The School of Computer Science requires all incoming graduate students to attend orientation. Several events will be organized to help you become familiar with the way we do things in the grad program at Waterloo. The information conveyed during this period will be important to you during your studies with us and the social activities are just as important as the information sessions.
A schedule of events will be available closer to the beginning of term.
There is no formal orientation for January or May incumbents. All graduate students (new and current) are expected to attend a TA Training Session the beginning of January (date to be determined). For more information please contact the Computer Science Graduate Student Association Representative at ext. 33592 in DC 2121 or email at csgsa@uwaterloo.ca.
Get your fee bill
If you have met all the conditions on your Offer of Admission and have received
a Letter of Acceptance, your fee statement will be posted on your QUEST account. Please note that Scholarship funding will be posted under anticipated aid in QUEST but TA/RA funding will not be posted immediately.
If you still have outstanding conditions, you will need to go to the Graduate Studies Office on the third floor of Needles Hall to clear the conditions (outstanding final transcripts etc.). A fee statement will not be posted on QUEST until you have cleared the outstanding conditions.
If you will be receiving TA/RA support, you can arrange to pay your fees by payroll deduction by signing the promissory note on the back of the fee bill and submitting that along with the Fee payment Arrangement Letter the department will provide to you that outlines your term funding. The Fee Bill and fee arrangement letter should be put into the yellow envelope and mailed to the University or dropped into the express mailbox outside the Cashier's Office on the first floor of Needles Hall. New incoming students or off-campus students will receice a pdf copy of the fee payment arrangment letter by email from the Admnistrative Coordinator with instructions on how to arrange their fees electronically with Student Accounts.
If fees are not paid by the due date, late fees will be charged. Only in exceptional circumstance will the late fee be waived.
Enroll in courses
Enrolment in graduate courses is handled through our on-line information
system, studentQuest.
Students are advised to consult with their supervisor prior to enrolling
in courses on-line.
If you intend to take an undergraduate CS course, you will need to see one of the CS Undergraduate Advisors to get permission to enroll in the course.
Drop/add forms are required for undergraduate courses taken in other departments and courses taken for audit. The instructor must sign the form giving permission to take the course.
Initial course selections must be entered into studentQuest by the end of the first month in the program. Courses can be dropped or added later using a drop/add form which can be picked up from the School's Graduate Studies Office in DC 3327.
UW ID
Once you have registered, you will be able to pick up your WatCard at the
WatCard Office (SLC
107). The WatCard is your UW photo ID that is needed to access many facilities
and services both on and off campus. You will need it to access the library,
computer labs and facilities in the PAC. You can also use it to purchase
food at the Food Services outlets on campus, photocopying and printing services.
You will be required to show photo identification (driver's license or passport).
All international students receiving financial assistance, must supply Margaret Towell or Paula Zister with a copy of a valid study permit before payment can be issued. The original copy of the Study Permit must be shown to GSO upon arrival.
If you will be paid as a Teaching or Research Assistant, you will need to sign up for payroll in one of the sessions arranged for this purpose. The times and locations will be posted on the bulletin board outside the departmental graduate office (DC 3317). You will need your Social Insurance Number and bank account information. If you sign up at one of the sessions, and the School has submitted a pay authorization form, your monthly pay will be deposited into your bank account on the last Friday of the month. If you do not receive your pay, contact Paula Zister (DC 3317). For those students who are unable to attend the signup sessions, please download the payroll signup forms and submit them to Human Resources in GSC 130. You will need the following forms: Federal TD1, Ontario TD1, and the Direct Deposit form.
NSERC, OGS, GO-Bell, ICR Doctoral and UW Graduate Scholarships will be paid once a term by cheque after the outstanding fees have been paid. The cheque will be mailed to the student's mailing address. It is extremely important that you keep your current mailing address on QUEST up to date.
The Davis Centre (DC) houses the administrative staff, faculty, and grad student offices of the School of Computer Science, as well as research laboratories, and ICR facilities. Getting around the building can be a little confusing at first. Although there are maps strategically located throughout the building, each map shows only one section.
Your address at the university:
(Your Name)
David R. Cheriton School of Computer Science
University of Waterloo 200 University Avenue West
Waterloo, ON
Canada N2L 3G1
Most full-time registered grad students have offices in the Davis Centre but a few are in the Math and Computer Building. Debbie Mustin looks after the assignment of offices to grad students. All offices have computer equipment consisting of X-terminals or PC's. The equipment is shared by all the occupants of the office.
Located on the second floor of the Davis Centre, the lounge is equipped with a sink, refrigerator, coffee machine, kettle, a couple of microwave ovens and comfortable furniture for use by the faculty, staff and grad students. Your office key will give you access to the lounge during off-hours. The grad mailboxes are located on the third floor outside the departmental graduate office, DC 3317. Outside mail and university mail is deposited in your mailbox Monday to Friday between 8:30 - 4:30 pm. Notices about seminars, academic and research positions, thesis defenses, scholarships, etc. are posted on the bulletin boards in the lounge and outside DC 3317.
It is very important to go to seminars, especially those in your area of interest. (Note that it is equally important for Masters as for Ph.D. students to attend these seminars). The seminars provide an opportunity to become acquainted with current research in the School and elsewhere, and serve as an opportunity for social interaction with fellow students and faculty.
The Grad Advocate is a faculty member to whom a student can turn, if the student wants to discuss something that directly concerns the student's graduate program, but which the student feels is inappropriate to direct to either the student's supervisor or the official Director of Graduate Studies.
The CS GSA, located in DC 2121, represents the graduate students when dealing with issues that affect the quality of student life in the School, helps organize orientation events and other student activities. The CS GSA representative maintains a mailing list of students. If you want your name added to or removed from this list, please send email to csgsa@uwaterloo.ca. If you are interested in serving on any of the committees in the School, you should contact the CS GSA representative. We encourage you to be an active participant in this organization.
