First Semester of Waterloo Computer Science

[@bzbz4494]

5/5 geese for this vid

[@nicholast]

🦆🦆🦆🦆🦆 (those are ducks tho lol)

[@ThePineappleexpo]

I'm a Waterloo grad, this video takes me back, feel sad now. :( Enjoy all the sleepless nights at DC and MC :)

[@nicholast]

haha congrats on making it through, i've got a long journey ahead 😅😅. gonna get the true waterloo experience of staying up at DC and MC once campus reopens (maybe in the fall??)

[@MaryamAfshar]

it was interesting to see your perspective! we had pretty similar thoughts about courses lol

[@TrenBlack]

oh yes

[@nicholast]

omg tren black has noticed me (love your vids btw)

[@iitzrey3661]

Great video man, we had the exact same courses! I pretty much had the same experience with all of these 😂

[@nicholast]

thanks man, glad to hear i wasn't the only one struggling haha

[@anitaweasel]

when we learn more, I often get confused when people say "functional"

[@leonardshi1873]

Intro to micro, that is nice though, NYU thinks that is boring so we take micro directly. Analyse the graphs, real games, Econ tricks, it’s tormenting, I worked so hard and only get a B+/87%

[@jonathan_kim]

Thanks so much for the video. I’m looking forward to study at the University of Waterloo

[@nicholast]

Best of luck!

[@jonathan_kim]

@@nicholast Thank you so much! I just submitted my AIF

[@jamesnam918]

@@jonathan_kim what was your grade 12 average?

[@danajo1996]

God I'm going into math uw and have similar classes as cs this coming year and I'm too nervous. I barely have over 90 avg and its frustrating to see smarter people struggle.

[@nicholast]

you got this 💪

[@granth6542]

how’d it go?

[@Andrews0187]

Cool vid bro

[@nicholast]

Appreciate it :)

[@SaquanJackSayquan]

I can't wait to learn

[@jiahu2802]

Love ur videos ❤

[@nicholast]

Haha thanks for the support :)

[@jhitslime5469]

How was the social life at Waterloo? I hope to get a balance of both academics and having fun outside of school.

[@nicholast]

I can't really comment on this because I've only done 1 semester which was completely online, with no live lectures LOL. From what I've heard, it's not as lively as other universities, but making friends/going out shouldn't be a problem

[@li028-x9i]

Is there a lot of good profs in computer vision in Waterloo?

[@nicholast]

Haven't taken any computer vision courses at Waterloo, so I'm not too sure, but CS 484/684- Computational Vision was taught by Yuri Boykov this past Fall, and he seems to have a decent rating on www.ratemyprofessors.com/

[@li028-x9i]

@@nicholast Great, he seems to be in the field for a long time. Way before deep learning is used in computer vision.

[@Granitepunch]

Hey :) I was one of your ISA for cs135 haha.

[@nicholast]

👀 hi!

[@Granitepunch]

@@nicholast Hai, I’m glad u enjoyed 135 ^^

[@aadargupta]

I actually loved Math 135. My most fav course this semester! Like I loveddddddddd it!

[@nicholast]

such a great (but challenging) course!

[@danlevy9478]

ahh the famous "wtf is epsilon" - by every CS student ever

[@nicholast]

Seriously wtf is ε

[@eth782]

If I’m from BC my school doesn’t have advanced functions and vector and those courses so can I still get into uw

[@nicholast]

They would look at Pre-Calculus 12 and either AP Calculus or Calculus 12 instead

[@Nad_-rw2qv]

Hi I wanna apply for architecture in waterloo co-op program is it good ?

[@nicholast]

I don't know much about the architecture program but I think it's pretty good, especially because of the co-op program.

[@Osas_Sun]

I applied for civil engineering at waterloo cant wait to join waterloo

[@nicholast]

see you there!

[@Yash-uk8ib]

Hey nich Can you tell me your course name?? Was it MMath in computerscience??

