3rd and 4th year student of CA Universities HELP

[Amine]

Greetings,
I apologize for making my post very long but I really wanted to explain well and get valuable answers and not obvious ones like my advisor at school.

well I am new at the forum, have been checking it a lot and just signed up as I need help and I am seeking advice
Well I am a first year international student at Concordia University, QC so I am taking my first year as a prerequisites because I didn't attend CEGEP.
this gave me a good chance to apply for co-op which I didn't know about co-op at Concordia is 3 work terms and few other things.
I chose software engineering because I like problem solving , math and always wanted to do something related to Engineering.

I really wanted to go to University of Waterloo because of the 6 co-op terms and the reputation or Mcguill mainly for the reputation but tuition fees were very high and I went to Concordia at the end of the day and still MTL is awesome.

my problem now is that I am thinking of changing to Computer Sc which is a 3 years program in Quebec therefore I can do 6 co-op terms
my GPA is good and I can get myself into the honors program which should be good too and at honors we take a course in which a student leads a project similar to the idea of capstone (not sure about this) and take some other obligatory Comp Sc courses.
do you think 3 co-op terms are enough an that SE is worth it or should I go for the computer science plan, I met people from Concordia it seems that both majors give same jobs prospective normally but there is the engineering license which worries me. what do you guys think ? and can you tell me from your experience how were your comp Sc classes and have you been enjoying them ? also what kind of skills are nowadays highly in demand such as cloud computing etc ...
I am very anxious and need answers as soon as possible because if I want to change I need to do it now and to register for a prerequisite course of Comp Sc.

anyways Concordia gives a quiet crazy choice that you need to make from first year so if you encourage me to change Major which option would you choose ?
here are my options : http://www.cs.concordia.ca/prospectivestudents/undergraduateprograms/programoptions/#Mathematics%20and%20Statistics%20Core
the Comp Sc core is the same and you have 14 credits of electives in Comp Sc and a number of general ones etc ... I'm thinking of Math , Software systems or computer applications (minor in applied math)
( yeah I want people to vote and give ideas and not just say it's your choice and make the same obvious answers Comp Sc is about and SE is about I'm flexible )

oh, one last thing is Design and Architecture classes I & II in SE makes a big difference ? they are taken in first year here while they're not in Comp Sc

Thank you in advance.
Cheers!

[Aange10]

While I don't have the answer to you questions (you'll have to wait for somebody else), I do have some help for you. You should go over these threads and read the responses these students got.


Computer Science VS Software Engineering
Making That Final Decision
A Tip To Stay On Edge
Math Related Interests
Different Aspects of Computer Science
Deciding Your Major
Which Is Better? (Common FAQ)
Job Variables

There are many many more useful topics, I suggest also looking through the forums for answers. However, these posts are the best answers I can give you.

[Tony]

Amine @ Sun Jan 01, 2012 4:35 am wrote:

my problem now is that I am thinking of changing to Computer Sc which is a 3 years program in Quebec therefore I can do 6 co-op terms [instead of only 3 terms in SE]

If I told you that Concordia's CS also has just 3 co-op terms http://co-op.concordia.ca/co-opprograms/facultyofengineeringandcomputerscience/ would that solve the problem? UWaterloo has 6 because we stay in school for nearly 5 years. In a 3 year program, 6 co-ops would be "2 co-ops per year", which doesn't leave much room for actual study.

Amine @ Sun Jan 01, 2012 4:35 am wrote:

it seems that both majors give same jobs prospective normally but there is the engineering license which worries me.

Yup, pretty much the same jobs. As a SE, you have an option to pursue P.Eng after (details might be somewhat different in Quebec than Ontario that I'm more familiar with). Most SE grads I know don't bother, as the benefits seem very marginal.

Amine @ Sun Jan 01, 2012 4:35 am wrote:

also what kind of skills are nowadays highly in demand such as cloud computing etc ...

Amazon's AWS did not exist when I started school. "Cloud computing" became an "in demand" thing before I graduated. Apple's AppStore (and thus the entire Objective-C, apps, and "mobile") appeared even later (Apple's AppStore is 3.5 years old). That hot new "in demand" technology/idea that will be in style by the time you graduate 3~4 years in the future? It might simply not exist today, so who knows.

That is to say, you should be ready to pick up on new things as needed

[Amine]

thank you Tony for the answer.
I'm enrolled in the Co-op program of Concordia, but I'm thinking of changing to Comp Sc mainly because I would be able to do 6
well you made a very good point saying it doesn't leave much room for study ! but what I'm thinking of is to take one extra year ( 3 successive work terms ) somewhere.
that can be awesome.
does anyone know about the Design & Architecture classes of SE and how important are they ?