Computer science degree questions.

Undergrad degree in Computer science in canada - international student

• I am an Engineering graduate from India (undergraduate course in Electrical engineering)in my mid thirties. Did my undergrad degree ~12 years ago. Worked in non-computer related family business since then except for a break in between when I trained for a year and worked as a programmer. Went to the US and worked there for a year. Back to the family business for last 4 years. Plan to leave for good and pursue education now (which was always my first love). Looking to go to canda with plans for a Master's in Computer Science and maybe Financial Engineering afterwards. Looking for a list of Universities/colleges in Canada for an undergrad degree to start out the process. Questions: Will going through an undergraduate degree help in getting into a better Master's program (better in the academic sense of the word and hopefully, in terms of a job prospects too)? In the sense of being in the system and the undegrad program/faculty helping you with references/suggestions? Probably, someone with experience of the Canadian system could answer this. Need a list of around 10 places in Canada that I can apply to for an undergrad degree that are academically strong enough that the next step (Master's etc.) would be easy. Of course, these need to be places that would take someone like me. Need some background on how the list was generated and a feel for the place. Planning to apply for this fall session. If things dont work out, does the fact that you have had a prior application rejected adversely affect your application in the future? (Quite a few colleges do have this question on their application form)

• Answer:

  Hi ag64-ga, I'm happy to be able to answer your question because as soon as I read it I had the distinct feeling of having been in the same situation as you appear to be in now. For your reference, I received my BSc in Computing Science from Simon Fraser University (just outside of Vancouver, BC). Before deciding against immediately doing a graduate program, I also thoroughly researched what was available and the application process involved. Here are the answers to your questions in order: Question #1: Will going through an undergraduate degree help in getting into a better Master's program (better in the academic sense of the word and hopefully, in terms of a job prospects too)? In the sense of being in the system and the undegrad program/faculty helping you with references/suggestions? Answer: Considering that you have already completed an undergraduate degree in a field that would be considered "related" to Computing Science at most institutions, there is actually an alternative that I have seen many peers opt for rather than complete another undergraduate program. The process is something like this: 1. Approach the graduate school admissions advisor (of whichever University you decide) and let them know of your background and desire to do a graduate program in Computing Science. Mention that you believe there is a considerable overlap between many of the math courses as well as some of the computing courses. 2. Request a list of pre-requisite courses needed to enter the graduate school (these are known as core courses and are meant to prepare you for graduate level material). 3. Go through the courses one at a time and consider sorting them into the following categories: a) You have had no exposure to this course material and would need to take the course for the first time b) You have had partial exposure to the course material and believe you could challenge the course after preparing for the final exam on your own. c) The course is very similar to a course you have already completed - you can apply to have your course applied as an equivalent against the required course. Now, given that this approach works best if the courses you've taken are from a recognized institution (which varies only a little depending on which Canadian university you approach), the idea is that you enter the undergraduate faculty simply to complete the courses you need and write exams for the courses you challenge. You would not receive a BSc, but you would meet the requirements to continue to the Master's program (since you have all of the required courses and already hold a BSc). This gives you (in my experience) just as good of a chance of acceptance as someone who has completed a program in Canada, given that your grades are sufficient. References are something that you can obtain fairly easily given that you remain visible to professors while completing your requirements. Professors always look very highly on people who are pursuing careers in teaching or research! You should note that most graduate programs are seeking diversity in their classes so you shouldn't shy away from showing them what you are capable of and what you have learned in India. Express your interest in academia if you have it (there is always a shortage of capable professors and associates lately). Question #2: Need a list of around 10 places in Canada that I can apply to for an undergrad degree that are academically strong enough that the next step (Master's etc.) would be easy. Of course, these need to be places that would take someone like me. Need some background on how the list was generated and a feel for the