The UW GSA also plays an important role on campus to promote quality of student life. During the term it arranges social activities and services important to students such as legal clinics and tax clinics. The GSA also works with the Graduate Studies Office to organize the Graduate Student Research Conference.
| Mathematics and Computer Building (MC) | Administrative offices for the Faculty of Mathematics, Math Faculty Computing Facility (MFCF), classrooms and teaching labs for most computer science courses, computer store |
| Needles Hall (NH) | Registration, counselling, international student office, cashier's office |
| Physical Activities Complex (PAC) | Gymnasium, pool, diving facilities, squash courts |
| Grad House | UW Grad Student Association, snacks and sandwiches, beer, darts, TV, laid-back atmosphere |
| Student Life Centre | TurnKey's desk, bank, hair salon, eateries, special events, pharmacy, physiotherapist, etc. |
| South Campus Hall (SCH) | Bookstore, travel agent, gift store |
Pleae note the statutory holidays for the current academic year (University is closed on these days):
Winter Study Period for the Mathematics Faculty in 2009 is February 16 to 20 (University
offices are open however, no classes are offered during this period).
All CS grad students are given UNIX accounts on the central machines managed by the Computer Science Computing Facility. Accounts are created automatically when you are officially registered (i.e. you have paid your fees). Your supervisor can make an account available on a research machine if you are required to do research work for an RA. Your user ID consists of all your initials followed by your surname truncated to 8 characters (e.g. for T.C. Jones, it is tcjones; for H Rumplestiltskin, it is hrumples). Identical userids are distinguished by a number between the initials and the surname (e.g. for I.M.A.Twin, the second instance of this id is ima2twin). The password will be set when you show identification to the MFCF/CSCF Consultants in MC 3017.
To determine your actual disk quota, use the command diskquota. Note that your mailbox, possibly other system files, file server overhead, and files you've created in someone else's account are all included in the total. For disk quota beyond that automatically allocated for your course work, thesis, etc., you must have your supervisor's sponsorship.
If you are not familiar with UNIX, you can try the Unix tutorial or see the UNIX consultants in MC 3017. The consultants are available from 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., Monday to Friday, during the teaching terms and exam periods. They are all friendly and experienced UNIX users.
To get on-line help, use the command man followed by the command name, or if you don't know the name of the command, use man -k guess (where guess is what you think the name of the command might be).
A variety of information is available electronically. CS grad students should read uw.cs.grad and uw.talks. Social and administrative notices will be posted in the newsgroup uw.cs.grad. Seminar notices are posted on the computer in the news group uw.talks. All students use electronic mail to communicate with friends, course instructors and their supervisors. Many faculty and grad students have homepages on the World Wide Web. If you want to know University regulations for grad studies or thesis regulations, you can find them on the Grad Studies web site.
Please read printing guide.
CS grad courses are described in the handbook pages on the web. The 800 series courses given in the upcoming term will have a description on the bulletin board outside the Computer Science Grad Office, DC 3317. The 600-level courses are taught together with 4th year undergrads, whereas the 700 and 800 series courses are for graduate students only. Also, the 700 and 800 series courses often have substantially smaller classes, often require less mechanical work (i.e. weekly assignments involving hundreds of hours in front of the terminal) and are more research oriented. There are about five to eight 700 and 800 series courses offered each term. Note however, that the 800-level courses are usually offered one-time only. Even if there might be a CS 860 every year, the courses can be (and usually are) completely different.
Master's students must take at least two courses your first term. Four courses is very tough if this is your first term at Waterloo. Three courses is often about right. You may also have specific course requests depending on your admission.
| CS 644 | Compiler Construction |
| CS 652 | Real-time Programming |
| CS 688 | Introduction to Computer Graphics |
If you value your sanity and want to sleep more than 1 hour a week, do not take all of these at once! In fact, don't even take two of them at once. The real-time project may sometimes be used simultaneously for software engineering (CS 646). Check with the appropriate instructors.
Attend more courses than you intend to take during the first 2-3 weeks of school to see if you like the course, the instructor, etc. You should add your course selection on-line using QUEST by the end of the first month of the term, however your decision is not binding. You can make changes in your course selection using a Drop/Add form (available on the GSO web site). Courses can normally be added or dropped until the last day of lectures.
Information about courses from other departments that may be of interest to CS grads is posted outside the CS Grad Office. For information on other courses that you are interested in, see the appropriate department. Note that undergrad courses can be taken as well, but not for degree credit.
Research Skills Seminar (CS 697) - This course may be offered by the School. It covers research and life skills that can help grad students improve their academic and interpersonal competence. It is recommended that all incoming students take this course at the first opportunity.
There is a used bookstore in the Student Life Centre.
The Bookstore is in South Campus Hall. You can check the textbooks for your courses on their web site. If you drop a course soon enough, the text can be returned (see the Bookstore for complete details). There are usually huge lineups the first week of classes. However, early mornings or late evenings can be good times to try. The Bookstore accepts cash, personal cheques, VISA and Mastercard.
Note: Textbooks required for TA assignments are supplied by the School. You can borrow them for the term from the Undergraduate Coordinator, Cheryl Suitor (DC 3102), during the posted office hours.
David R. Cheriton School of Computer Science
University of Waterloo
Waterloo, Ontario, Canada N2L 3G1
Tel: 519-888-4567 x33293
Fax: 519-885-1208
Contact | Feedback: csgrad@uwaterloo.ca | David R. Cheriton School of Computer Science | Faculty of Mathematics
Last modified: Friday, 04-Jun-2010 10:22:44 EDT
