Computer science, where?

[lilboikule]

I applied to Guelph, UofT and Waterloo. So far I've been admitted to Guelph for co op and UofT Scarborough. I'm hoping that I get into Waterloo but I'm not sure if that's going to happen.

My top 6 marks are:
Music: 85
Functions: 80
Data Management: 80
Computer Science: 91
English: 77
Calculus: 77

Average = 81.67

I was wondering if they look at M courses like stage band, because if that's the case then I got 83 in it which would make my average for my top 6 to be 82.17.

If I don't get into Waterloo, I was just wondering whether I should go to Guelph or UofT.

[Tony]

I thought the University application website would tell you exactly what marks are being considered the each application...

Guelph, as a city, somewhat resembles Waterloo.

The problem I forsee with UofT Scarborough is that it will still be full of living-with-parents Toronto students (lacking social scene) _and_ you get none of the benefits of being near Toronto's downtown.

University of Toronto (downtown) is quite good though, and maybe it might be easier to transfer from the Scarborough campus than from elsewhere.

You should talk more about what you are looking for in a school experience (that's studying, living, meeting people, and doing... whatever you might be interested in)

[lilboikule]

Tony @ Mon May 03, 2010 6:18 pm wrote:

I thought the University application website would tell you exactly what marks are being considered the each application...

Guelph, as a city, somewhat resembles Waterloo.

The problem I forsee with UofT Scarborough is that it will still be full of living-with-parents Toronto students (lacking social scene) _and_ you get none of the benefits of being near Toronto's downtown.

University of Toronto (downtown) is quite good though, and maybe it might be easier to transfer from the Scarborough campus than from elsewhere.

You should talk more about what you are looking for in a school experience (that's studying, living, meeting people, and doing... whatever you might be interested in)

Thanks for the reply.

What I'm looking for is meeting new people and studying. I had applied to UofT SG but they gave me the alternative of Scarborough . I don't mind living on campus however, but if I were to go to Scarborough I would probably live at home. So far I'm leaning towards Guelph, but the problem for me is which University I would gain more experience knowledge wise and which would create better opportunities.

[Tony]

My educated guess is that Guelph would make it easier to meet and interact with people, as most students would be living on their own, near the University. Student residences could be quite an experience. There's something to be said about walking to campus at 4am to drop off an assignment.

Guelph, as a city, does offer outlets for extra opportunities -- http://www.democampguelph.com/ comes to mind. I know of people in Waterloo who drive to Guelph for such events (closer than Toronto).

While Toronto might offer more, it feels like it's all downtown, and I can't say how accessible that might be. If Toronto's tech events are 2 hours of commute away from school's campus...

[implosion]

Hey, I go to UTSC for Computer Science.
One thing with computer science at U of T is that its pretty much the same with all three campuses. if you look at the site where assignments, lab problems etc. are posted its all the same, except for lecture slides which each proff has their own, but you can access all the slides.

http://www.cdf.utoronto.ca/~csc148h/winter/index.shtml

One thing I've noticed with UTSC is the lack of involvement, we just had a student vote for a levy for the PAN AM games and we had a record turn out for voters.. 23%(~2500)... out of roughly 11000 students. Don't quote me this for sure, but from what I've heard there in the process of changing the first 2 CS courses intro to programming (csca08) and intro to computer science (csca48). I'm not sure if i can put names on here but this is what i've heard around campus (don't quote me on it) for us there were 2 profs that taught the course... one has been asked to leave a few times and is on her last chance and the other has just been put under review... but they're really easy to approach and very nice to get re-marks on assignments =D... what sucks is that it takes them forever to return assignments/midterms.. most times they send it to St. George to get marked.

One nice thing about the campus though is that it is really small, only takes a few minutes to go from one side to the other and pretty much every building you can access through underground walk ways (amazing during the winter, lol). And since the campus is so small you see a bunch of the same people everyday and class sizes are a lot smaller, our biggest lecture hall holds 500 i believe 2or3 hold around 300 and the rest are <200.

if you have any more questions, feel free to ask.

[changturkey]

I have an 83% average and still haven't gotten in to Guelph CS...

[lilboikule]

Ha well... I got into Waterloo, but for Geomatics... which is supposedly geography and computer science.

I don't think I'm going to take this offer though.

Does anyone know anything about this program?

[Prabhakar Ragde]

Geomatics is a fairly new program. It is mostly geography with some CS minor courses (8 in total). It was set up by the Faculty of Environment in consultation with CS, and I know this was done properly. My sense is that this area is going to be more important in the future given the environmental problems we're facing and the obvious need for computation to be part of the solution, but you would have to like the geography side of things a lot. If not, I would personally rank UTSc above Guelph, but Guelph is not a bad choice.

