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Cheriton School of Computer Science

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Applying and admissions

What you need to know

What courses do you need to apply? 

Ontario high school requirements

(All others see out-of-province and international requirements below)

Program
 

 Required courses - Grade 12 U unless otherwise specified. Minimum (min) requirements: 6 Grade 12 U or M courses; including all required courses

Admissions average - Based on individual selection
Business Administration (WLU) and Computer Science (Waterloo) Co-op Advanced Functions, Calculus and Vectors, English, one other Grade 12U course Low 90s
Computer Science
Regular/Co-op		 Advanced Functions, Calculus and Vectors, English, one other Grade 12U course Low 90s
Computing and Financial Management
Co-op		 Advanced Functions, Calculus and Vectors, English (min 75%), one other Grade 12U course Low 90s

Software Engineering
Co-op

Advanced Functions (min 70%), Calculus and Vectors (min 70%), Chemistry (min 70%), English (min 70%), Physics
(min 70%)

Experience in developing well-structured modular programs is also required

 Low 90s

Notes

  • For Science course equivalencies for each system of study: findoutmore.uwaterloo.ca/admission
  • Admissions averages are for stated for starting consideration and may not reflect the cut off averages at the end of our admissions cycle
  • All of our programs are directly entry; including co-op and regular

Out-of-province applicants

Out-of-province requirements

International applicants

International requirements

Transfer students

If you have completed a degree or are working towards completing a degree at a college or university, you will be considered as a transfer student when you apply.

Learn about our transfer requirements and procedures to apply.

Apply through OUAC

You'll apply to the University of Waterloo through the Ontario Universities Application Centre (OUAC).

Two weeks after completing your application, you should receive an email from the University of Waterloo acknowledging the receipt of your application.

If you do not hear back from us, please check your junk mail and then contact our admissions office: myapplication@uwaterloo.ca.

After you have applied

  • Add us to your address book to ensure that email we send you isn't filtered as spam.
  • Arrange to have your grades and, in some cases, course descriptions sent to us.
  • Stay informed about important dates and deadlines.
  • You may confirm or change your email address on Quest once you are issued a Waterloo ID.
  • We will begin to make offers as early as December and January but most of our offers will be made in May. You will have until the end of May or beginning June to accept our offer.

Admission Information Form

  • Once we have received your application, you'll be asked to complete an Admission Information Form (AIF)
  • The AIF is required for admission to all Computer Science programs.

English language requirements

You are required to provide an English proficiency test score if:

  • Your first language is not English
  • Your 4 most recent years of full-time education have NOT been in an English-language school system

Get information about English language test scores and our English Language for Academic Studies (ELAS) program from our Faculty of Mathematics website.

Canadian Computing Competition, Canadian Senior Mathematics Contest (CSMC) and Euclid Math Contest

Participate in our math and computing contests organized by the Centre for Education in Math and Computing:

Contest Purpose Writing date
Canadian Computing Competition
  • Contest winners will be invited to participate in computer science enrichment workshops at Waterloo
  • You can include your participation in the contest on your AIF
February 20, 2019

Euclid Mathematics Contest
  • All math scholarship decisions are based on the Euclid and/or CSMC results from grade 12
  • You can include your participation in the contest on your AIF
  • Note: If you have a poor writing day, your contest results will not affect your chances of admission
 April 3, 2019

Canadian Senior Mathematics Contest (CSMC)
  • All math scholarship decisions are based on the CSMC and/or Euclid results from grade 12
  • You can include your participation in the contest on your AIF
  • Note: If you have a poor writing day, your contest results will not affect your chances of admission
 November 21, 2018

Contest preparation workbooks are available for purchase at the Centre for Education in Math Computing website.

Repeated courses and non-day school courses

  • Your overall admission score may be adjusted by 1% for every Grade 12 course that you repeat.
  • The admission average for all programs will be calculated using the highest Grade 12 U or M mark in a repeated subject.
  • If you complete any courses outside of your daytime high school hours, you will be asked to provide reason for taking an external course. We may adjust your overall admissions average depending on the reasons for your enrolment. We prefer that students take a full course load in high school whenever possible.
  • On your Admissions Information Form (AIF), you'll be asked to comment on repeated courses. We'll provide you with instructions about the AIF once you've applied to the University of Waterloo.

Offers of admission

Once you receive an offer of admissions, you'll have until the beginning of June to accept your offer on OUAC.

  • In the Faculty of Mathematics, we consider applicants on an  individual basis.
  • We need time to read and score your Admission Information Form (AIF), tabulate your admission average using your marks in the required Grade 12 courses, then tabulate your admission score (a combination of your average plus your AIF score), and, in some cases, to consult your Euclid and/or Canadian Senior Mathematics Contest results.
  • We make few early offers of admission with the quality and quantity of students that apply.