engineering - askastudent

admissions, applying for U of T, engineering, getting into U of T

entering the hallowed halls

October 15, 2025

Hello, I have a question. I’m currently a gr 11 student. i didn’t really care about my grades or study at all. I have an 80 average I know won’t cut it for university. I want to go to UofT Mechanical Engineering. I have amazing ecs, 500+ hours volunteer, intern 4 months, DECA 4 years, STEM 2 years. I can easily get 97+ in gr 12 but I’ve been told they look at gr 11 for consistency which I don’t have so I’m unsure if I can make it in.

heyyo,

i’m far from an expert on engineering admissions but luckily for both me and you, there is a LOT of info about them online. plenty from official sources (check out the ones i link for you!), or, if you are so inclined, you can enter the hallowed halls of reddit to read about the experiences of the applicants before you.

oh, and there’s quite a bit on the lovely site you’re already on, too (shameless self-advertising, i know i know).

anyways, for now i will save you a bit of time sorting through all that info and give you the important stuff:

so i’m gonna assume that you’re an ontario high school student. if you’re out of province but in canada, see here for the requirements. if you’re international, check here.

now if you are indeed a student in ontario, according to the admission faqs, you need to have an average of about high 80s to low 90s to be competitive for mechanical engineering. it’s important to note that when grade 12 final marks aren’t available yet, admissions will look at your grade 11 prerequisites to help calculate your average. they also consider your individual grade 11 and 12 courses along with the average.

you’re right that extracurriculars are important for engineering admissions. according to the admission faqs, you’ll have a chance to write about your experiences and submit a personal profile. part of that personal profile involves recording yourself answering questions. i do believe that there are workshops that can help you prep for that part of your application, but i couldn’t find any available at the moment. i did, however, find a site which lists some upcoming events for hopeful engineers. keep your eyes peeled!

my advice for what you can do right now is to start getting some help from teachers and guidance counselors. ask your teachers for more feedback so you know what skills you can work on. and my friend, i am very sorry to be the one to inform you of this tragedy, but if you wanna go to uoft, you will have to start studying.

i know, i know, it’s all quite upsetting. but you can start now by doing some research on study tips (there’s SO MUCH out there, google is your friend), and asking your guidance counselor if you want some more personalized advice.

and one last thing: 100% keep aiming for mech eng, but there are also other programs at uoft (and at other unis, forgive me for being a bit traitorous) that you would probably find cool too! check out all of the programs that the math and physical sciences admission category at uoft’s st george campus can lead you to, or browse more options at uoft’s mississauga and scarborough campuses. oh, and there’s always the other programs within the faculty of engineering.

best of luck with applying to uoft next year! enjoy the rest of high school!!

cheers,

aska

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admissions, applying for U of T, engineering, extracurricular, grades

it’s brutal out here

July 14, 2025
hey, im an extremely extremely average student. grades are always in 70s or 80s. I’m in grade 10, I’m really interested in both uoft’s st George campus and Scarborough for civil engineering and computer engineering.

but as you know.. my grades wont really cut that.

i know grade 11 grades r the *most* important. how much will my extra-curriculars matter? (next year / gr11) and how do I go from this to a 90s student? I’m worried I’m wasting my time and not using my full potential but I don’t know how to get to that level lol.

thank you.

hey there,

well, you’re right. grade 11 and 12 marks are the most important for university admissions. so it’s great that you’re thinking ahead about how you can do your best in school during these next years!

you said you’re interested in the st. george and scarborough campus engineering programs.

ok. let’s hit the basics first. you can find all the info about engineering admission requirements at U of T here. in short, they will base your admission on the average of six grade 12 level courses:
- english
- calculus and vectors
- chemistry
- physics
- advanced functions
- one other academic course (will take the course with the highest mark)
BUT, most of the time when you send in your application, your grade 12 marks might not be out yet. in that case, they will calculate your admission average using the grade 11 equivalents of those courses.

so your best bet is to focus your energy on those ^ subjects during both grade 11 and 12.

based on the engineering admissions reports from 2023 and from 2024, the mean of admission averages is in the mid 90’s. geez, the competition is brutal.