[endless]

i'm done first year geomatics at uw, although i took different courses than one entering directly into geomatics would take. i had math 135, 137 and cs135 whereas geomatics is expected to take lower level courses, but either way meets the specs for the cs minor.

to give you an idea about studying geomatics for first year, ill briefly describe a couple of the main courses.

i'll start with cs, cs115 and 116 are a joke, no offence to PR, just that most with interest in cs will find these courses to be lacking challenge. but i would recommend taking 116 since the GIS classes get into python use with the program "ArcGIS".

Remote Sensing, another core course is a lot of physics. nothing too intense - mostly thermo, if you have gr12 physics you will have a huge advantage for the testing process. but the fun stuff is in the labs where we work with satellite images and use algorithms to analyze them and do various other things to get used to the program "Geomatica".

Geographic Information Systems (GIS) is a lot about vector and raster. this is getting closer to cs, talking about the advantages and disadvantages of each data model from ease of analysis to storage. there is some geography content in this course like georeferencing (map projections and coordinate systems). in the labs you do a lot of playing around with layers of data they give you, answering questions in the assignments and getting used to ArcGIS.


not sure what else to say right now, but if you have any questions - just ask.
my main suggestion is to follow your interests, no need to compromise.

just curious, did you get into geomatics as an alternate option to your cs application, or did you apply for it?

[jcollins1991]

endless @ Fri May 14, 2010 9:56 pm wrote:

i'll start with cs, cs115 and 116 are a joke, no offence to PR, just that most with interest in cs will find these courses to be lacking challenge.

IMO cs115 and cs116 are a proper level for people who only need the minor, if you're really interested in CS and want a challenge you should be in a major... even as a CS student I'm not sure if I have enough room for all of the courses I want to take (all of my electives and CS requirements are full of CS courses :S:S), so I don't know how anyone who's really interested in CS could satisfy their interest with the few courses they're able to take...

[Prabhakar Ragde]

endless @ Fri May 14, 2010 9:56 pm wrote:

i'll start with cs, cs115 and 116 are a joke, no offence to PR

There are CS majors starting each year at UW for whom CS 115 would be the appropriate starting point. Be fair: it is not a joke. It does about two-thirds of what CS 135 does, because it has to deal with a large population of non-majors (including students from other Faculties), many of whom are taking it reluctantly. People do fail it, in numbers comparable to those who fail the first-year Math courses (failure rates for CS 135/136 are higher). But those who work at CS 115 can, at the end, write functions to process lists and trees, which is more than I can say for the students who used to be granted credit in our second, Java-based course on elementary data structures (CS 134, taken by both majors and non-majors).

I agree with the general outline of CS 116 (I was on the committee that proposed it) but I have some disagreements with its implementation. Perhaps some day I'll work on it, but right now there are too many other things I want to teach.

endless: I'd be interested in your opinion of CS 234 and CS 230, once you take them. These courses have been slow to adapt from having students who "knew" Java but couldn't program to students who know Scheme and Python and actually have some skills. I think they feel it's just a matter of changing the language used for examples and assignments, but I don't think it's that simple.

[endless]

don't get me wrong, i think cs115 and 116 are at an appropriate level for those they are intended for: people with no experience. but for anyone who has programmed before, i feel 115 wouldn't provide sufficient challenge from what i've seen of my friends.

sure, if CS is your main interest you should take it as a major, but i know there are some strange people out there who are interested in CS but have larger interests too. *raises hand*

[endless]

Prabhakar Ragde @ Sat May 15, 2010 7:46 am wrote:

endless: I'd be interested in your opinion of CS 234 and CS 230, once you take them. These courses have been slow to adapt from having students who "knew" Java but couldn't program to students who know Scheme and Python and actually have some skills. I think they feel it's just a matter of changing the language used for examples and assignments, but I don't think it's that simple.

I'm taking 230 in the fall, but 234 will be next summer. I'll be sure to send you an email with my views on the course upon completion.

[jcollins1991]

endless @ Sat May 15, 2010 8:02 am wrote:

I'm taking 230 in the fall, but 234 will be next summer. I'll be sure to send you an email with my views on the course upon completion.

Umm... Unless it's changing (or they have a class for just your program or something), CS230 is normally only available in the winter term :S... The next closest thing available is CS241 probably, but starting this coming fall you need CS246 to get into that course >__<...

[endless]

ah yes, scratch that. i'm taking 234 in the fall.