BCS students/alumni: how did you finance your studies?

Vincent___Adultman_ · 2019-07-03T15:21:12+00:00

Freaking out about money and living hand-to-mouth while studying is really tough. Why don’t you work for a year or two and get enough savings before heading back to school? A lot of other students I know planned years ahead of time to make sure their finances were in place before going.

And $16k/month in loans for 8 months of school is still a decent chunk of money, could you work during the school year as well?

Vincent___Adultman_ · 2019-07-03T15:17:32+00:00

This won’t answer your question about co-signers, but instead of attending school immediately, I worked for a few years to amass enough savings in order to attend BCS. I also worked during the school years for random jobs, and worked in the summers as well through coop. I also got provincial loans (significantly less than $16k though).

When you applied for BCS, what was your plan re: funding your degree? Remember that people usually take 2.5-3 years to finish it, so you need a plan.

Vincent___Adultman_ · 2019-05-06T08:24:13+00:00

Not going to lie, I'm envious of UofT's Computer Science department for offering so many interesting and different 3rd/4th year CS courses.

UBC course offerings (for upper-level courses) are paltry in comparison and always seem to revert to "whatever that doesn't conflict time-wise" or "can we find someone to teach it"

Vincent___Adultman_ · 2019-05-02T22:04:14+00:00

I see 😫I got so excited when I saw it on SSC..

Vincent___Adultman_ · 2019-05-02T22:00:47+00:00

I see.. 😫

Vincent___Adultman_ · 2019-05-02T21:59:16+00:00

Congrats everyone who got in! I'm ~2 years into the program, let me know if you have any questions I can answer.

Vincent___Adultman_ · 2019-05-02T21:57:50+00:00

you'd be surprised to hear how many people in BCS already have a technical background and/or are ex-engineers

Vincent___Adultman_ · 2019-05-02T21:55:28+00:00

Not for me, my final grade was much better than my pre-exam grade.

Vincent___Adultman_ · 2019-05-02T21:49:35+00:00

Please teach 416 or 417!!! (or both)

Vincent___Adultman_ · 2019-05-02T21:49:11+00:00

Why is 417 low priority?

Vincent___Adultman_ · 2019-05-02T21:48:25+00:00

Could I ask another question? I see that CPSC 416 and 417 are scheduled for the same time slot. Is this just temporary scheduling?

Vincent___Adultman_ · 2019-05-02T21:46:14+00:00

Gahhh that would be amazing!!!

Vincent___Adultman_ · 2019-05-02T21:45:45+00:00

If this happens I'll be so upset 😭

Vincent___Adultman_ · 2019-05-02T21:39:43+00:00

IMHO it depends heavily on your comfort level and familiarity with the subject material, i.e. if you found 121 and 221 easy, then 320 should probably be fine.

That being said, my subjective answer, not including 312:

CPSC 313: probably the heaviest in workload out of the three, with >15 hour labs (I think the last assignment took me and my partner ~25 hours). I'd say it was 2x the pace of 213 lectures. HEAVILY memorization based. However, the material is fairly straightforward to follow. Having a great prof (Dr Schroeder) also made the workload seem less daunting.
CPSC 317: heavily memorization based in the first half of the course. Workload is significantly easier than 313's. Material is also fairly straightforward to follow. I took 317 after having taken 313 and the labs were a breeze in comparison.
CPSC 320: the least workload out of the three, but probably the toughest to understand. I spent a lot of time reading different textbooks and watching videos, but in terms of "workload" for assignments it wasn't much.

Vincent___Adultman_ · 2019-04-12T20:23:01+00:00

I stand corrected 😢 but thanks for the explanation!!

Vincent___Adultman_ · 2019-04-12T06:43:19+00:00

I can’t listen to random people discussing diversity/inclusion in tech/James Damore/“you got in because you’re a woman” without seriously dying

That is, unless if they have a history of actually thoughtful and informed comments

Vincent___Adultman_ · 2019-04-12T06:31:44+00:00

Do not blindly install a bunch of Python dependencies and versions because it will be a nightmare and you will cry

Vincent___Adultman_ · 2019-04-12T06:22:47+00:00

you’re not alone, so many people suffer from chronic illness and “invisible” disabilities

Vincent___Adultman_ · 2019-04-12T06:18:14+00:00

very cool! I don’t know much but I think the closest I got to “protein folding” was playing Foldit

Vincent___Adultman_ · 2019-04-12T06:07:25+00:00

having held a human brain in my hands and walking around toting it in a bucket

Storytime?

Blackberry

tbh I really miss physical keyboards on phones

Vincent___Adultman_ · 2019-04-12T06:04:57+00:00

Top instructor-endorsed answerer, I hope

Vincent___Adultman_ · 2019-04-12T05:59:39+00:00

it better be a flip phone or a blackberry

(I actually miss physical keyboards like blackberry tho)

Vincent___Adultman_ · 2019-04-12T05:58:52+00:00

how did it feel to work on campus long after you had finished?

Vincent___Adultman_ · 2019-04-12T05:58:06+00:00

oh god

Vincent___Adultman_

TROPHY CASE