Prerequisites for Fourth-Year Projects

The calendar, the registrar's office, the undergraduate advisers, and the chairs of the two Departments (Prof. Aitken Systems, Prof. Zhang Electronics) all agree that fourth-year registration is required to do a fourth-year project. What this means is you must have finished all (or nearly all) of the first, second and third year courses before you take your fourth-year project.

So why is this?

You need first second and third year courses as background. Of course specifically which courses you need will depends on exactly which project you are doing. However, faculty members who administer the projects should be able to assume that you have finished first, second and third year courses without specifically stating course prerequisites for the project. Some examples follow:

Projects which have a component of programming will be assumed that you have knowledge of computer programming from courses such as SYSC 2002 (94.202), SYSC 2004 (94.204) and SYSC 3006 (94.306).
As another example, many digital hardware based projects require some knowledge of Digital Electronics, so ELEC 3500 (97.350) must be completed.
Other hardware based projects could require ELEC 3509 (97.359), ELEC 3909 (97.399).
Any project involving tele-communications (which covers a large percentage of our projects) would benefit from having passed SYSC 3501 (94.351).
All projects involve a fair bit of written and oral communications as all projects are group projects, so ALSS 1000 (23.100) is vital. In fact, ALSS 1000 (23.100) has now been entered into the 2000/2001 calendar as an official prerequisite for the project. (It is listed directly for SCE, and indirectly for EE, as it is listed as being equivalent to the SCE project).

The fourth year project should be a final demonstration of engineering competence. A good project can help you get a job, or to get into grad school. Faculty members enjoy recommending students who have done well in their projects. On the other hand, a poorly done project may be seen as an indication that you have not mastered engineering, and that any real life job you are given may also not be done that well.
Needing courses from second or third year and trying to take them all at once implies overload, probably leading to lower marks or even failed courses. Don't believe that determination or willpower will be enough to allow you to take more courses in the final year than you have successfully taken before.

Can one combine second year, third year, fourth year and the project?

This question often comes up when students believe they have less than two years left. For example, if there are 12 half courses plus the project left, students may feel they can try extra hard and do everything in one year, or do the project in the first year and try to finish up by Christmas of the second year. Trying to do all in one year is going to be an overload, and all related background courses for the project will not have been taken. History has shown that in such cases students often fail a course or two, and get low marks in the other courses and in the project and end up having to come back for the next year. The better plan is to leave the project for the second year, thus allowing a lower course load, and the opportunity to end the undergraduate career with in improvement in marks. After all, the final year is the most important, and a well done project is something that can be shown to prospective employers with pride.

What about finishing the project part time?

In the above example, one could take 4 or 5 courses for the first academic year, then the remaining 2 to four courses could be spread across two terms to allow a lot of attention to be paid to the project, or they could all be taken in first term, and the project taken over two terms.

Thus, the student could and should take fewer courses during the project to allow full attention to the project. While it is good to do all courses full time, if necessary, or convenient, the student could go out to find a job after the fall term, while continuing the project in the Winter term. This is possible because Projects are done individually or with other students, but do not generally require classroom instruction or labs. Typically what is required is an hour a week or so to consult with the faculty adviser. As well, the student will have to come in for presentations that occur sometime around the end of January.

So, all in all, it is a lot easier to do a project part-time than it is to do a course part time. Remember, the project workload is not reduced and spread over a longer period when completed part time. The project still requires a minimum of 8 hours work a week since other students in your group (full time) are relying on you.

(Last revised September 8, 2009)