The discussion revolves around strategies for succeeding in a competitive engineering program, specifically at the University of Toronto (U of T). Participants share advice on managing academic workload, time management, and balancing social activities with studies, while expressing concerns about the challenges of first-year courses in engineering.
Participants generally agree on the importance of time management and the potential challenges of first-year courses. However, there are differing views on the extent of difficulty and the impact of social activities on academic success, with no consensus on the best approach to balancing these aspects.
Some participants mention specific challenges related to course loads and the structure of their programs, indicating that experiences may vary based on individual circumstances and institutional policies.
Incoming university students, particularly those entering competitive engineering or STEM programs, may find the shared experiences and advice relevant to their transition to higher education.
pjfoster said:So I'm currently a junior Physics/Math major, but I heard some good general advice this summer that I wish I had heard earlier. There's three main things that college students do; study, sleep, and party. You only have the time to do two of these things reasonably well, although to be fair it IS possible to do a lousy job at all of them. Choose wisely.
Eric_meyers said:I'm guessing U of T stands for University of Texas? or Tennessee? I go to UT Austin and the advice I can give is to plan out your 4 year classes you're planning on taking.
Also, I've made As in most of my classes not because I'm particularly academically competent but because I go to tutoring every week - in fact I've done most (probably 75%) of my studying in my college's tutoring center.
Most universities have free tutoring for math + science usually up to sophomore level. UT Austin offered free tutoring for Calculus 1 - 3 and physics + chemistry.
You can party just be smart about it, if you have a class at 8 or 9 am the next day don't be up at clubs getting krunk until 5 am and wake up and vomit during the prof's lecture. Fridays are the best day to party and then have saturday as a recoop day then Sunday a study/hang out day.
Also I wouldn't advise taking any more or any less than 5 classes your first semester. 5 classes is the average load and you should become comfortable with the work load.
Red_CCF said:Thanks for the reply
Sorry for not being clear in my first post. U of T stands for University of Toronto. I have to take 6 classes and the classes are pre-registered for me by the faculty so I can't do anything about it. I'm going to try to refrain from partying in my first year and see how it goes because I'm living in residence. I'm not that smart either which is why I'm very worried right now.
anubis01 said:Ah another Torontonian. I myself am a second year physics student that goes to the University of Ottawa, but a couple of my friends are doing engineering at UoT.
For you to get into UoT it means that you have a firm grasp of the material your studying so you shouldn't have to much problems with the work. The problem however, especially in first year is managing your time effectively, which can be difficult with the amount of assignments you have and if you have a bad schedule it can really cause problems. So if you can do little things like studying on the bus on your way to school, perhaps staying at the library to study after your class instead of going home and coming back in 4 hours for another class will save you lots of time which can be used to study.
Manage your time well and you'll do fine.
endless06 said:as my old math teacher used to tell us: "University's are full of average people that try hard."
my situation is close to yours, I'm starting at U of Waterloo CompSci in 2 weeks which is also a relatively competitive program (competing for co-op spots). my game plan is to work hard to understand all concepts.