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Melbourne5338 Posts
On February 06 2010 06:23 Chill wrote:Show nested quote +On February 06 2010 06:12 stalife wrote:
I think just as long as you are passionate about CS, then you don't need to worry about what you'll do after graduating This is the kind of statement I'm trying to defeat! Let's look at this: "As long as you are passionate about card games, then you don't need to worry about what you'll do for a career." Now, obviously it's not directly applicable since there are jobs readily available in CS, but you seriously need to consider what you are going to do. Or at least what part of CS you enjoy, but also what your future entails. You need to think if your future career is profitable or even in existence. It's not a good idea to just let your passion take you down one road if it's a dead end. You need foresight. This is what I'm trying to get at - following your passion blindly is a optimistic gamble at best. Yes, a lot of times you have no idea and so that's your best bet, but at least give it some thought!
Chill, when I grow up I want to be you. How do I achieve this?
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(disclaimer: I haven't attended Waterloo myself; this post is based on conversations with people who have or do.)
Waterloo is known for having the best CS program in Canada. The cause and result of that are the same: it is full of people who are passionate about computer science (of which software development, as people have mentioned, is only one facet). Many (I hesitate to say "most" because I don't actually know) people there have experience in the field when they start there, some even to the point of being moderately well known in the open source community.
I don't know what Chill considers an active social life but I do know that Waterloo is not a place where the CS students sit alone in little dark rooms and write code. The CS club is very active and students spend a lot of time together working on coursework and personal projects and also on non-CS activities.
With the kind of grades you've shown I suspect most universities would be happy to pay your way through any program of your choice. I can't honestly recommend Waterloo CS to you unless you already know for certain that that's the path you want your life to follow. I know from my own experience in CS that it is a field where what you get out depends hugely on what you put in -- the successful students are the ones who enjoy what they do and would be doing it even if they weren't going to school for it. If all you want is a degree of some kind, I'd recommend going with something else.
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This thread makes me regret deciding to go to waterloo next year. lol. sigh.
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On February 06 2010 06:48 Newguy wrote:Show nested quote + For example, one problem may ask you to write code that takes an integer and outputs the very first digit of the interger.
oo i am in high school and this question was from our textbook. anyways, me and the person next to me came up with something like # / 10 ^ (Mod (log #))
im confused with your modulo function. What are you reducing mod what? It looks like your reducing log# by... nothing?
Or are you reducing #/10 modulo log#?
there's a simple way of doing it with loops/recursion
while (x >= 10){
x = quotient(x,10);
}
return x;
the 'hard' part is doing it without recursion though
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I guess what I was trying to say is that you never know where you are gonna end up. so if you are passionate about something and you can be really good at that, then it's more likely that your success in one area can translate to success in another since a lot of the skills required for success are transferable.
For example, a commerce graduate could be a project manager for s/w development team. A music graduate may get into med school, and an engineer may become a politician.
Of course, I'm not saying Chill is wrong, you need to know what sort of jobs are available for your field, and knowing ahead is definitely great. But I also think passion is an essential quality for everything in life.
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im in compsci at waterloo, its fun. just party with the arts kids and you'll get your uni experience 
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wouldn't be worried at all with that average
i take some cs courses as part of my degree (cfm, pretty much i am in cs as far as the courses available to me are concerned), they're pretty jokes
i don't get the difficulty of the question about returning the first digit of an integer
how about converting it to string and taking the first character one line of code
and yes you can party your way thru waterloo CS if you avoid killer courses like realtime, graphics and ai. that's about it (those are 452, 488 and and 486 respectively)
or you can nerd your way through. or take any mix in between really. it's entirely up to you
and you should definitely live on campus XD
OH, actually a useful piece of advice. well i assume you know java/c/c++ so you don't need to take their silly intro courses to it, so TAKE THE SCHEME COURSES! i didn't, and i really regret it. the java courses were a waste of my time and now i don't even know scheme (or any functional programming at all). trust me.
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Go for it. 97% is overkill for waterloo CS, I think the admission was like mid 70s iirc. If you love programming and have the discipline to get 97%, you're already ahead of the curve imo. (assuming no crazy mark inflation in different highschools).
TBH I feel the differences in schools isnt that big of a difference on the undergraduate level. But thats just my impression, cant really back that up  . The coop system alone makes UW a good choice.
Cant tell you exactly what to go for, but do look up things like options(eg bioinformatics, software eng), as some need to be applied for by first year. Also you might be able to skip the intro programming course, its sort of fluff if youre already experienced.
I agree with the 'is this what you want' cautioning people are saying. However if you honestly feel this is what you want go for it. Its a pretty good choice.
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What a shame. If you took SAT and did well enough you would have gotten into any university of your choice with great financial support.
