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Vin{MBL}
5185 Posts
How hard would it be to go into first year @ UWaterloo in computer engineering,software engineering or computer science with no previous programming experience? I know there are alot of Waterloo guys on here so I don't think there's any better place to ask!   | ||
ManaBlue
Canada10458 Posts
Damn, way to set your sights high dude. I went to school in the city and had a lot of friends in comp sci at waterloo, and let me tell you those fellas know their shit. Doesn't mean you can't do it, but I could make a list a mile long of easier comp sci programs to get into. Waterloo is one of the top schools in the province for that program. | ||
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ATeddyBear
Canada2843 Posts
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JeeJee
Canada5652 Posts
can't speak for comp eng, i'd imagine it's something alongside general cs though | ||
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Vin{MBL}
5185 Posts
On March 26 2008 08:29 ManaBlue wrote: Do you mean no experience as in you didn't take a comp sci course in high school or anything? Damn, way to set your sights high dude. I went to school in the city and had a lot of friends in comp sci at waterloo, and let me tell you those fellas know their shit. Doesn't mean you can't do it, but I could make a list a mile long of easier comp sci programs to get into. Waterloo is one of the top schools in the province for that program. According to Waterloo's website, the requirements for Comp Sci are: A score of "5" on the AP Calculus exam (I'm taking it in May) A 90% grade 12 average ( I have this) That's it... >_>. I took a computer course in HS but the programming was in BASIC... which is way too easy to be useful in university.  Yea well I was thinking I was gonna get owned in CompSci because of the programming. And from your post this seems true. T_T http://www.findoutmore.uwaterloo.ca/admissions/international.php?id=8 Scroll down to faculty of math and it's there :/ | ||
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JeeJee
Canada5652 Posts
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Vin{MBL}
5185 Posts
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Polemarch
Canada1564 Posts
Computer Engineering (CE) is quite different from Computer Science (CS). CS is a lot of math, analyzing things, proving theoretical things about computers, and more software oriented. CS will involve lots of programming later on, but they'll teach you what you need to know. CE focuses more on lower-level hardware details all the way down to the electric signals - with not nearly as much programming. Also a lot of math, but of a different sort. The CE program is a lot more structured; they put you into groups of about 90 people, which stay about the same for the whole 5 years, and you pretty much all take the same classes. You'll probably get to know these people pretty well. They work you really hard on projects and stuff. CS is a lot more freeform. You can take 10 or so elective classes, schedules are much more flexible, etc. There's less emphasis on doing tons of big projects (although still a fair bit compared to most programs!) Software engineering seems like a specialty within computer science dealing with things like processes for managing large software projects. It's quite practical, but arguably boring. e.g. writing large documents about how exactly a piece of software should be designed for some problem, and planning out how you'll test it. (I'm not sure if this has changed recently, so take this with a grain of salt.) | ||
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ManaBlue
Canada10458 Posts
It's very competative Vin, but no one did anything great by taking the easy road. If you're willing to be a study machine and pour your heart into it, I'm sure you'll do fine. You've got a 90 average, so you've obviously got the mind for it. Also, keep in mind that most high schools don't offer any programing courses outside of basic VB and some C++. It's all about whether you're committed. No one can tell you that but yourself. | ||
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Vin{MBL}
5185 Posts
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Cambium
United States16368 Posts
Computer Engineering is different from the other two. Because I am in engineering, I think you should do CompEng. Or Syde. | ||
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Polemarch
Canada1564 Posts
Do your own research/thinking about what you want to do, but as a rule of thumb I'd say if you like tinkering with gadgets and physical things, then CE. If you're more an ideas guy, then CS. Of course there are tons of different things you could study, but the ones you've mentioned are the ones Waterloo is most known for, AFAIK. In terms of the job market, CE is mainly geared towards hardware jobs - you can do software jobs too but you'd probably be at a bit of a disadvantage compared to CS students. e.g. Google hires mostly CS students. CS students aren't really qualified for hardware jobs though. I think there are many more software jobs than hardware though (most CE students end up doing software anyway). If you have dreams of starting a company CS/SE give you some of the skills to start a software company (that's what I did, but it's not all that common), and more flexibility to take random classes in business, psych, etc. | ||
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LegendaryDreams
Canada1350 Posts
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