[1. How difficult is it to find co-op jobs?] I did not choose to do co-op but find my own internships. However, I know that they do have their own co-op board and as far as I know positions vary but from what my friends did the jobs are at the right skill level.

[2. What made you chose Dalhousie for Computer Science - did you consider any other universities?] I considered going to University of Calgary but Dal gave me the women in tech scholarship so that swayed my opinion towards them.

[3. What is the gender split like in the program?] I would say the gender gap doesn't feel to bad during lectures. Obviously there's more men but usually you can make out other girls. For labs, it can be a bit more different depending on the class and you could end up with an all male group. I'd say it's not overwhelming though.

[4. If you are a woman in this program, are you involved in WiTS/has it been beneficial to you?] I have been involved with wits since my first year and I'd say it was super beneficial to me. They offered lots of support both about choosing courses and about personal stuff. I also met a good chunk of all my friends through wits so that was a positive for me.

[5. If you could start over, would you pick Dal again?] I think so. I'd say any complaints I have of Dal I might also have them at another university. Also, the complaints are not related to my major but more to do with Dal as an institution.

By Sakuraneko87 [https://www.reddit.com/r/Dalhousie/comments/jl98lz/questions_for_bachelor_of_computer_science/ ]

[1. How difficult is it to find co-op jobs?]
Coop was invaluable. I didn't want to do it. I wanted to fast-track out. But a professor and mentor convinced me otherwise and it set me up. I ended up doing 3 software development coops with the same company but on different teams. The company kept me on part time after finishing my third coop term. I'm now employed by them full time. My experience isn't universal, but I'd venture to say coop gives students a chance to get their feet wet and try on different hats. It's worth the extra year it takes to graduate.

[2. What made you chose Dalhousie for Computer Science - did you consider any other universities?] I was pigeonholed here by family circumstances. My then fiancee, now wife, was tied to NS, limiting my choices somewhat. I'm not complaining. I moved here from the States and knew basically nothing about other universities in NS other than SMU. I knew my BIL attended software engineering (when it was still a thing) and spoke highly of if, so I figured it was a safe enough not to fret about it.

[3. What is the gender split like in the program?]
When I graduated, maybe 35:65? When I entered it was very low. When I graduated, the distribution was becoming much more evenly distributed. Still a noticable male skew, though.

[4. If you are a woman in this program, are you involved in WiTS/has it been beneficial to you?]
I am male and was not involved with WiTS. I know men and women who were though and they loved it. I did get to go to the WiTS conference a few years ago. It was very informative, I learned a lot about the program and issues, and made some professional connections. I'd recommend anyone interested in a student body society to check them out.

[5. If you could start over, would you pick Dal again?]
Yes. There are things I'd like to change. Some profs need to look at industry trends. If my wife had been able to move out of province at the time, and if I had known about it, I might have instead chosen Waterloo specifically because of this. Also, sometimes at Dal it felt as if I was not being challenged. Usually the challenge was more in understanding professor expectations rather than the work itself.

A side note, if you go to dal I highly recommend Dr. Norbert Zeh. He has a bad reputation for being difficult, and he is. But hands down, I learned more in his class than I did any other. I struggled with his PPL class. I almost lived in his office hours. but doing so really help me to succeed where I am now. A lot of what we talked about has had a very direct impact on my career, despite me thinking that it wouldn't at the time. He's also a great guy. Go to him in earnest after trying everything you can. And then probe him with technical questions. He has a lot to share. But to summarize, talk to your profs. They are a resource you are paying for. Wherever you go. Get the most out of your investment.

By mant1c0r3 [https://www.reddit.com/r/Dalhousie/comments/jl98lz/questions_for_bachelor_of_computer_science/ ]

[1. How difficult is it to find co-op jobs?]
Dal does have a coop job board. I found it was generally pretty good jobs, there are a few tech support jobs in there but largely it's jobs where you'll be using your knowledge from school. When I was there it was a little difficult to find a job on your first go round, but 2nd and 3rd terms were quite a bit easier. Also, as terrible as this may sound, in my experience, women tended to get more job offers. Companies do want to diversify their developers away from just being white men between the ages of 25-45, so that does sometimes play a factor.

[2. What made you chose Dalhousie for Computer Science - did you consider any other universities?]
I came to Dal because they offered me a nice scholarship (not contingent on my final grades in grade 12, which was a load off my mind in the last couple months of high school). I also had a cousin who came here and liked it, so I figured hey, why not. And honestly, at the undergrad level, unless you're going to Cal Tech or something like that, it really doesn't matter where you go. Pick the school for the city and environment.

[3. What is the gender split like in the program?]
When I was there, the gender split was about 65-35 in Applied Computer Science (or Informatics as it was known then), and about 75-25 in Computer Science. But every year it trended a little closer to 50-50, so it's probably even better by now. I knew quite a few women in the program, including my wife (girlfriend at the time, she switched into CS from a Biochem degree during our second year after meeting the nerds in our department). I heard the odd story of some sexism, but it was generally resolved pretty quickly by talking to the professor from what I understand. My wife never had any problems with it in group projects or anything.

[4. If you are a woman in this program, are you involved in WiTS/has it been beneficial to you?]
I don't have a lot of personal experience with WiTS, but the women I do know that were involved with it have been quite successful after graduating, so I'd say it's probably a good idea to get involved with them. They're always putting on events to get students in touch with professionals. My wife actually went to a WiTS event with a group of women from her company to talk about big data and being a woman in tech.

[5. If you could start over, would you pick Dal again?] I had very few complaints with Dal, and honestly they're probably the same complaints anybody would have at any university. But the professors are knowledgeable and mostly good at teaching. Some are really bad at lecturing, but are good at one on one help. And the learning center is open most days with people around to help you with any problems you may have in a class. I made a lot of friends being involved with the Computer Science Society, going to Geek Beer, and just being in group projects with other people. So yes, I would pick Dal again. Also doesn't hurt that I met my wife there.

So in conclusion, I think going to Dal would be a good experience for you. I'm not going to say you shouldn't even consider other schools, but on the part of me, my wife, and our numerous friends who did Computer Science at Dal, we had a good time there and have been pretty successful after graduation. Hopefully this was helpful to you, and if you have any other questions I'll do my best to answer them.

By about7beavers [https://www.reddit.com/r/Dalhousie/comments/jl98lz/questions_for_bachelor_of_computer_science/ ]