Bachelor of Science in Computer Science and Physics with Management

at Wilfrid Laurier University - Waterloo Campus Canada

WHY PSYCHOLOGY?

By studying psychology, your insights into human behaviour will prepare you for many career options in social service agencies, human services or health.

The Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Psychology program provides you with a liberal arts education that includes broad exposure to the major sub-fields of psychology along with some training in research methodology and statistics. The program is designed to provide you with the analytical skills and information useful for a broad range of career options.

In addition to the BA in Psychology, we offer a Bachelor of Science in Psychology, which focuses more on the structures, functions, and workings of the brain and its interaction with our bodies and environment.

ABOUT THE BACHELOR OF ARTS IN PSYCHOLOGY

The BA in Psychology program at our Waterloo campus is structured to ensure that you are exposed to the breadth of content that exists within the discipline, while still permitting sufficient flexibility for you to pursue your own particular interests.

You'll come away with a solid understanding of the principles of human behaviour and be able to apply these principles in a responsible, engaged way.

We offer two different streams in our BA in Psychology degree and you will apply for these streams at the end of your second year:

Psychology stream: Offers you broad exposure to the major sub-fields of psychology, and prepares you for employment or graduate studies outside of psychology such as social work, teacher’s college, law school or speech language pathology.

Research specialist stream: Offers you training in research skills, along with considerable in-depth exposure to at least two of the sub-fields of psychology. You’ll also have the opportunity to complete an undergraduate thesis in your fourth year.

You can also add a Specialization in Community Psychology.

Bachelor of Science (BSc) in Computer Science will help you develop strong algorithm analysis and design skills in procedural, object-oriented and low-level languages, with an optional introduction to functional, parallel, and logical paradigms. 

In senior years, you will select courses in application areas ranging from internet computing to writing apps for mobile computing, from applied cryptography to quantum computing.

Develop scientific investigative techniques to identify and address complex health challenges for the purpose of improving human health and well-being.

Laurier’s Health Sciences degree is designed for students who are primarily interested in pursuing postgraduate opportunities in health-related fields, such as:

• Medicine
• Dentistry
• Pharmacy
• Physiotherapy
• Public health
• Epidemiology

As a Health Sciences student, you’ll learn scientific investigative techniques, critical thinking skills and core skills in applied health sciences. You’ll also gain hands-on lab training and other research and practical experience. This combination of skills and strengths will prepare you well for postgraduate study.

COURSE OFFERINGS:-
We offer a wide range of Health Sciences courses that examine the field from a variety of perspectives.

We approach the study of health through a combination of fundamental courses in biology, chemistry, psychology and math, as well as applied health courses including anatomy, physiology, epidemiology, social determinants of health, etc.

Taken together, these courses offer you a ‘cell to society’ perspective on human health and well-being.

Our Bachelor of Science (BSc) in Computer Science program teaches you the fundamentals of programming, algorithm design and computation. You'll learn about data management and analysis to gain a fundamental understanding of big data and its use within industry.

Our BSc in Physics program provides a strong foundation in Newtonian and modern physics, quantum mechanics, electricity, magnetism, optics and electronics, all in combination with mathematics. You also have the opportunity to learn about electronics and applied physics in more depth through specialized courses.

When combined, our BSc in Computer Science and Physics program provides you with a unique opportunity to obtain practical computer programming skills and, at the same time, gain knowledge of modern physics.

Graduates of this combined program are ready to fill the demands of a developing technology sector in careers such as a computer analyst, an optical engineer, or a business intelligence consultant.

Laurier’s History department teaches all periods from ancient to modern and is especially strong in the following areas:

• Global history (both regional and transnational courses);
• War and its impact;
• Social, cultural and gender history; and
• Innovative thematic courses (music, crime, business).

Our program encourages you to specialize in what interests you, whether it’s cultural or art history, social or military history, or the history of crime or politics. We focus on developing analytical and communication skills. These skills are invaluable in such varied professions as law, education, journalism and public and international service.

ABOUT ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE AT LAURIER
In our Bachelor of Science (BSc) in Environmental Science program, you will learn and understand how concepts from biology, chemistry and geography can be integrated to explain the processes that affect the physical environment and how these processes influence the biotic performance, from individual organisms to whole ecosystems.

The Bachelor of Science (BSc) in Environmental Science will give you the skills needed to understand how to use analytical tools, including lab and field methods, to quantify and assess the physical and chemical properties of soil, water and air for assessing and monitoring populations of organisms.