[@harkiratsingh5168]

Can you please provide the mterial for these courses?

[@garish1942]

if you dont mind me asking what grades did you get during highschool and did you have any extracurriculars/programming experience?

[@abhaykamath2988]

Did you like complex numbers ?

[@asmit_si]

In our first semester we were taught with math , electrical, physics, graphic design but no subject related to computer science.

[@tuongphan9678]

Are you an international student? Because I’m currently a grade 11 international student in Alberta. If the answer is yes, I hope you can make a video about how to study well and effective at UoW ( especially in computer science as a point of view of an international student). Thank you for reading!

[@nicholast]

Nah, I'm from Ontario, but I might make a video about how I study/manage the workload in the future!

[@tuongphan9678]

Thank you for responding me!

[@somniumk7070]

Just started uni this year and I can barely understand calculus 1. when I do understand (barely) , i can't solve any question to save my life (reference book is Thomas calculus 12th edition).I'm worried i wont be able to continue comp.science and I feel incredibly stupid . Anyone else?

[@adrianakatie1994]

I want to choose CS, is it actually really hard there?

[@Stoic69999]

is it hard bro the cs degree i am not very much inteligent

[@ojomudamola6674]

How years is computer science program at waterloo??

[@nicholast]

5 years if you are in the co-op program and 4 years if you are in the regular (non co-op) program

[@zhongyikun3992]

just curious about how freshmen are doing :eyes:

[@nicholast]

👀👀

[@zhongyikun3992]

@@nicholast you are doing good! keep it up (but don't push yourself too hard LOL)

[@nicholast]

@@zhongyikun3992 thanks :)

[@JohnDoe-he2gx]

Hey! Just curious, what made you choose CS over CS/BBA. Currently making the decision

[@nicholast]

I didn't have as strong an interest in business as I did in CS and also wanted to focus on CS. Furthermore, I wanted more flexibility in courses (electives), and thought that CS/BBA would be a heavier workload. Since I wanted to ensure that I would have enough time for things outside of school, I chose CS over CS/BBA.

[@JohnDoe-he2gx]

@@nicholast Also given that you had prior programming experience, how come you didn't do CS 145 or CS 146?

[@nicholast]

I didn’t think I was “advanced” enough to take those courses 😂 CS 135 was still challenging in many assignments even though I had prior programming experience

[@frankli1901]

Would u recommend uw cs coop over u of t cs?

[@nicholast]

I chose uw cs over uoft cs mainly because of Waterloo’s coop program. Utsg has PEY and utsc has coop, but I found that Waterloo’s coop program was better established and had more/stronger connections with tech companies

[@frankli1901]

@@nicholast thx and btw wats the average to get into uw cs coop

[@nicholast]

I think the website says low to mid 90s but most people I know that got in had 94+. Not sure if covid will affect this year’s admission averages though

[@bobbywu7701]

Lmao math137 is beyond shet, what courses are you taking this term?

[@nicholast]

MATH 136, MATH 138, CS 136, BET 100, EARTH 122 (and PD 1 if that counts)

[@eth782]

what was your grades for these classes?

[@nicholast]

Mostly 90s

[@yugvashisth2948]

Would you recommend taking co-op?

[@nicholast]

Co-op is a great way to gain work experience during your undergrad. By the time you graduate, you will have done 5-6 co-op placements and gained tons of experience, which is a huge advantage when looking for full-time jobs. You also earn some money which you can use to pay for tuition and other expenses. Overall, I'd recommend enrolling in the co-op program.

[@osmokm9182]

@@nicholast But there is the stress of having to find a place to co-op in after every semester right?? Or does Waterloo find it for you??

[@nicholast]

@@osmokm9182 yea u gotta find a coop yourself each term

[@vincentzhao4547]

dude, u r doing cs this year too?

