Starting EngSci at UofT: Exciting New Journey Ahead

[rocketboy]

Hey everyone,

so I just thought I'd let you all know because I'm so excited that next year I'm going to be starting my first year towards my bachelor's in Engineering Science at the University of Toronto! I was debating between UofT and McGill for the past few weeks, visited both, and decided that I could not pass up UofT's offer, as the EngSci program is the top engineering program in Canada. Can't wait until F!rosh!

wooooooo!

 

[Moonbear]

Yay! Congrats!

 

[Danger]

Way to go, Rocket. It must be great for you to have 2 such prestigeous institutions so close to home. Your travel expenses won't be much.

 

[Evo]

I thought this was about the University of Texas in Austin.

Oh well, congratulations anyway!

 

[Sisyphus]

Wow, congrats! It's supposed to be damn near impossible to get accepted into that.

 

[makethings]

Good luck...hahaha...you'll need it.

i'm in mechanical but I've met some engscis who transferred out and I've heard the good and the bad stories. No doubt you'll get a good education but it's very TOUGH.

 

[AKG]

Experiences will vary depending on your high school and your work habits, but in my experience EngSci was no harder than high school. In fact, I think my marks in EngSci were higher than they were in my last year of high school. I left EngSci after the first year, however, because I found that my interests were in math and not at all in things like design, chemistry, electronics, biology, etc. Anyways, the point is that there isn't really any telling how tough it will be until you're actually there, no matter how many people tell you it will be tough. To be safe, however, you ought to be prepared for the worst.

The program offers a good variety of courses, especially in first year, and you'll probably enjoy that. Try to network with a few people; if you're living on residence, especially one that's close to Bahen and where all the EngSci lectures are held, it should be easy. That way, if you miss a lecture (or all of them ;)) or you need answers to something, you're not on your own. I found that most of what you needed to know for most courses was right in the textbooks. When I was there, all the courses had something of a homepage on an internet database called CCNet. These course websites were very useful. Often they would tell you when the upcoming quizzes/tests were, what to study for them. Sometimes the assignments would be on these websites. These pages also have message boards and when I was there, they were very active so all the EngScis were able to communicate with each other and clarify things for each other.

When you have labs, you might not do so well on the first one. Figure out what your lab supervisor expects of you, and then make sure you really do that on your subsequent reports. If you do 3 pages of error analysis and he wants more error analysis, do more! When it comes to exams, some of the nearby copy places (places where you go to make photocopies and stuff) sell packages of past exams. These packages might also be available through the EngSci department. Get these packages and do them. They are great preparation, and you might even find questions on your exams that are identical to those on previous exams.

By the way, you probably won't have your electronics course until second semester, but if they're asking you to use "Electrical Fundamentals" by Zukotynski and Kherani, Third Edition then I can sell you mine.

 

[hypatia]

Great city, great school. WTG!

 

[rocketboy]

Experiences will vary depending on your high school and your work habits, but in my experience EngSci was no harder than high school. In fact, I think my marks in EngSci were higher than they were in my last year of high school. I left EngSci after the first year, however, because I found that my interests were in math and not at all in things like design, chemistry, electronics, biology, etc. Anyways, the point is that there isn't really any telling how tough it will be until you're actually there, no matter how many people tell you it will be tough. To be safe, however, you ought to be prepared for the worst.

The program offers a good variety of courses, especially in first year, and you'll probably enjoy that. Try to network with a few people; if you're living on residence, especially one that's close to Bahen and where all the EngSci lectures are held, it should be easy. That way, if you miss a lecture (or all of them ;)) or you need answers to something, you're not on your own. I found that most of what you needed to know for most courses was right in the textbooks. When I was there, all the courses had something of a homepage on an internet database called CCNet. These course websites were very useful. Often they would tell you when the upcoming quizzes/tests were, what to study for them. Sometimes the assignments would be on these websites. These pages also have message boards and when I was there, they were very active so all the EngScis were able to communicate with each other and clarify things for each other.

When you have labs, you might not do so well on the first one. Figure out what your lab supervisor expects of you, and then make sure you really do that on your subsequent reports. If you do 3 pages of error analysis and he wants more error analysis, do more! When it comes to exams, some of the nearby copy places (places where you go to make photocopies and stuff) sell packages of past exams. These packages might also be available through the EngSci department. Get these packages and do them. They are great preparation, and you might even find questions on your exams that are identical to those on previous exams.

By the way, you probably won't have your electronics course until second semester, but if they're asking you to use "Electrical Fundamentals" by Zukotynski and Kherani, Third Edition then I can sell you mine.

