

[Tony]

It's not impossible, although Waterloo is being rather picky. It's in your favour that you have strong grades, and are transferring early. I would encourage you to check out the links that DemonWasp has posted above, and apply.

[Prabhakar Ragde]

Tony @ Wed Jan 07, 2009 2:40 pm wrote:

It's not impossible, although Waterloo is being rather picky.

"Selective", please. --PR

[Cpt_Adama]

Thanks for the replies. I applied on Friday, how long does it usually take for Waterloo to send you the acknowledgment email? Is it okay if I send my transcripts before receiving the acknowledgment email?