Bachelor of Data Science

Welcome to Carleton and your Bachelor of Data Science (B.D.S. Honours) degree program

Please read this degree guide prior to registering.

Your School

The Institute of Data Science is located in the Herzberg Laboratories (HP) building. For questions about the program, please contact the Undergraduate Advisors located in our Main Office, Room 5302, by telephone at (613) 520-2600 ext. 4364 or by email at ds.ug.advisor@cunet.carleton.ca.
 
The Institute’s computer labs are located on the fourth and fifth floors of HP. Technical support is available to students at the dedicated Help Desk in 5161 HP.
 
For information on your undergraduate program please refer to the Undergraduate Calendar  for course and program information.

Your Degree Program

The Bachelor of Data Science program is a 20.0 credit degree program that can be completed in four years. With the Co-op option, the program can be completed in five years, with the first work term scheduled after students complete the second year of their program. To participate in Co-op, students must meet all eligibility requirements as stated in the Undergraduate Calendar.
For more information about the Bachelor of Data Science program offered in the Institute of Data Science, please visit our Bachelor of Data Science webpage.

Registration Terminology

Before you register for courses, you should understand the various registration terms that you will encounter throughout the registration process. These terms are found on the Registration Terminology page, e.g., “preclusion”, “prerequisite”, “Year in Program” and more. There is also information about registering for tutorials and how tutorials differ from lectures.

Courses Required for First-Year B.D.S. Students

Electives and Prohibited Courses

The Bachelor of Data Science requires students to complete a number of Free Electives as part of the program requirements. Students are encouraged to take electives each term throughout their degree.
 
Free Electives are courses in any subject, excluding courses on the prohibited courses list for the B.D.S. program. Prohibited courses cannot be used for credit towards the program, or minor requirements, for any student enrolled in the B.D.S. program. Students should always refer to the most recent Undergraduate Calendar for information regarding prohibited courses  and course preclusions.
 
Courses preclude each other if they contain sufficient content in common, and credit may not be earned for more than one of the courses. Should two or more courses be taken that preclude each other, only the most recent attempt will be available for program credit; the remaining earlier attempt(s) will be forfeited. Courses that preclude each other are not necessarily considered equivalent and may or may not be interchangeable in fulfilling degree requirements.
 
B.D.S. students may register for up to two minors from other departments during their academic career. For example, you could add a minor in Math or Psychology to your degree and double count some, or all, of your minor courses towards your free elective requirements. You may view the Program section of each degree in the Undergraduate Calendar to see the requirements of the specific minor.
 
Adding a minor(s) is not required. Students may choose their electives based on personal interest. If you are having difficulty deciding which electives to take, our best advice is to choose courses in topics you found interesting in high school or take courses in topics you are generally interested in studying. All course titles and descriptions can be found online in the Carleton University Undergraduate Calendar under “Courses”.
 
Students in the B.D.S program may also choose to enroll in one (or both) of the concentrations offered by the Institute of Data Science: Artificial Intelligence, and Statistics. Adding a concentration is a great way to focus your learning experience throughout your degree. Much like a minor, adding a concentration is not a mandatory requirement for your program. Students who choose to enroll in a concentration will be limited to enrolling in at most one minor in addition to their chosen concentration. 
 
Students may enroll in (at most) two concentrations, or two minors, or one concentration and one minor.  If you have any questions about this selection and/or are interested in taking a minor or double concentration, please consult with an Undergraduate Advisor.

Laptop Requirement

All students in the B.D.S. program are required to have a laptop that meet these minimum specifications. Macbooks with an M-Processor have issues with virtualization, and are therefore strongly discouraged. Although work arounds do exist, they are not officially supported by the technical staff in the School of Computer Science. 

Important Notes for New Students

Students may only count a maximum of 7.0 credits in zero and 1000-level courses toward fulfillment of graduation requirements. Credits in excess of this limit will be set aside as Extra to the Degree (ETD), No Credit for the Degree (NCD) or Forfeit.

If you encounter a restriction when trying to register, please submit a Registration Override Request on Carleton Central, and the department offering the course will get back to you.

Find more information about registration and course selection on the Bachelor of Data Science website.