keep in mind though, that’s just the mean. not everyone who was admitted was in the mid 90’s.

we, however, are special and do want to be in the mid 90’s. so how do you lock in and become a 90’s student, you ask? hmmm. honestly, i’m not sure i can tell you anything you haven’t already heard before, without knowing about your study habits or specific issues you’ve been having.

i feel like the main thing people struggle with these days is just time management and planning how you’ll spend your time prepping for assessments. procrastination is really a grade killer, man. (if you wanted specific advice to help with it, check out this other post i made.)

usually, the student mentor side of me would point you towards the vast resources that U of T offers for its students. but, since you’re still in high school, i’m not sure what your situation is. if possible, i think a good course of action is to look into learning strategies, or study counsellors — whatever resources your high school might provide. sure, it might feel like dork behavior, but you have nothing to lose. best case scenario, it actually helps you develop good study haits, and you get into U of T! yippeee.

but if you don’t have any study-help resources available to you, you are not powerless!! the best thing you can do is be aware of what works and doesn’t work for yourself, and react accordingly. you know? like, if your night study sessions are not that effective, try studying in the early morning instead! try different things out and see what sticks.

meanwhile, bro to bro, my alternative advice would be to befriend the top student in each of your classes. they can be really good at explaining things and it makes them feel good about themselves. like, let’s be real, having the smart kid’s help is a tried and true way to boost your grades in a pinch. and don’t worry, it’s not a parasitic relationship, because you’ll boost their ego! *whips around* who said that…

anyways, real advice and silly advice aside. let’s talk extracurriculars! how much will they matter?

well, unlike most programs, extracurriculars do matter quite a bit for engineering applicants. U of T wants to see that incoming engineering students have strengths outside of the classroom. i guess we’re trying to beat the all-engineering-students-are-sunlight-deprived-allegations.

you’ll be able to show your extracurricular activities through the online student profile, which is a supplementary application you send in after you’ve submitted your OUAC application. with this, they’ll be most interested in activities that show your “leadership, dedication, and overall excellence”. the good thing is that your activities do not need to be engineering related. for example, they can include student clubs, volunteering, arts, athletics, community involvement, or paid employment.

on top of that, you’ll also submit a “personal profile”, which includes some timed written and video responses. these will apparently help U of T “get to know you as a person”, and are mainly meant to assess your communication skills.

and, yeah! that’s kinda an overview of what U of T asks for in engineering applications. the short story is that grade 11 and 12 marks matter the most, and extracurriculars do matter quite a bit. overall, all you can do is your best! you’ve already got a great start by asking the right questions and wanting to improve.

i hope i gave somewhat useful and sensical information here lol. wishing you good luck in all your endeavours! i believe in you <3

over and out,

aska
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admissions, engineering, scholarships/bursaries

yess internet, give us nothing!

May 21, 2025

hi aska! i’m a gr 12 student accepted to utsg engineering, and i searched for engineering admission scholarships requiring applications on the uoft award explorer. when i clicked apply, some of the application links (like for the Albert and Rose Jong Entrance Scholarship) lead to this page saying: ‘The University Registrar’s Office is making changes to the process for 2023-24. Updates will be available shortly. Stay tuned!’ do you know how/if i can apply for them? thank you!

hey there,

that is weird. but, also unsurprising. i see this happen way too often with U of T websites. in fact, i encountered the same problem last year when i was looking for scholarships in my program.

and ok i see what you mean. i just went to the award explorer and it led me to that same out-of-date page you saw!

well, i spent over an hour searching for answers to your question and i hope you’re hungry, cause i came up with…

a whole bunch of nothing! 😀

i could not for the life of me find a working application link to those awards. which is weird, because if they’re listed on the award explorer, i’m pretty sure you should be able to apply to them….

so even if i can’t figure out the exact answers to your questions, i will not leave you starving. here’s my advice on where to go from here:

honestly, if the “apply” link keeps leading to this out-of-date page, i would just recommend that you directly email the faculty offering the award and ask about whether you’re able to apply. tell them the same thing you told me. tell them that the links aren’t working, and specify that you’re interested in engineering admission scholarships requiring applications.

