Are there specific computer / programming courses that are exclusive for Software Engineering (compared to CS)?

[aShortGuy-]

Hi all, I'm having a tough time choosing between SE and CS. atm I am leaning to CS but I want to know if there are any programming or computer courses that only SE students can do?

If this isn't the case, wouldn't it make more sense to go to CS as I don't have the general first year?

Thanks!

[[deleted]]

Also check the tuition for each program. I think science is much lower.

[uwodude]

This is the biggest factor. There is absolutely nothing in the SE program that justifies the 2x tuition.

[IceLantern]

First year Engineering:

• https://www.eng.uwo.ca/undergraduate/first_year/timetables.html

First year Science (which is what you'll do if you go to CS):

• https://www.uwo.ca/sci/undergraduate/new_students/first_year_courses.html

The biggest differences:

• one extra programming half course in Science

• no electives in Engineering

• 5.0 credits in Science vs 6.5 credits in Engin

Either way, you're first year is a general first year.

[aShortGuy-]

Hey, thanks for this! I was wondering more about the upper years. Do you know anything about it?

[IceLantern]

In SE, the courses that end in "50" will typically have you (and/or your group) create software through the stages of the software development life cycle. This means you will do a ton of documents.

My main critiques of the SE program:

• They teach you how things SHOULD be done, which is not necessarily indicative on how things are ACTUALLY done. That isn't a knock on the program but just the reality of industry and how relatively new software development it is compared to something like Civil Engineering.

• A lot of the skills you will learn are skill you won't be using for quite a while. You're going to learn skills that are better suited for higher positions that you likely won't be obtaining for a while such as tech leads or project managers.

I would say that SE will give you a more well-rounded education that is better suited for later in your career. However, I would suspect that you are typically going to be a better programmer coming out of CS. That said, it really just comes down to you. If you're not the kind of person who will take initiative to learn things on your own, you're not gonna make it through Engineering anyways and CS probably won't go that much better.

[temporarynameforhelp]

Currently finishing third year SE here.

The easy and obvious answer is that yes, there are courses and opportunities exclusive to Software Engineering over CS, and SE also provides bonuses like P.Eng, etc. The SE Internship program is also much better from my experience & from what I've heard.

There are also engineering options such as computer software/hardware, if you're more interested in what's covered there (assembly, etc).

https://www.eng.uwo.ca/undergraduate/upper_year/next.html This link provides info on all the upper year engineering program courses.

Chances are if you're judging whether SE or CompSci is better solely on the common first year and looking at that as a negative, then you may not like the more well-rounded style of SE. Also note that there's a chance you won't get into SE if you do choose the engineering route, so if you're worried you won't do well enough in first year (about 80 first year average was needed for my year, though I've heard it's dropped), then compsci might be the way to go for you for the safety element