university of guelph

university is a mix of highs and lows. some courses are easy, others will test your patience. here's my honest breakdown of my cs journey at guelph.

first year

fall 2023

• cis1300 - programming
  professor: ritu

  printf("easy intro to programming with basic c concept");
  printf("assignments were straightforward");
  printf("and the final exam was manageable");

• cis1910 - discrete structures I
  professor: pascal

  • explored logic and proofs. pascal made quizzes and exams online before he retired. this course is a brain teaser since it tests problem-solving and proof-writing skills.

• MATH1160 - linear algebra I
  professor: garvie

  • best decision to take it in the fall with garvie. online multiple-choice quizzes and exams made it very doable. supposed to take this in w25 but saw on reddit that taking it with garvie is a smart move.

• MATH1200 - calculus I
  professor: demars

  • barely passed, so i got no comments. calculus wasn’t my thing, but the professor was great (he got 5/5 on ratemyprof).

• MCS1000 - introductory marketing
  professor: mckenzie

  • super easy elective. simple concepts, and the exams were chill.

winter 2024

• cis1050 - web design & development
  professor: yan yan

  • html, css, and javascript basics. lost marks for spelling, which was annoying, but overall, an easy course.

• cis2500 - intermediate programming
  professor: ritu

  • had 98% before my usual exam struggles brought it down. covered advanced c topics like pointers and memory management.

• cis2910 - discrete structures ii
  professor: colby parsons

  • challenging but fun. colby (a waterloo grad) was interactive and even engaged with us on discord.

summer 2024

all bird courses while doing ura.

• FRHD1010 - human development
  • professor: susan change
• MCS2100 - personal financial management
  • professor: leslie legge
• MGMT2150 - intro to canadian business
  • professor: mir lotfi
• NUTR1010 - introduction to nutrition
  • professor: joan jory

second year

fall 2024

• cis2030 - microcomputers
  professor: gary grewel

  • toughest course so far. low-level programming and assembly were rough. somehow passed, even though i failed the exam.

• cis2430 - object-oriented programming
  professor: fei song

  • had java experience from high school, which helped a lot. really enjoyed this course.

• cis2520 - data structures
  professor: yan yan

  • one of my favorites. the concepts just clicked for me. even made a github repo (200+ views) to help others study for the final.

• FRHD1100 - life: health and well-being
  professor: robin milhausen

  • bird course. clutched my gpa with this one.

winter 2025

• cis2750 - software development & integration
  professor: dennis nikitenko

  • used to be a really tough course with a high fail rate, but it’s easier now!

• cis3110 - operating systems
  professor: andrew hamilton-wright

  • worst course i’ve taken. he used lecture slides with tons of errors as well as assignments from 23 years ago from a different university. ended up dropping it and retaking it in the summer at uOttawa. avoid this prof at all costs.
    • ratemyprof
    • reddit post

• cis3190 - software for legacy systems
  professor: zhao zhao

  • easy, but you’ll be working with old languages like cobol and ada. ta's took a while to grade the assignments but they were pretty light on the marking

• cis3490 - algorithm design & analysis
  professors: joe sawada & daniel garbic

  • enjoyed it as it involved some real world application such as finding the shortest path between cities. feels like cis1910 and cis2910 but focused on efficiency.

• cis3750 - system analysis & design
  professor: daniel gillis

  • some people complain, but i think he’s fine. just attend lectures, and you’ll be okay. i enjoyed this course as we did not do any coding. this course is mainly about software development outside of coding, so you would create figma prototype and present it to the volunteers - similar how real world works when you are pitching your prototypes.

summer 2025 (current)

bit of a hectic summer semester but i will be taking a course at both uWaterloo and uOttawa and then 5 summer courses at guelph, all are DE. i will also be working 1 full time job (full-stack dev) and 1 part time job (software dev) during the summer.

university of waterloo

• cs349 - user interfaces

university of ottawa

• csi 3131 - operating systems

university of guelph

• spmt1020 - sport management today
• mgmt3300 - project management
• mgmt3100 - strategies for career success
• mcs3040 - business and consumer law
• frhd1020 - couple & family relationships

third year

my entire third year depends on whether i can find a job during the fall or winter term as a non-co-op student since it’s generally 'easier' to get one compared to the summer. if i do land a job in either term, i would delay my graduation from w26 to w27 since i fast-tracked math1160, stat2040, and cis3750 and have a lot of credits. otherwise, i might just explore courses at another university since it is one of many benefits you have as a student so why not seize the oppurtunity while you can?

university of waterloo

• cs 346 - application development
• cs 348 – introduction to database management
• cs 454 - distributed systems
• cs 338 - comp applic in bus databases
• cs 449 - human-computer interaction

university of toronto

• csc309 - programming on the web
• csc343 - introduction to databases
• csc410 - software testing and verification

university of guelph

fall 2025

• cis3150: theory of computation
• cis3530: database systems & concepts
• cis3760: software engineering
• cis4300: human computer interaction

winter 2026

• cis4010: cloud computing
• cis4030: mobile computing
• cis4650: compilers

Post-Grad Plans

stay tuned