First of all thanks to everyone for the support! I'm excited!

AKG, thanks for all the information it will no doubt be helpful. I'm going to be in New College Residence so I'll be right near Bahen. Hopefully I'll be prepared for labs as my high school science courses stressed them quite a bit. I'll let you know when I find out what textbook I need for the electronics course... I'll definitely need to save all the money I can next year! What year were you at UofT for engsci?

 

[AKG]

I was in the 0T7 class. I also stayed at New, and really enjoyed it. As another word of warning, it's very easy to get lazy. If you are the least bit into computer games, watching movies/TV, you will find having LAN and probably DC++ will make it very easy to waste a lot of time. Over time, my sleeping and eating habits got just because of laziness, and I stopped going to the gym - something I did regularly the summer prior to first year. I think staying at residence is a good thing, both for your academics (since you're so close to everything, including others in your program) and because it's fun. Just try to balance it with the discipline to maintain your physical health as well.

As for labs, the thing is that different supervisors will have different, and sometimes strange requirements. I know the syllabus has changed over the last couple of years, but when I was there, we had physics first semester, but the physics lab was both semesters. The supervisor for the first semester was different than the one for the second. Everyone had one lab partner, and I believe you stick with your partner for the full year. Now my second-semester supervisor demanded that in writing the labs, I write on page, then my partner writes the second, then I write the third, partner writes the fourth, etc. Very strange.

My first semester guy was big on error analysis. This is why I said, "if you do 3 pages of error analysis and he wants more, do more". I don't think you can be prepared for that much error analysis, it's not natural to consider error in so much detail, and in so many ways. After the first few labs, however, we realized we had to get really creative in terms of what things we could analyze for error. The expectations these supervisors will have for you may not be normal, just be prepared to employ a bit of creativity, and a low mark on your first lab.

Also, I remember in first year getting an e-mail about NSERC. It's something I didn't pay much attention to then, but it's a really great opportunity. It's sort of like a research job. You find a professor who is eligible for an NSERC grant and who has a summer project for which he is willing to take you on. You will end up with research experience in a relevant field to put on your resume, but (although I can't speak authoritatively for what engineering NSERCs are like) you probably won't be asked to do anything too taxing. And it pays really well, at least $6000 dollars, so it's like a summer job doing something that you're interested in and that will help bolster your resume in a very relevant way. I'm sure it will look great on a PEY application too, but you can talk to your department about that.

Anyways, if any good bits of advice or general information come to me, I'll post them here. And if you have any questions, feel free to ask.

 

[habman_6]

Hold on to your hard hat for dear life during frosh week (or else I might steal it ;) ), and be prepared to dye yourself purple! :D

 

[rocketboy]

Hold on to your hard hat for dear life during frosh week (or else I might steal it ;) ), and be prepared to dye yourself purple! :D

lol, are you an artsie? (or going to be?) and yea, i plan on being purple! I'm not the type to not participate to the fullest!

AKG, where are you now? you mentioned not finding the maths as interesting as you anticipated.

 

[AKG]

AKG, where are you now? you mentioned not finding the maths as interesting as you anticipated.

I did? I did say:

I left EngSci after the first year, however, because I found that my interests were in math and not at all in things like design, chemistry, electronics, biology, etc.

Maybe you misread that? I'm in the math specialist (BSc) program now.

 

[rocketboy]

I did? I did say:

I left EngSci after the first year, however, because I found that my interests were in math and not at all in things like design, chemistry, electronics, biology, etc.

Maybe you misread that? I'm in the math specialist (BSc) program now.

oops my bad, yea i did misread it. how do you like the math program?

 

[AKG]

It's good, I'm really glad I switched.

 

[habman_6]

lol, are you an artsie? (or going to be?) and yea, i plan on being purple! I'm not the type to not participate to the fullest!

AKG, where are you now? you mentioned not finding the maths as interesting as you anticipated.

:tongue: I am going into 2nd year physiology and biochemistry. But that's not stopping me from coming to frosh and stealing some helmets!

It's good, I'm really glad I switched.

Professor Lam turned me off with his Lam-math, not calculus, so I vowed to stay away from math forever more haha. Too bad physics needs the higher level math or else I would be in it. Regardless, I'm with my greater passion now.

 

[rocketboy]

:tongue: I am going into 2nd year physiology and biochemistry. But that's not stopping me from coming to frosh and stealing some helmets!

:tongue2: do you actually get a two-four if u successfully steal a hardhat?