Strategies for preparing your supplemental application

In assessing program applications, the admissions committee considers two components.

Your marks in the specified program admission courses tell the committee about your academic and Computer Science (and, for Data Science, Mathematics and Statistical Sciences) skills and strengths. Additional CS knowledge or experience beyond these courses is not required or expected for program applicants.

The supplemental application provides additional information about non-academic and non-discipline-specific skills and experiences that will help you succeed in, and contribute to, your courses and to groups (whether in class, in work placements, or in other academic or student activities). These skills and experiences includes setting and working towards a goal; contributing to a group; adjusting to change or overcoming challenges or barriers; and working with those different from you.

Here are the current supplemental questions. You will choose 3 of these questions to answer in 250 words or less:

1. Briefly describe a personal goal you have set for yourself, and how long you have been working to achieve this goal. Who did you turn to for advice or help, and what was their role? What did you learn about yourself?

2. Describe an example of a situation where you took on a leadership role, helped resolve a dispute, or contributed to a group’s goals. What was your role, what were your responsibilities, and what contribution did you make?

3. What is a big or unexpected adjustment, barrier, or challenge you have faced? What did you learn from it that changed your behaviour, perspective, or understanding of the world?

4. Give an example of a time when you had to work with someone who had a different perspective than you. Your example can come from a school project, a job, a volunteer position, a family scenario, or any other time you had to work with someone else. In what ways did you have to think differently to work successfully with that person or people? What did this experience teach you about working with others?

In answering these questions, the specific example or experience you describe is much less important than your description of how you responded to that situation. Don’t worry about choosing an example that seems important or impressive. Also, there is no advantage to discussing CS-related experiences in your responses — though there’s also no problem with drawing on experiences related to CS if relevant to the question!

As with all academic work, it’s essential that you write your own answers based on your own experiences and ideas. Note that the quality of your written English is NOT important: as long as readers can understand it, what matters is the content you wrote. If you would like feedback on your supplemental application or help getting started, we recommend visiting your college writing centre, as they will be able to help you in a way that maintains academic integrity and that reflects the goals of the supplemental application.

Many more students apply to CS programs than there are spaces available, and while both marks and the supplemental application help assess the potential for success in CS programs, many students who are not admitted would also succeed in a CS program if space were available. We wish we could admit all qualified applicants, but since we cannot, we use the supplemental application to ensure that we have a broad portrait of each applicant’s academic and non-academic skills and experiences.