Enrolment News (2023-24)

First posted on February 2nd, 2023 at 9:57 am. Last updated July 3rd, 2024 at 11:33 am

General News

• 16-November-2023 – Expiry of CIPS Accreditation for SODE and CSCI Specializations:  The School of Computing has opted to not renew CIPS accreditation for the Software Design and Computer Science Specializations.  For more details, and to find out how this impacts your degree, please visit the Expiry of CIPS Accreditation page.
• 27-September-2023 - To students taking MATH 110 as a prerequisite to CISC 203 and 204: A calendar change is making its way through the required approval processes to remove MATH 110 as a prerequisite to CISC 203 and 204, since we have evidence that students who don't take CISC 102 struggle with those courses and require significant review time. This means that if you were planning on skipping CISC 102 (which is possible in the COCA plan, or for students in non-Computing plans), you must take CISC 102 this winter or summer if you aren't already taking it this fall. Alternatively, you can take CISC 102 in the fall of 2024 and 203/204 in the winter. This change will come into effect for the 2024-25 academic year. Students taking CISC 203 and 204 this year can use MATH 110 as a prerequisite.  This change is to make sure, in future, that students take CISC 102 before 203 and 204.  After this year, MATH 110 will simply no longer be considered an alternative to CISC 102 as a prerequisite for those 2^nd year courses.
• 10-August-2023 - To all 4th year students choosing a capstone course: Older academic calendars don't recognize CISC 495 as an alternative to CISC 499. Since by default SOLUS records you as using the calendar for the year in which you selected your current degree plan, if you use its "Academic Advisement Report" or its "Enroll by requirements" feature, it will not list CISC 495 as a possibility. If you are completing CISC 495 and you do not see it being used correctly in your Plan, contact asc.degree@queensu.ca. Please review your academic progress in SOLUS before making this request.
• 20-July-2023 - An error has been corrected in the Academic Calendar for the Software Design Specialization requirements. Under Options, section 2, subsection G, it previously read, "18.00 units from APSC, CISC, COCA, COGS, COMP, ELEC, MATH, MTHE, STAT" This has now been updated to reflect the correct requirements:
  "G. Any discipline other than APSC, CISC, COCA, COGS, COMP, ELEC, MATH, MTHE, SOFT, STAT"
• 25-May-2023 - Selecting the Computer Science Specialization plan? You will also need to enter your sub-plan. Here are the sub-plan codes:
  • i. Fundamental Computation (FUNC-O)
  • ii. Biomedical Computation (BICO-O)
  • iii. Data Analytics (DAAN-O)
  • iv. Artificial Intelligence (ARIN-O)
  • v. Game Development (GADE-O)
  • vi. Security (SECU-O)
• 24-May-2023 - Arts and Science has a hotline for 1st year students with plan selection questions!
  613-533-6708. The line is open between 9-noon and 1-4 each day for the next 2 weeks. Alternatively students can email passhelp@queensu.ca. 
• 6-February-2023 - The application for students to transfer into upper-year programs at Queen’s opened February 1st. Because the massive enrolment growth in School of Computing has further widened the gap between demand for our programs and available resources, a decision has been made to suspend accepting applications for students to transfer into the Plans offered by the School.
  • Only BCMPH students completing 1st year who meet the grade criteria will be automatically accepted into 2nd year Computing plans. All others (including BAH and BSCH students who meet the grade criteria) will go on a pending list from which we will accept only as many student as we can accommodate in upper-year courses.
  • ArtSci will not accept transfers into Computing plans from other faculties or universities, nor will they accept dual degree or second degree applications.  If you are looking to transfer to Queen's University, we encourage you to consider some of the many excellent alternative degree Plans in Arts and Science. Please visit the Arts and Science Transfer to Queen's web page for a comprehensive list.
    We are hopeful that, when our capacity catches up with the growth in near future, School of Computing will again be able to accept all qualified students.
• Check the FAQ for enrolment issues common from year to year.
• The University calendars are now available online. Consult them for all information on degree plan requirements and course descriptions. There are occasional errors, which we will correct here when we find them.
• For information about changes from previous years, see the enrolment news archive.

Enrolment for 2023-2024 courses

2023.08.04: CISC 495 course page is live

The website for the new capstone course, CISC 495 - Software Evolution, is now available. This is an alternative to CISC 496, 499, and 500 in most Computing plans (besides SODE) that focuses on the knowledge and skills required for typical early-career software development, via working in teams to modify existing open-source software. Students planning on software development as a career (other than in the gaming industry, for which CISC 496 is usually more suitable) should consider whether CISC 495 supports their goals better than the alternatives.

The wording of the CISC 495 website may evolve in response to student questions, but the information in its current form should be accurate. Prof. David Lamb (dal@queensu.ca) can answer questions and will update the site accordingly.

2023.07.24: Getting Help with your Course Enrollments

If you need assistance with enrolling in any of your courses, please wait until your enrollment period opens; we are unable to make any changes until then. At that time, please send us an email at advising@cs.queensu.ca with "Enrollment Request" as part of the subject line, and your student number and the course you want in your message.

2023.07.24: 4th Year Courses - Shopping Cart Won't Validate?

If you're trying to enrol in your 4th year course and your shopping cart won't validate, please note that these courses require that we verify your eligibility and manually enroll you in your course. Please wait until your enrollment period opens and then email us at advising@cs.queensu.ca with "4th Year Enrollment" in the subject line, and your student number and the course you want in your message.

2023.07.17: Enrolment appointment times available on SOLUS

As of today, students can view their enrollment appointment times in SOLUS, and can begin loading courses to their shopping carts. For more information about selecting 1st-year courses, or for registration timelines, please visit Arts and Science 1st-year Registration page.

2023.07.17: CISC 499 course page is live

For more course information, click here.

2023.07.07: Changes to capstone courses

All honours plans (except COCA) require that either you complete an internship or take a 4th year capstone course. Please read the capstone FAQ to fully understand the rest of this note.

For 2023-24 there are two changes to capstones:

1. CISC/COGS 499, now requires that you arrange for a supervisor before you are allowed to enroll (that is, before you will get "permission of department"). The course page will have more details in a few weeks.
2. The new CISC 495 capstone course, Software Evolution, is open to all honours students who meet the prerequisites, and does not need prior permission. The course page should be available in a few weeks.

Upcoming Events

Check back again soon...

Past Events

Links and Resources

• Computing Plans - Tree Chart - Visually groups our plans and shows how they are/aren't related.
• Computing Plans - Pie Charts - A visual comparison of the differences between the Major, Major/Minor, and Specializations.
• 1st Year Course Selection Guide (current as of 02-Nov-23)