Would like some input

[Night]

I'm not going to make this a "Where should I go?" thread but more of a "What have you guys heard about these programs?" one.

First off, current admission status:

University of Waterloo
Bachelor of Computer Science, Honours: Computer Science (Co-op)
Waiting for Response

University of Guelph
Bachelor of Computing, Honours: Software Engineering (Co-op)
Alternate Offer without co-op (waiting for midterms in order to be re-assessed for co-op)

Carleton University
Bachelor of Computer Science, Honours: Computer Game Development (Co-op)
Admitted with Scholarship

Carleton University
Bachelor of Information Technology: Interactive Multimedia & Design (IMD) (Co-op)
Eligible for Admission (if I wanted I could switch from Game Dev to this)

Considering I haven't been offered anything from Waterloo yet, my main decision is between Guelph and Carleton for the time being. I've read the entries on the CompSci.ca blog a while back (it appears to be experiencing issues right now), but if I recall, they aren't too informative in terms of how each program is (more of "this is what the program is", not "how it is"). Anyways, I was hoping to get some input from others on these two schools/three programs. I've come across a few resources of information (such as this thread for Carleton Game Dev), but not so much otherwise.

Aside from any insight anyone can provide, I've also noticed that Carleton's CS program is accredited by the CIPS while Guelph's is not. How important is accreditation in the field of CS?

Thanks in advance.

[Tony]

It's hard to give insight on "how it is" without actually attending the program for a length of time, and at that point there would be some bias formed anyway. Still, you best bet would be tracking down actual students from each of those Universities. UW is easy, the rest are not nearly as well represented on the forums.

Looking at your choices now, I can just confirm that you do have a difficult decision to make. It is also important enough that you should make it on your own. Do get input from other people, but don't let anyone tell you "you should go U of Where-ever".

A tip:
- unless the scholarship is substantial (50~100% of tuition until graduation), don't let it sway your decision. A few thousand dollars might seem like a lot right now, but that amount is tiny next to the total cost of attending a University.
- if you want to work for a specific company, you could see if there's a correlation between particular school and graduates ending up at that target company. E.g., if you really wanted to work at Amazon.com (I work at Amazon), LinkedIn says that out of 7809 results (for those currently in Seattle area):
156 - University of Waterloo
9 - Carleton University
0 - University of Guelph

(Once again, for Microsoft:
384 - Waterloo
33 - Carleton
18 - Guelph)

If your aim is at smaller companies, you might have to put together an aggregate profile from a number of samples, to figure out anything meaningful.

Also, accreditation (other than the one that determines if you get a real degree or not) don't really matter in my experience.

[Night]

Thanks for the reply Tony.

Tony @ Mon Apr 23, 2012 1:37 am wrote:

A tip:
- unless the scholarship is substantial (50~100% of tuition until graduation), don't let it sway your decision. A few thousand dollars might seem like a lot right now, but that amount is tiny next to the total cost of attending a University.

So an entrance scholarship of X amount that you have to keep a Y GPA every year to keep the scholarship isn't something to consider too much?

Quote:

Also, accreditation (other than the one that determines if you get a real degree or not) don't really matter in my experience.

I figured that it "doesn't really matter" since UofT wasn't on the list (last time I checked if I remember correctly) and people say that it's supposed to be a good place to go for CS. What do you mean by the part in brackets by "real degree"?