in general, if you have questions about a scholarship that can’t be answered on the info page, don’t be afraid to reach out directly to the faculty offering the scholarship.

that’s exactly what i did last year when i couldn’t figure out how to apply to some scholarships — i just went directly to the people in charge. and they got back to me within a week and very kindly answered all my questions!

so if you balk at hearing “email them” like i do, let me tell you, do not be scared. it’s actually so very chill! and if you ask me, it’s the faculty’s job to make its award application process clear for applicants. if students can’t find their award applications in an accessible or easy way, that’s on them.

but exactly who should you contact, you ask?

well, i can see that engineering admissions award links offered by both the university’s registrar office and the faculty of engineering are leading to that same page. so i guess you could contact either of them. but, honestly i’ve never tried contacting the university’s registrar office so i’m not sure how fast their response time would be. they’re the main office for the whole university, and they might receive a higher volume of emails than other registrar offices.

so what i’d recommend you do is contact the engineering registrar, since you might have a better chance of them getting back to you quickly. plus, now that you’ve been admitted, you are one of the students that they are in charge of helping!

here is the link to the emails and contact information of people in the faculty of engineering. don’t worry, i know there are a whole lot of people and emails on that page — so to help you narrow it down, the emails i’d recommend you contact are either the “awards and honors” person, or the undergrad admissions email: admissions@engineering.utoronto.ca , or the main registrar email: registrar@engineering.utoronto.ca .

and yeah, i hope this somewhat helps? sorry i couldn’t give you a better answer :((( the internet fails me sometimes.

over and out,

aska

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admissions, applying for U of T, bad times, engineering, hard

rejection is just redirection

January 31, 2025

I don’t know if I’ll make it into uoft engineering, because my average is mid-80s for end of first sem, but I’ve asked this page a lot of questions last year, and I’m very grateful, so I wanna know how I should prepare for the rejection. I don’t know if this sounds depressing, but I’ll be fine later on but I saw my exam grades today and I wanna cry and I just don’t want to feel sad about being rejected because I really wanted to go to uoft.

hey there,

man, i’m sorry that’s happening! that sounds really upsetting.

first off, thanks for your question, it means a lot that you came to me with this.

i know that it can feel like the world is ending when you don’t get the grades you wanted, especially when you put so much effort in and there’s so much at stake. i also remember your questions from last year, so i know that you’ve really been committed to getting good grades over the past year! you were asking all the right questions and were focused on all the right things.

i mean, it’s totally normal to feel distressed over this! anyone who’s worked as hard as you and has this much dedication to their goals would be.

when i’m feeling this way, i think it helps to know that you genuinely did the best you could. you did all you could with the resources and knowledge you had at the time, so there’s nothing to beat yourself up over. sure, it didn’t turn out the way you wanted, but a rejection is not a reflection of your work ethic, intelligence, or competence. sometimes the circumstances are just built in a difficult way.

and like, are we kidding? trying to get into U of T engineering is one heck of a difficult circumstance. the grades they require are insanely high, and it’s a notoriously difficult program at the notoriously most difficult school in the whole country.

just because this program isn’t right for you doesn’t mean you can’t reach academic excellence (whatever that is) or be on the path to a highly successful career — tbh, all the most successful and outstanding U of T students i know who are making big moves and getting recognized for their work aren’t in engineering. and i’m not sure if you applied to other schools, but getting any engineering degree is impressive and will make you employable. there are plenty of other top-notch engineering programs in canada and other top-notch programs at U of T.

but even then, nothing’s set in stone yet! you just got your interim grades back, not the rejection. your marks are in the mid-eighties, which is like what, two percentages away from the high-eighties? remember that the engineering admissions considers your extracurricular work along with your academic work, so that could pull your application up. at this point in time, you could still get in, or even get waitlisted. let’s not snowball towards the worst-case scenario, you still don’t know what will happen.

