program reputations Don't come to Queen's on the quest for easy degree. Sure, lots of people plan on coming to university to party, to find a husband, to get laid - whatever - but the smart ones they come to get a little thing we like to call an education. Do your research and make sure the subjects you are looking to study here are up to your standards, that the courses you want to take are offered here, and most importantly, that there is a back up plan in place. A lot of people come into Queen's with aspirations of being a cardiothorastic surgeon only to fall in love with Drama. Below we've compiled a brief list of some of the major and minor programs at Queen's. We're offering you that little bit of insight before you get your feet wet.
Classical Studies The Classical Studies Department at Queen's is very well known and the professors are top notch. While Kingston isn't exactly a stimulating site for achaeological research, there are some fascinating study abroad options and some even more facsinating lecture content in this course of study. Both the Latin and Greek options are well done, and you will walk away after four years with a greater understanding and appreciation of a new language and culture. The requirements for a Classics degree are fairly lax, and you can get away with taking courses that you are interested in, with few required courses. Recommended Courses: Myth & Religion, Archaeology Commerce Commerce kids at Queen' get the reputation for being boring, uptight and dull. In my experience, they deserve that reputation, but there are also some highly motivated and ruthless ones out there that come to Queen's to work, to learn, and to love their 90 hour work weeks once done. If you want to work in the business world, it's pretty obvious that getting a specialized degree in something like engineering or even basket weaving is going to be worth a lot more than a Commerce degree, but Commies at Queen's come out of the program with great job prospects. Goodes Hall, where the Commerce faculty holds most of it's classes, is a phenomenal building with all the bells and whistles. The Queen's MBA program (one of the top in the world) is run out of the same facility. Commies are a tight knit group and tend to stick together, as most of their classes are with the same set of classmates and most kids tend to leave outside faculty electives to a minimum. There are some great courses within the Commerce department itself. While most involve far too much PowerPoint and common sense, there are some stimulating interdisciplinary options and many will boost your GPA. Additionally, the faculty is fabulous and world renowned. Recommended Course: Marketing with John Carlson. Computer Science The Computer Science program at Queen's is primarily a theoretical program with some world renowned specialties in medical imaging and biomedical computing. Classes are very small, professors are accessible, and the program leaves lots of room for electives. While the facilities leave room for improvement, this is more than made up for by the quality of the faculty and the stimulating course content. Recommended Courses: Algorithms 1 & 2 with Selim Akl, Human Computer Interaction with Roel Vertegaal Engineering The Engineering department certainly gets the most 'publicity'. Engineers are known for partying hard and working harder. They are saddled with a lot of course work and class hours from year one, although electives become visible as the program progresses and disciplines within engineering get smaller. This is an extremely close knit faculty in general, with a large portion of the events on campus being geared towards or led by engineers. Frosh week is dominated by Engineers paiting themselves purple, dying their jackets, and generally scaring the Frosh shitless. The annual Eng Formal is also a well known and glamourous on campus event - it was legendary enough to make a Letterman Top 10 list. Along with the camaraderie that goes hand in hand with being a Queen's Engineer, comes hard work, taxing exams, and a high drop out rate. The program touts the largest representation of female engineers amoung Canadian universities, but the number still remains low. All in all, if you are prepared to work hard, play hard, and get a kick ass job right after graduation, then give the Engineering program at Queen's a look. Additionally, if you have your heart set on Engineering, I can't think of a better school to study than at Queen's. The Film program at Queen's is small and tight knit. There are only a few required courses, thus your final degree is extremely well tailored to your interests and skills. While there are only a few production courses offered at Queen's, they offer you a lot of flexibility to be creative and shoot exactly what you envision. The web based media courses are disappointing, however the writing courses (including a course on how to write and shoot a pilot) are tremendous. Since the program is small and everyone works on everyone else's films for four years, people in the program get to know each other very well, and the relationships forged are once that tend to last a lifetime. Recommended Courses: anything with Peter Baxter.
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