place. Answer: In Canada, we have an annual report that is put out by Maclean's magazine which ranks Canadian universities based on numerous criteria. Granted that they only get as granular as universities that fit into the "Medical-Doctoral" or "Comprehensive" categories, rest assured that if you consider 10 universities from these two groups, all will provide you with a strong enough foundation to support you at the graudate level. More importantly, they are all well-established and large enough to be recognized well regardless of where in Canada you decide to pursue graduate studies. The rankings and some analysis is available online from: http://www.macleans.ca/universities/ I would note, however, that if I were in your shoes, the place where I choose to obtain prerequisite credits would also be my first choice for graduate school. This may have been different if I were obtaining another undergraduate degree, but relationships persist a lot better if you stay in one place. Since I have some perspective on which schools have the strongest Computing Science programs in particular, my list below has taken that into account as well (just in case you wonder why I didn't pick just the top 5 from each Macleans category). The homepages of my Top 10 choices (no particular order) for Computing Science programs in Canada are listed below along with information geared towards prospective students: 1. University of Waterloo - http://www.cs.uwaterloo.ca/ Information for prospective students - http://www.cs.uwaterloo.ca/prospect/ 2. Simon Fraser University - http://www.cs.sfu.ca/ Information for prospective students - 3. University of Toronto - http://www.cs.toronto.edu/ Information for prospective students - http://www.cs.toronto.edu/DCS/Undergrad/index.html 4. University of British Columbia - http://www.cs.ubc.ca/ Information for prospective students - http://www.cs.ubc.ca/prospective/ 5. Queen's University - http://www.cs.queensu.ca/ Information for prospective students - http://www.cs.queensu.ca/prospective.html 6. McGill University - http://www.cs.mcgill.ca/ Information for prospective students - http://www.cs.mcgill.ca/socs/academic/prospectivestudents/prospective 7. University of Alberta - http://www.cs.ualberta.ca/ Information for prospective students - http://www.cs.ualberta.ca/why/ 8. University of Western Ontario - http://www.csd.uwo.ca/ Information for prospective students - http://www.csd.uwo.ca/UnderGrad/prior_degree.shtml 9. University of Saskatchewan - http://www.cs.usask.ca/ Information for prospective students - http://students.cs.usask.ca/undergrad/ 10. Concordia University - http://www.cs.concordia.ca/ Information for prospective students - http://www.cs.concordia.ca/prospective_students.html My suggestion is to immediately narrow this list down to three institutions and then consider those in more depth. I'm not sure if you're interested in my biased opinion, but in case you are, my top three (in order) would be: 1. University of Waterloo 2. Simon Fraser University 3. University of Toronto Question #3: Planning to apply for this fall session. If things dont work out, does the fact that you have had a prior application rejected adversely affect your application in the future? (Quite a few colleges do have this question on their application form) Answer: I have actually had this same question and did ask a few different advisors about this just to satisfy my own curiosity. The responses I got were pretty much the same and went something like this: "The reason for putting this question on the application is so that we can see what progress that applicant has made since they last applied. The only time that this would hurt a prospective student's chance for admission is when they continue to apply without making any significant improvements to their grades and/or credentials." Question #4: Would appreciate information about the selectivity for the particular course, i.e, applicant/intake ratio for CS. Answer: None of the top institutions publish this information in a timely enough manner for it to make a difference, so I'm not going to attempt to answer this question for each of the above schools. These "ratios" are never fixed and depend on a lot of factors which vary wherever you go. What I can provide is an understanding of the trends and changes in demand in recent years: 1. Most schools were operating under a system of opening up a fixed number of seats into their programs (the number would generally be tied to budget and the number of students expected to graduate during that period). 2. Federal and provincial governments have undertaken significant programs to open up more spaces in programs in computing science and engineering in most areas of the country. The immediate effect has been that entry requirements are not nearly as competitive as they once were. A secondary effect is that many more students are dropping out after a year, and these are generally the students that wouldn't have made it through the old application process. 3. The number of graduates in these programs are only increasing marginally relative to the number of additional seats that have been opened up. I hope the information above has given you a starting point and a better understanding of how the Canadian system works. I wish you all the best of luck in your endeavours :) Cheers! answerguru-ga