[@nicholast]

yea, im in the cs program

[@eth782]

Why do you use geese

[@nicholast]

there are a lot of geese on campus haha

[@kranthiraj667]

Why would someone study CS for 4 year degree if they already know programming?

[@chashtag2336]

1) Co-ops are partially govt sponsored, and companies keep spots reserved for students of good unis (20/24 Co-op spots at my current FT job is for Waterloo). 2) you are forced to learn things you wouldnt learn by yourself. Math, algorithms, frameworks and languages you wouldnt otherwise. Programming alone is not sufficient often. 3) Employers will often filter by your level of education. 4) Connections with other students. Networking is very important. Much easier to land a good job if you have friends there

[@The-Dev-Ninja]

thanks

[@gaganjast]

Now you'll get internship?

[@nicholast]

yep I did an internship the summer after first year

[@thubak1214]

Can you be my mentor?

[@ogsxl]

Is this fun?

[@kanisha595]

If someone will get a distinction certificate in euclid contest, will He/she be getting in uofw cs?

[@nicholast]

No guarantee (since many other factors are considered) but it definitely helps!

[@TimmyCreates]

Hi before you went to uni what programming knowledge did you have. Besides the grade 11&12 cs course. Did you learn anything on your own ? And what resources. What’s you videos you seems really smart 😅( I mean you do go to Waterloo for cs) I’m in gr 12 rn I’ve done the 11&12 cs class but I want to explains my knowledge and learn new stuffs. Any tips ?

[@nicholast]

i went to a bunch of hackathons where i gained a lot of exposure and picked up skills to build web apps. some great resources to learn about web development are freecodecamp, WebDevSimplified, and Traversy Media (you can find these channels on youtube). in terms of programming, i took a course on Coursera to learn more about algorithms and did some Leetcode questions to study for interviews. Nick White and Kevin Naughton Jr made some great videos explaining how to solve these leeetcode problems (you can find their channels on youtube). besides that, i usually just use stack overflow or google when i have questions about certain concepts. hope that helps!

[@TimmyCreates]

@@nicholast thanks a lot. I’m gonna check these out in m free time

[@nirshahar9884]

So how was the second semester?

[@nicholast]

made a video about it here kzbin.info/www/bejne/i3OQm2h5j7R8qpY

[@granthsaxena1359]

recursions, i feel you

[@nicholast]

recursions, i feel you :)

[@misswaluigi7780]

Nicholas T for prime minister of Canada!!! Also where do you live.

[@albartenli4457]

The Law of Diminishing Marginal Utility states that for any good or service, the marginal utility of that good or service decreases as the quantity of the good increases, ceteris paribus. Good times... 🙄🙄

[@nicholast]

A diminishing marginal rate of substitution is a general tendency for a person to be willing to give up less of good y to get one more unit of good x, while at the same time remain indifferent as the quantity of good x increases.

[@TheCharlie87654321]

Idiot me I took these course in my third year lol

[@sabyasachidas4572]

If I scored 65% in my 12th can I apply for University of Waterloo?

[@looc1612]

no, lol

[@sabyasachidas4572]

@@looc1612 damn even 70% won't be enough right?

[@nicholast]

depends on the program, but for cs, you prob need 90%+

[@sabyasachidas4572]

@@nicholast damn I want to go for cs but because of covid our exams got cancelled and we will be getting our results on the basis of 11th😭and I think I'll stuck with in 70-75 % at best

[@looc1612]

@@nicholast I was 91% average and still couldnt get in, Im such a loser

[@eth782]

Are you an only child

[@nicholast]

nah

[@erromaissaeelhilali5121]

ooh, my dream is to attend the university of waterloo because you know it's the first university of computer science in north America moreover its huge space. Nicholas,why did you steal my dream hhh? thank you so much for this video 🤩🤩🥰

[@nicholast]

glad you enjoyed!

[@mynameismatt2010]

A compsci student calling econ dry... there’s irony in that.

[@nicholast]

Nah fr tho