if you wanted advice on how to prepare for rejection, here’s what helps me. when i’m really set on an opportunity (which i am right now), i try to not get attached to the end outcome, and only focus on what’s controllable. you can only control your effort, consistency, and drive — after that, you’ve done your job and there’s nothing else you have to do.

also, you might think something is the perfect golden opportunity, but remember that it hasn’t actually happened yet. we’re only human, so we can’t look into the future, and you don’t actually know if it would be disastrous! like, have you heard of burnt toast theory?

maybe this opportunity just isn’t right for you — or, it isn’t right for you at this point in time.

what i’m trying to say is, when something doesn’t work out, there’s often something better waiting for you that you just don’t know about yet! i am a firm believer that rejection is just redirection, and what’s meant for you will find you.

maybe i sound a little delulu LOL but that’s what helps me.

anyway. if you’re really set on engineering and didn’t apply to other schools, maybe you can try again next year — you are still able to apply to universities a year after you graduate. don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t do something! if you really have a dream, don’t let one “no” end it all. i know someone who’s applied to med school four years in a row, getting rejected each time. but she keeps trying again and again, because she’s committed to her goal.

ultimately, all you can do at this point is keep working hard in school. maybe if you keep your grades up, you might get waitlisted, and then accepted!

i’ll leave you with this: if you have effort and you have consistency, there is nothing you cannot do. it is truly only a matter of time.

you are so capable. take a deep breath, you’ve got this.

over and out,

aska

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admissions, applying for U of T, engineering

young engineer will not go crazy today, no siree

August 6, 2024

Hey, I want to get into mechanical engineering in uofstg and I’m grade 11 (well going into grade 12 since it’s summer) and in ontario with a 87 average. I’m in HOSA but didn’t make president (I thought I would). My school doesn’t have many clubs but I want to be more involved with stem club next year. I just wanted to know how competitive my program is and my chances of getting in regardless of grade 12 (I am hoping to do better next year). I’m shaking in my boots because I really really want to get in. I keep pretending like I won’t go crazy if I don’t get in but I just might.

hey there,

i get how stressful it can be during this stage of high school, right before university application season starts! “shaking in your boots” is such an accurate description of that time.

but,

i’m not an engineering student so i can’t speak from experience as to how competitive admissions is. to be honest with you, all you can really do to figure out your chances of getting in is to do some casual internet sleuthing (aka research) on U of T websites.

so you want to get into mechanical engineering. well, engineering programs are definitely among the more competitive programs at U of T. but, your 87 average does fit within the range listed on the FAQ page of the engineering website — here, they say the grade range that you need to be competitive for mechanical engineering is high 80’s to low 90’s. keep in mind though, being within this range “doesn’t guarantee admission”, as they’ll always say.

on this page, it also says that your admission average is computed based on a select group of pre-requisite grade 12 level courses. under the ontario school system, those are english ( ENG4U), advanced functions (MHF4U), calculus and vectors (MCV4U), chemistry (SCH4U), and physics (SPH4U). this tells you that you’ll want to especially do well in these courses, since admissions will definitely be looking at them.

meanwhile, you’re right that your extracurricular activities matter too — for both admission and scholarship consideration.

the engineering school’s admissions requires that you submit an online student profile, through which you’ll input your grades, describe your extracurriculars and send in some “get to know you as a person” video responses. you’ll have access to this though the engineering applicant portal once U of T receives your initial application on OUAC (ontario universities’ application centre).

keep in mind though, that your extracurricular activities don’t need to be engineering-related. they can also include athletics, arts, community involvement, and paid or volunteer employment. for this section, i think it’s great that you’re a part of HOSA and that you’re gonna get involved with stem clubs!

anyways. it seems like that’s it. these are just the admission areas you’ll want to make yourself as competitive as possible in. to directly answer your question, i can’t really tell you

“congrats, you’re competitive!”

or

“man i’m sorry you just won’t cut it”.

because like, i’m not an admissions officer, nor have i applied to engineering myself.

but it seems to me like you’re in a pretty okay position right now. engineering is very hard to get into, but i think you are able to craft a strong application from here on out. i think just work really hard in grade 12 to get the highest marks you can, and really sell those extracurriculars in your student profile.

all in all, i believe you’re fully capable of getting in if you set your mind to it and really commit yourself during this last home stretch. lose that fear of failure, you’ve got this!

over and out,

aska

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admissions, engineering

once again, may i present… your registrar!