You will develop a broad range of techniques that will allow you to identify and devise solutions to environmental problems caused by human activities. You will be able to communicate these issues to diverse audiences for a number of purposes, such as helping to restore ecosystems or advocating for environmental issues.

Students in Environmental Science take one mandatory field course, and have opportunities to take others through the Ontario Universities’ Program in Field Biology.

Faculty members hire students as research assistants to work help with studies in the lab and field.

HONOURS THESIS OPTION
Students completing an honours thesis will conduct a yearlong research project that includes data collection, analysis and write-up.

Examples of honours thesis topics include:

• "Relating intensity of forest fires to caribou herd depletion in the Northwest Territories"
• "Effects of climate change on frozen landscapes in the north"
• "Effects of atmospheric processes on the movement and fate of pollutants"
• "Identification and conservation of rare and threatened plant species"

Laurier's Bachelor of Science (BSc) in Financial Mathematics program is structured to teach you mathematics and its financial applications with a focus on how mathematics is connected with natural, physical and computer sciences.

Laurier’s Financial Mathematics program is structured to teach you mathematics and its financial applications at the same time. Our core courses cover many topics that are fundamental to financial mathematics, including:

• calculus
• analysis
• linear algebra
• differential equations
• numerical analysis
• optimization
• probability theory and statistics
• stochastic processes
• stochastic calculus

You will obtain extensive experience solving real-world problems in financial mathematics and risk management in our math labs, where you will use appropriate mathematical and statistical software.

ABOUT THE BACHELOR OF SCIENCE IN FINANCIAL MATHEMATICS

• Our Bachelor of Science (BSc) program is focused on how mathematics is connected with natural, physical and computer sciences. You’ll have the opportunity to complete one or two minors in science subjects.
• For example, the concentration in Computational Finance (see below), enhanced with additional courses in Computer Science, will teach you advanced numerical techniques pertinent to financial and risk management problems and will help prepare you for a future career as a quantitative analyst.
• We also offer a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Financial Mathematics, which focuses on how mathematics is connected with social science and business.

CONCENTRATE YOUR STUDIES:-
You can select elective courses in mathematics and statistics within six optional concentrations:

• Analysis and Geometry
• Discrete Mathematics and Algebra
• Mathematical Modelling
• Statistics and Data Analytics
• Financial Risk Management
• Computational Finance
• You also have the opportunity to complete an option in Management

The information explosion of the modern age has resulted in extremely large data sets and a need to understand how to analyze and make sense of big data. Advances in hardware, software and statistical techniques are giving rise to automated methods to analyze patterns and models for all kinds of data, with applications ranging from scientific discovery to business intelligence and analytics.

As a result, data-driven decision making is quickly becoming the standard in almost every industry and has created an unprecedented demand for data-oriented professionals across a wide range of industries, organizations and disciplines. Given the volume of the data sets in question, it is nearly impossible to extract patterns, trends and behaviours without some degree of mathematical guidance and programming expertise.

About Data Science at Laurier
Our Bachelor of Science (BSc) in Data Science is the first undergraduate degree of its kind in Canada.

Our Data Science program seeks to address the data-related needs of modern business and industry. As a graduate of this program, you'll be prepared for many and diverse career opportunities through your study of mathematics, statistics, data analytics and computing technologies and methods. You’ll also take courses in computer science, data analysis, business and economics.

If you're successful in your application to the BA + Master's program in Political Science, you'll receive two conditional offers of admission:

• One to undergraduate studies (BA) in Political Science
• One to graduate studies (master's) in your undergraduate program.

This means that if you decide to continue your studies at the graduate level, you don’t need to apply to the master's program at Laurier, because you’ve already received a conditional offer of admission. You will begin your master's program after you graduate from your BA degree program.

BENEFITS OF THE BA + MASTER'S
Students accepted into the BA + Master's program receive mentoring and skills development opportunities throughout their undergraduate degree that will help them achieve the admission requirements for the graduate program, and help turn the conditional offer into an acceptance.

BA - Political Science

A Political Science degree at Laurier gives you the training and tools you need in areas such as political communication, policy and legal analysis, public opinion design and implementation, as well as election analysis. In the process, you’ll gain the experience and skills to understand the political events and debates around you, preparing you for a life of engaged citizenship.

Our program allows you to concentrate your studies in topics ranging from international governance and global trade, Canadian politics, comparative politics (e.g., the U.S. and Europe), public policy, area studies (Africa, Latin America, Asia and the Middle East), to refugees and migration and political research methodology.