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Rank: Senior Student
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Joined: 3/9/2008
Posts: 104
Location: Canada
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Okay, so I've gotten accepted to Life Science and Computer Science at Mac and I've applied to computer sci everywhere else (on the insistance of my parents). So now, it's decision time. So, in your opinion, which is a better program and which one will help me get a job after graduation (like you know market growth, demand, and whatnot)?? Thanks in advance 
Life Sci '12 UTSG (Victoria college)
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Rank: Valedictorian
Groups: Member
Joined: 3/5/2008
Posts: 532
Location: London (UWO)
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They are two different programs, so you must have some idea of which interests you more. If not, choose one and take the other's requirements as electives in first year, e.g. take physics, chemistry, calculus, biology, and computer science. That way you can postpone your decision until the end of first year, when you should have a better idea of which you prefer. If you end up liking both equally, you can do something like a double major in the two.
A comp sci degree is in greater demand than a bachelors life science one, but you will be able to find a safe job with either (the latter may just take a little more work, e.g. you may have to get a professional or graduate degree, or you may have to work somewhere other than your hometown). Do you want a job in something that interests you or do you want a job that is easy to find?
Honours BMSc Specialization in Medical Science UWO '09
Bachelor of Pharmacy Alberta '13 ???
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Rank: Student Body Vice-President
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Joined: 3/5/2008
Posts: 727
Location: Kingston and Toronto
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I would say computer science would get you a better, high paying job, faster than an undergraduate degree in life science. But I say this with no knowledge of either program, just friends in it, so keep that in mind!
It also depends on what you want to do, go on to further education after undergraduate? I would saw a computer science undergraduate degree would trump the lifesci one. Most kids I know in life science are in it to prepare themselves for medical school.
Uschi
Queen's '10
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Rank: Student Body President
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Joined: 3/4/2008
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Location: Ottawa
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Quote:So, in your opinion, which is a better program and which one will help me get a job after graduation (like you know market growth, demand, and whatnot)?? If that's your primary consideration, *definitely* the Computer Science degree. And no, I'm not just saying that because I'm in CS, the OUAC salary surveys put CS grads earning over $10,000 more than Bio grads at 6 months and 2 years out. That being said, if you have no interest in CS and are doing it because your parents think it's a good thing, you probably won't do well in it. Now, there are ways to combine the two. For one thing, Computer science is very often inspired by other areas - genetic algorithms being one example of a technique inspired by biology (there's another called ant colony optimization based on the idea of how ants spread pheromone while looking for food, the individual ants are dumb but toghether they can do impressive things). Bioinformatics is another big area. It doesn't have to be a formal program combining the two, just doing something like a Major in one and a minor in the other or double major could work.. just being a biologist who can program is a good thing.. If your interest is in being open to going to med school, there's no reason you couldn't do that from CS although you might want to pay attention to how many electives you have to fill the basic med school pre-requisites as I believe some programs may have fewer than others but most should have enough to easily fit in the courses you'd want to take to cover your bases for med school.
 
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Rank: Senior Student
Groups: Member
Joined: 3/4/2008
Posts: 120
Location: Thornhill, ON, Canada
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Hey, I was actually in a similar situation when I applied for univs. The deadline to accept an offer was June 12th for us, and I actually made my final decision early June, few days before the deadline. I was debating between UT life science and UW computer science. And as you can see from my sig, I'm still "keeping in touch" with life science by doing a minor in biology.. So if you're debating between the two b/c you like both, then there are many different ways in which you can combine those two.
Anyway, in terms of job market, if you mean after you get just your undergrad degree, I would say cs probably has a larger pool of jobs.
University of Waterloo '11
Honours Computer Science, Co-op
Biology Minor
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Rank: Senior Student
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Joined: 3/4/2008
Posts: 56
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The question should be: which one do you enjoy?
If you're going into CS because your parents told you to, without having any programming talent or interest in building applications... you'll flunk out sooner or later.
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Rank: Senior Student
Groups: Member
Joined: 3/5/2008
Posts: 101
Location: Kingston, Ontario
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It occurs to me that if you really like both you should also consider taking Biomedical Computing (similar to but not the same as the Bioinformatics suggestion earlier).
4th Year Computer Science student at Queen's University finishing in April, 2008;
starting a Masters in Human Computer Interaction shortly afterward (also at Queen's).
e-mail: tim [at] timginn [dot] com
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