June 21, 2024

Hello,

I applied as an early consideration for EngSci program at UofT. However, I have received an email in mid April that I have been placed on the waitlist.

Till now I have not received any updates and my engineering portal account gives the same message that I’m still under consideration.

Someone asked here about the latest response date which turns out to be June 7th, but I haven’t received either an acceptance or rejection till now (June 18th)

What does that mean? :’))

hey there,

man, that is a bit confusing to have not heard back for so long. first, props to you for checking my previous answers before asking!

buut, it’s good thing you asked because i’m not sure that answer would be applicable to your exact situation.

that question i answered last month was asked by a first year student enrolling in their program of study for second year. the latest response date of june 7th was pulled from the arts & sciences “important dates” timeline. but this date wouldn’t be relevant to you since you’re in a different faculty, the faculty of applied science and engineering. these faculties operate under different timelines and have different academic dates!

anyways, based on what you’ve said, i’m assuming you’re applying to your engsci major as you go into third year. here’s the thing with that — i can’t seem to find an exact date or timeline for engsci major acceptances like there is for artsci programs. and even if i got your situation wrong and you’re in the other engineering track (core 8), i also can’t find a program acceptance timeline for that.

the world wide web has failed me today i guess. but it’s fine, i’m fine.

fear nOT, though. while i am not an engineering student, i know there is someone out there who actually knows the dates when you should get a definite answer. the most reliable source i can guide you to is the… can you guess what i’m gonna say? the… engineering registrar!

literally just shoot them a quick email at registrar@engineering.utoronto.ca . ask them something along the lines of, “is there an estimated timeline for acceptances to roll out?” they’ll be helpful, you can do it!

in the meantime, june 7 is an irrelevant date for you, and your engineering portal says you’re still under consideration. so i would say, consider yourself under consideration and not rejected for now. but, the best thing you can do is really just to reach out to your registrar.

anyhoo, good luck with everything, i hope this somewhat helped!

over and out,

aska

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admissions, engineering, grades

wait for me

May 16, 2024

I’m currently in grade 11 and have a 85 average and in HOSA (and going to be president in my club soon), I want to get into uoft for mechanical engineering, I want to try to get higher grades for grade 12, but will my grade 11 marks be considered a lot for my admission or will they wait for my grade 12 marks?

hey there,

ok, right now, i think all you can do is just stick to your plan and try to get higher grades for grade 12. because, the weight that your grade 11 marks hold against your grade 12 marks just depends on a whole bunch of factors.

first, i’d recommend reading through this faq page, which details a lot of important need-to-knows about admissions! i’ll be drawing some info from there.

as you can see on this important deadlines page, there are two rounds of admissions decisions: students who submit their OUAC application by nov 7 and their engineering application by dec 1 are considered under round one (aka. early consideration). meanwhile, those who submit everything by jan 15 are considered under round two.

the answer to your question depends on which round of admissions you’re considered under, and how soon your school releases your grade 12 marks. in my experience, it makes a difference whether you go by the quarter semester system or the three term system. if you’re considered during round one, there’s a chance you won’t have many grade 12 marks released yet, so they’ll mostly look at your grade 11 marks and whatever grade 12 marks are available. so basically, from the way i understand it, it all really depends on your school’s term system.

however, it is all going to be okay if you’re not admitted under round one due to unavailable grades. you will just be considered again in round two as more of your grades come out.

nothing is really set in stone, but ultimately, you don’t have to worry about applying early if your grade 11 marks aren’t as high as you’d like them to be. after all, the admission committee say they “may hold applications to wait for more information” if you applied early. so overall, yes. they should wait for your grade 12 marks to be released ~~from depths of the underworld~~.

