The option package is described in the Undergraduate Calendar and is comprised of eleven courses. Six courses are already core to the electrical engineering program. Two of these courses may count as technical electives (TEs) and the three courses must be taken as extra courses (that is, they cannot count towards your electrical engineering degree and must be taken over-and-above your usual workload). In order to add this option to your program, you must have a cumulative average of 80 by the end of your 2A Academic Term.
Extra Courses
As an electrical engineering student, you can count up to two 2nd- or 3rd-year computer-engineering-specific courses as technical electives: ECE 254, 351, 327, 356 and 358. For this option, these courses may either be counted as technical electives or toward the option, but not both. Fortunately, these courses are usually scheduled in your 2B, 3A, and 3B Academic Terms in such a way that they will not conflict with your core electrical engineering courses. This means that you can take these courses in these terms either in place of your elective course or as an extra course. If you replace one of your electives, you will have to make that elective up by taking it at some point in the future.
Because this option requires three extra courses, this requires that you will have to fit in three additional courses into your workload either as:
- extra courses during an Academic Term over-and-above your full course load,
- courses taken through distance education or on campus during your Co-op Work Terms (usually only feasible for CSEs and NSEs—if you are taking an on-campus course during a Co-op Work Term during working hours, this must be approved by your employer),
- courses taken during an extra study term either in place of a Co-op Work Term (you must have five Co-op Work Terms to graduate) or after your 4B Academic Term (recall that taking three or more courses during any term is considered a full-time student, and you will be required to pay additional fees), or
- courses taken at other universities, requiring you to find equivalent courses and submitting a Letter of Permission prior to signing up for the course (this will usually be through distance education and is usually only feasible for CSEs and NSEs).
In general, it will be easier to take your Complementary Studies Electives during your Co-op Work terms, as many of these courses are offered through distance education; however, this will require you to take more technical courses during your Academic Terms, and this may reduce your overall average which may affect opportunities for scholarships and graduate studies.
Technical Electives
The available technical electives that count toward the computer-engineering option are listed in the Undergraduate Calendar. If you take any of the 2nd- or 3rd-year computer-engineering specific courses, these cannot double count as both technical electives and toward the option.
If you start in the option in 2B and take, for example, ECE 254 Operating Systems and Systems Programming, and later decide you do not want to take the option, you can at that point count ECE 254 as a technical elective.
Cost Involved
Recall that each distance education course will cost approximately $1000 (possibly much more), and therefore, if you do not overload your workload during your Academic Terms (extra courses do not cost more), this option will cost $3000 or more.
If you are a student has completed or nearly completed this option and would like to comment about scheduling your courses, work load, prerequisites you may have gotten waived, applications of the option, how it relates to the Electrical Engineering Program, etc., please contact the Webkeeper.