Computer Science / Computer Engineering Bachelor of Science?

[Mark77]

I recommend Waterloo Co-op. You will be graduating debt free with relevant job experience. It is much easier to get a full time job that way. Your salary estimate means nothing if you can't get a job.

That's an extremely good point. The salaries from schools like UC Berkeley for CS or CompE grads show that they "start" at around $70-$80k/year (which really isn't very much money in NYC or the SFBay, especially for top-tier grads).

The big problem is that less than 40% of the grads from UCB (and even Cornell) can be verified to actually be working. The rest are not employed.

Waterloo Co-Op does help a lot of people if they liked a previous employer, and want to return (and if the employer wants them back). But if one doesn't want to return to that same employer, or to that same industry, then your resume sits on the heap with the hundreds, sometimes thousands of others who are competing for the same rare CS/IT/CompE/EE jobs out there. Waterloo CompE/EE/CS grads have disproportionately ended up at RIM, which is better than nothing, but certainly, with RIM's low pay, a far cry from the claims that they're all being taken up by those major West Coast firms...

[Phoenix3434]

Please look for salaries based in Canada Ontario.
I will be attending either Waterloo, UofT, York, Ryerson, UOIT or Laurier Waterloo as those are the ontario universities that have programs for Computer Science/ Computer Engineering.
Leaning towards York, UofT or Waterloo.

First of all, the whole industry is pretty congested. It will NOT be a good career long term. Ever consider finance? That's where the money is at if you are good with numbers. Well, you can still do an undergrad in Engineering and jump to finance after you finish. That industry loves Engineers.

Secondly, employers tend to treat Ryerson/York grads differently from UofT/Waterloo grads. In this competitive market, you need every advantage you can get. If you go to Ryerson/York - it makes it even more difficult to succeed.

[Djay230]

First of all, the whole industry is pretty congested. It will NOT be a good career long term. Ever consider finance? That's where the money is at if you are good with numbers. Well, you can still do an undergrad in Engineering and jump to finance after you finish. That industry loves Engineers.

Secondly, employers tend to treat Ryerson/York grads differently from UofT/Waterloo grads. In this competitive market, you need every advantage you can get. If you go to Ryerson/York - it makes it even more difficult to succeed.

I'm not really looking into engineering, more towards computer science. I have heard of the problems with jobs in computer engineering.
Thanks for your suggestion but I do not think I'd enjoy doing finance but I will look into it!

[resu]

That's an extremely good point. The salaries from schools like UC Berkeley for CS or CompE grads show that they "start" at around $70-$80k/year (which really isn't very much money in NYC or the SFBay, especially for top-tier grads).

The big problem is that less than 40% of the grads from UCB (and even Cornell) can be verified to actually be working. The rest are not employed.

Waterloo Co-Op does help a lot of people if they liked a previous employer, and want to return (and if the employer wants them back). But if one doesn't want to return to that same employer, or to that same industry, then your resume sits on the heap with the hundreds, sometimes thousands of others who are competing for the same rare CS/IT/CompE/EE jobs out there. Waterloo CompE/EE/CS grads have disproportionately ended up at RIM, which is better than nothing, but certainly, with RIM's low pay, a far cry from the claims that they're all being taken up by those major West Coast firms...

Where did you get those 'facts' from? AFAIK, RIM pays 55-65k starting for software dev. Not bad considering the COL in K/W.

I would not recommend UW CS for its academics because so many courses are taught and structured terribly. Plus, the school and area surrounding it is terribly boring. But if all you care about is getting a great job (and impressive experience before then) coming right out of school, there is no better choice than co-op at UW (for CS at least). If you think 2 years with big name firms on your resume won't make a difference, well, ok, you're Mark77...