(if you don’t get this reference, you are simply uncultured)

also, i found on this same page that canadian students’ admission averages for mechanical engineering is within the high 80s to low 90s. i think you have a good chance if you succeed in getting those good grades in grade 12! they also say that extracurriculars are considered, so good on you for being extracurricular-ly involved! that will help you out.

sooo good luck with everything, reach out if you have more questions!! you’ve got this.

over and out,

aska

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engineering, internal transfer

how to get your steps in (towards a biomedical engineering degree)

June 6, 2023

Good afternoon. I have been admitted to Life Sciences to start in fall 23. I would like to proceed to Medicine after graduating but I find Biomedical Engineering also interesting. Please advise what steps I should take to keep my options open (and strong) to be able to transfer to Biomedical Engineering after the first year. Many thanks in advance.

hi there,

congrats, and welcome! just one clarification: are you trying to take Biomedical Engineering for your undergraduate or graduate degree? i may know everything at U of T, but — and i say this with love — i have questions about y’all’s questions sometimes.

in the case that you’re asking about being admitted to the Biomedical Engineering undergrad program, the application requirement is that you have to be in the Engineering Science program. in order to apply to the Engineering Science program, select the application option that matches your academic history on this website, and go through the steps it provides. once you are admitted, declare the Biomedical Engineering major by adding it to your program planner through degree explorer.

so you’d essentially need to transfer from Life Sciences to Engineering Science. this is not simple and will entail undergoing an application process for an internal transfer to the Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering. with transfers between faculties, admission is based on your overall academic record and is a rolling basis — so you would want to apply early, even though your deadline would be Nov 7. you should definitely talk to an academic advisor at your registrar about this application process to make sure you aren’t missing anything important.

if you’re asking about doing Biomedical Engineering as a graduate degree: what you’ll need to do to prepare for a potential Biomedical Engineering graduate degree depends on which specific program you have in mind. but it’s also unclear if you want to take Biomed Engineering at U of T or elsewhere?

either way, i’ll give you some advice based on U of T. you can read about the Master of Engineering program on the departmental website. here, it tells you about the application process and important details, such as what the prerequisites for the Master of Engineering program are:

a four-year bachelor’s degree in engineering, or its equivalent, with an average of at least 3.0 on a 4.0 grade point average scale (i.e., mid-B) in the final two years of study from a recognized university.

proof of English-language proficiency is required for all applicants educated outside of Canada whose native language is not English. view the BME English-language requirement policy to determine whether you are required to take a language test and for a list of accepted testing agencies and their minimum scores required for admission.

according to that, it looks like you’d need an undergrad engineering degree to do grad studies in Biomedical Engineering. basically, your key takeaway here is: if you don’t transfer into engineering during undergrad, your options for biomedical engineering unfortunately will not be kept that open.

best of luck in everything, friend!

over and out,

aska

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engineering, Transferring

so you wanna be an engineer

November 10, 2022
I’m a utsc student in my 2nd year (social science), i wanna transfer to engineering at St. George, how hard would that be? Is it possible to still graduate in 4 years if I do that? What would the process be? Really appreciate the help!

hey there,

so the good news is, it’s definitely possible to do that, and you might be able to get some transfer credits too, especially for electives.

Sheldon Bigbangtheory GIFfrom Sheldon GIFs

the kinda bad news is that since you’re not in engineering already, you’d have to transfer into first year engineering (more info here), so unless you’re really keen, it’d be really hard to graduate in four years total.

in terms of the process, since you’re already a uoft student, you’d have to apply for an internal transfer on this portal. it looks like your application is based on your transcript and a supplemental application for things like extracurriculars, and apparently you need:

a mid-B average (around 3.0+ gpa)

high school prereqs for engineering (or university equivalents)

unfortunately i don’t have personal experience with transfering, but engineering is a pretty competitive program and transfers can be especially hard to get. if you really want to get into the nitty gritty, a bit of snooping around led me to this report where you can see the number of applicants and offers for uoft engineering undergrad each year (pg 8-9 of the pdf) and it does not look pretty. if you’ve got the prereqs, a good gpa and extracurriculars, it’s definitely worth a shot, but you could also look into alternatives like eng programs at other unis to get some more options.