In another word, you should have written SAT, get accepted into Harvard, drop out after 2 years, and then.... (insert company's name here)
:D:D
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You should really consider what chill is trying to tell you here. Many people choose universities with the mindset that the only thing that matters is academics. Yes, graduating from a premier school in CS gives you points on your resume but the difference between that and a degree in a similar program from any established university is marginal provided you have a solid GPA. Don't underestimate the impact university has on most people (in a good way); the differences in academics between schools is minor but the social experience varies greatly from school to school. You might not have an ounce of racism in you at all but it is still depressing to go to a school where the majority of people are of one race.
I don't think anyone is trying to imply that everyone from waterloo stays in their room every night but you have to admit that the campus is pretty quiet compared to other schools. Seriously though, go to Queens.
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I am in first year and I am pretty sure you can get it
there ARE many Asians for sure but its not 99.999%!
more like 99.998%
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Oh dear god.
Let me just say, at Waterloo CS, it's 97.3% male CS students, and 2.7% fugly female CS monsters.
On top of that, you won't really get to know people from other faculties because:
1 - CS will kill you in terms of workload.
2 - People from other faculties look down on you.
In addition, all the other hot chicks from various faculties are mostly Asian. Fobby ones too, so very little chance for you to score, being a white CS student and all.
So, if you go to Waterloo, might as well buy yourself a few fleshlights because you won't get any. Period.
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All I will say as a prospective student is that applying for one school is reeeaally retarded. Why didn't you write SATs and go to MIT or something if you were looking for a pure academic experience?
From what I see you seem to be limiting yourself to one choice. I dunno... go out and live a little, then again I guess it is too late now.
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On March 06 2010 00:21 WheelOfTime wrote:
Oh dear god.
Let me just say, at Waterloo CS, it's 97.3% male CS students, and 2.7% fugly female CS monsters.
On top of that, you won't really get to know people from other faculties because:
1 - CS will kill you in terms of workload.
2 - People from other faculties look down on you.
In addition, all the other hot chicks from various faculties are mostly Asian. Fobby ones too, so very little chance for you to score, being a white CS student and all.
So, if you go to Waterloo, might as well buy yourself a few fleshlights because you won't get any. Period.
lol
bad troll is bad
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The OP is a little brag-ish. Not sure if a 97 will get you into CS? You can find recommended admission averages of programs fairly easily, so I'm not sure why the OP is so worried unless he didn't feel like looking this information up. If he were asking about Biotech/CA, it would be a little more understandable.
Everyone I talk to doesn't like Software Engineering and usually switches out. As someone else in this thread said, it combines Math/CS with the horrible parts of Engineering (PDENG?!). Unless you want the iron ring, I'd rather go into Math/CS.
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Calgary25990 Posts
On February 06 2010 08:04 pachi wrote:Show nested quote +On February 06 2010 06:23 Chill wrote:On February 06 2010 06:12 stalife wrote:
I think just as long as you are passionate about CS, then you don't need to worry about what you'll do after graduating This is the kind of statement I'm trying to defeat! Let's look at this: "As long as you are passionate about card games, then you don't need to worry about what you'll do for a career." Now, obviously it's not directly applicable since there are jobs readily available in CS, but you seriously need to consider what you are going to do. Or at least what part of CS you enjoy, but also what your future entails. You need to think if your future career is profitable or even in existence. It's not a good idea to just let your passion take you down one road if it's a dead end. You need foresight. This is what I'm trying to get at - following your passion blindly is a optimistic gamble at best. Yes, a lot of times you have no idea and so that's your best bet, but at least give it some thought! Chill, when I grow up I want to be you. How do I achieve this?
Start drinking. Now.
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On March 06 2010 04:05 Chromyne wrote:
The OP is a little brag-ish. Not sure if a 97 will get you into CS? You can find recommended admission averages of programs fairly easily, so I'm not sure why the OP is so worried unless he didn't feel like looking this information up. If he were asking about Biotech/CA, it would be a little more understandable.
Everyone I talk to doesn't like Software Engineering and usually switches out. As someone else in this thread said, it combines Math/CS with the horrible parts of Engineering (PDENG?!). Unless you want the iron ring, I'd rather go into Math/CS.
Hey atleast it's not digital hardware. Going through barby/spike and no ring to show for it  .
On the topic of social scene etc. Meh idk I woudlnt pick a university based off that personally.. It is very important, I agree. However if you really want to meet people and have fun, there's plenty of opportunities to do so . I'm sure the setting does make a difference but I think it's something you can easily compensate/overcome with personal choices. (eg time management, going out of your way to socialize/party etc.)
It sounds cheesy, but in the end I guess the decision in itself isnt important (or shouldnt be super stressful) one way or another. Adapting and make the most out of your situation is always going to be the biggest factor imo.
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EPT
