Major or Honours?

We hope that by the time you've read this guide, you have already declared your program, or are ready to! If you haven't seen it already (which we insist you do, it contains useful information!), our First Year Guide includes a section on "What degree should I do?". Regardless, we'll copy paste the main takeaway here:

🎓 Honours vs. Major: What’s the Difference?

• Honours Programs (B.C.Sc. or B.Sc. Honours):
  Require a minimum 3.00 DGPA to enter and graduate. They involve more advanced courses, often include a research component, and are designed for students pursuing graduate studies (e.g., MSc or PhD). They’re essential if you’re considering academia or research-intensive roles.
• Major Programs (B.Sc. Major):
  Require a minimum 2.00–2.50 DGPA. They offer greater flexibility for electives, minors, or co-op, and are ideal if you plan to enter industry directly after your degree. For most tech jobs, employers prioritize skills and experience over the "Honours" designation.

Key Takeaway:

Outside of grad school applications, Honours and Major degrees hold similar weight in industry. Your internships, projects, and skills matter far more than the program type.

Okay, but what are the differences?

We will only compare the degrees similar enough to be worth comparing: B.C.Sc Honours Computer Science and B.Sc. Major Computer Science. If you were planning to do another degree, it's such a huge divergence that no written document can tell you the full details! Most people are confused on choosing between the Honours and Major CS degrees, as on paper, it seems really easy to just do Honours over Major. Therefore, we'll list out the fine-grained details so you don't have to dig up the Academic Calendar yourself, though you're encouraged to verify:

So, if you're intending to do Honours instead of Major, you will need to accomplish:

• A minimum GPA of 3.00 instead of 2.50.
• Completion of 12 crs more COMP 3000/4000 courses.
• Forced completion of COMP 3030 (Automata Theory and Formal Languages), COMP 3170 (Analysis of Algorithms and Data Structures), COMP 3370 (Computer Organization), COMP 3430 (Operating Systems), four challenging theoretical computer science and computer architecture courses.

CS Honours vs. Major: Final Advice

The main bottleneck for Honours (assuming you already met the GPA requirements) we've found for most students is the last point. Will you sufficiently enjoy the mandatory courses enough? The reality is that you won't know until you take them. However, the following courses you'll be taking in second year are kinda-sorta precursors to the listed courses:

• COMP 2140 (Data Structures: Analysis and Implementation) and COMP 2080 (Algorithms: Analysis and Implementation) - COMP 3170 (to a lesser degree, COMP 3030)
• COMP 2280 (Introduction to Computer Systems) - COMP 3370 (to a lesser degree, COMP 3030 and COMP 3430)

Therefore, if you currently qualify for Honours after first year, we recommend you just declare Honours for now and feel out the above courses first. If you find yourself doing well in them and were planning to take more COMP courses anyway, or you know you want to do grad school, stick with Honours so you keep your doors open. Else, you can switch to Major (and back) anytime by re-declaring with Science advisors.

One last point in favor of Honours: the exclusive COMP 4062 and COMP 4522.

• COMP 4062 is the Honours topic course (not to be confused with COMP 2060/3060/4060, which anyone can take), where our finest professors offer courses in their research domain. Aside from doing. well, research with them, this is probably your best chance to expose yourself to the research field of said professor. For example, in the 2025 - 2026 term, we have courses in Deep Learning, Natural Language Processing, 3D Computer Vision, Data Visualization, Human-AI Interaction, Human-Robot Interaction,...the list goes on! If you're looking for CS topics that aren't offered normally, but there are past COMP 4062 titles that greatly interest you, maybe you should stick with Honours for a chance to take them.
• COMP 4522 is a 6 crs "project" course where you can link up with a professor and produce your own original project! This is usually how our students get an undergraduate thesis, which is incredibly useful for graduate school applications, but may also wow interviewers! Academically, you're also more likely to be motivated and get a high grade than taking two other difficult COMP 4000 courses. Lastly, you won't get any other chance to have an "undergraduate thesis" on your resumé ever again. If owning an original academic piece is the legacy you want to leave behind, go for it! Remember, though, you can totally make projects on your own time, as well as do research with professors without paying a single dime of tuition; your call.

The key takeaway still stands, though: If you insist on going into industry, it doesn't matter. Honours is more difficult to finish than Major, but it keeps your doors open for different opportunities. We trust that whichever degree you follow through in the end, it'll be the right choice for you!