Good Luck Cheers GIFfrom Good Luck GIFs

good luck!

aska
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chem, engineering, grad school

i had to google submatriculate, but i think i’m still qualified to run this blog

April 11, 2020

Hi! I’m a (possibly) incoming UTSG artsci freshman who has too many academic interests. Firstly, would it be possible to do a 2nd major (or minor or 2nd degree) in biomedical engineering? Secondly, is there a way to submatriculate into an MSc program from chem/biochem specialization? Lastly, is there some way for me to skip the introductory courses (apart from transfer credit)? Sorry for ruining your day with a barrage of obscure questions! ?

——————————————

hey hey,

lmao i feel like 40% of the people on this site are in some kind of serious academic trouble, and 20% are keeners like you (very kind, apologize too much, interested in literally everything). don’t worry, you’re not ruining my day with a barrage of obscure questions. i thrive on obscure questions. we cool.

i’m not aware of any option to take biomedical engineering in conjunction with an artsci program. to even be eligible for biomedical engineering as a minor, you need to be in one of the core 8 engineering programs or in engsci. the biomedical systems engineering major, meanwhile, has hella requirements. you only get to enter it after two full years of engsci foundational courses. i can’t imagine an artsci kid juggling that on top of another major, even if it were allowed. i suppose you can get in contact with the department if you really wanna know for sure, but i think the answer is unfortunately no on this one.

to address the lil’ musing about second degrees you seem to have thrown in…. i’m not really sure if a second degree is really what you wanna do, even if you’re super thrilled about everything. i have a feeling your first degree will tire you out a lil, or at least enough to make you wanna reconsider. especially doing a second degree in engsci, i dunno man, it seems like a lot. and then when you add the amount of student debt you’d be carrying after one degree, let alone two… yikes. just some things to consider, yknow? hang on to the second degree thought until you’re close to doing your first degree. then, if you still want to do a second degree, talk to the academic advisers at your registrar and get a lil guidance on it. that would be my take.

as for the submatriculation thing… i was unable to find any info on this via the big ol’ world wide web. so i reached out to someone who’s pretty well connected in the chem department, and they told me that they’re not aware of any submatriculation options within chemistry. even if you’ve been working underneath the same supervisor for a long time and hope to do a phd with them, you’ll still need to actually apply to admissions to do so. i’m not sure if it’s different in biochem, but like i said, there doesn’t seem to be any readily-available internet info on this, which suggests that the answer is no submatriculation. once again, i would reach out to the department if you want a super solid answer, though. chem contact info linked here, biochem info linked here.

in terms of skipping required introductory courses without transfer credit… i would say the answer is also probably no, otherwise a ton of people would be doing it. i’m assuming you’d be wanting to do this in order to take a wider breadth of courses, or something? introductory courses tend to have some pretty important information, and even if you could skip out on them i wouldn’t recommend it– the foundation you get in those huge first year courses tends to be quite important for the academic work you’ll be doing later on in your degree.

but once again, you could contact the department running the course and ask, if you have a super duper legitimate reason to be skipping an intro course.

this whole post has been an enormous “pls ask someone else” but i hope my insights have at least been… insightful! keep that excited, i-love-everything energy. it’s refreshing, and makes my brain feel a little less melty. wishin’ you all the best as you weigh your options for next year!

be Boundless and stay healthy,

aska

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engineering

engsigh

June 23, 2019

I’m a soon to be first year for eng, and I’m not sure what engineering strain I want to do anymore. I’ve been thinking of switching to engsci(I know that it’s going to be tough – by the way, what’s the typical average I need after first year to be successful?), but I’m afraid of doing horribly in physics – I’ve had absolutely awful physics teachers for all of high school. how screwed am I if I manage to transfer? does the first year curriculum allow me to explore(most of) every strain?

also, pertaining to physics – what’s the general consensus of physics in the first year of eng? do the classes have a high failing rate? is it generally considered one of the hardest courses?

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hey there,

congrats on your eng admission! it’s understandable that you’re unsure what you want to go into at this point– and you’ve certainly got some time left. plenty of eng students go in not really knowing what strain they’re interested in.

as far as i know (and maybe you know this too), transferring into engsci is harder than transferring out of engsci. according to the university, you can only do so after first year, whereas you could transfer out of engsci right now. the website only specifies that you’ll need a ‘superior academic record,’ which i suspect is vague on purpose — they don’t know what kind of transfer room there will be year to year, and what your competition will look like.

in terms of how screwed you are if you manage to transfer, this blog post compared first year engsci to ‘drinking out of a fire hose.’

so, assuming you decide to go ahead with the transfer, you’d be going into second year engsci without having had the same intensive foundation as your peers. you can check out all the first-year engineering curricula here, which might give you a more accurate (and concise) look into first year than i can offer. the idea of first year, though, is that you do get a feel for each strain so you know what you wanna pick later on. with that said, i dunno how good of a job track one is gonna do regarding engsci strains.

the post is actually pretty illuminating regarding the differences between engsci and track one, so i’d suggest giving it a look.

what i’ve heard about physics is that there is some overlap with high school and AP physics. i’d suggest you check out forums and see what others say, as well as take a look at the course descriptions. this is track one’s first year physics req, and engsci’s is phy180, which i can’t find any working pages on. it’d probably benefit you to have a solid high school foundation for things like kinematics, but if you’re worried about it and enough of a keener, you can definitely pre-study to prep yourself.

anyway, since none of this info comes from firsthand experience, i’d recommend you hit up the engineering registrar and speak to them as well. they might be able to advise you on what your gpa will need to look like to transfer into engsci, as well as what first year physics is really like.

best of luck!

be Boundless,

aska

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admissions, engineering, wait list

still wait-eng

June 11, 2019

Hi, I am on the waitlist for engineering at UofT, I was wondering of I could get an offer in late August (if enough people decline their offer). Thanks!

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hey friend,

according to the lovely engineering admissions office, august would be pretty late for an offer as typically programs are all filled up by then. they aren’t able to give a specific date/time frame as to when the latest offers are sent out, as they’re continually sent until programs are filled. so unfortunately i can’t give you any specifics.

the only time offers might still be moving around in late august is for postsecondary transfer students undergoing transfer credit assessment, apparently. if you’re applying straight out of high school, seems like odds are low you’d be getting an offer that late in the summer. wouldn’t give you much time to plan, either, especially if you’re from out of town and will have to worry about housing. if you’d be a commuter not so much.

hope this helped and sorry to be the bearer of non-ideal news. fingers crossed for you that an offer of admission comes sooner, but it may be best to start fleshing out backup plans and alternate routes in case that offer doesn’t come thru.

over n out,

aska

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engineering, first year, probation

post holiday slump

January 10, 2019

Hello,

I’m a firsts year engineering student and I’m currently having a pretty bad first semester in terms of grades. I’ve already dropped 2 courses and I know that I most definitely failed one of the remaining 3. I’m guessing my overall sessional average will fall between 40 to 45 percent which I know is really bad. Although I’ve learned some useful lessons in that i need to work on my time management skills and not falling behind, I’m unclear as to whether I’m going to be able to move on to the next session. I was wondering if they’ll put me on probation or if I have to restart all together or if I’ll be kicked out entirely.

Thanks for your response.

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hi!

first of all, apologies for the super late response. it was exams and then the holiday and then the requisite two days of getting over the holidays etc etc etc. you know how it be. i’m not sure how relevant this response will be for you now that the semester is over, but hopefully this will help another student in the future or provide some clarity for you.

according to the faculty calendar, if you are a first year student with a session average of 45%, you will be put on probation and you must withdraw for 8 months. then, you will have to retake the fall session. because of my late response, you should know your session average at this point. take a look at the calendar and see which average you fall under and what your situation is.

i highly suggest that you get in contact with your registrar’s office or the engineering first year office to discuss your case. especially since this is a late response and your situation could’ve changed, i think it would be for the best if you talked with someone who can pull up your file and give you the most accurate info possible (even more accurate than me, your dear aska!).

i hope this helps!

xoxo,

aska

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