what can you tell me about the U of T engineers?

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hey there,

i like how you worded this question. it makes me feel like you whispered it from underneath your cowboy hat, after coming up to me in a smoky bar. “what can ya tell me ’bout these engineers?”

“nothin’ i ain’t said before,” i mumble back, taking a puff.

“nah listen,” you say, grabbing me by the lapel, “you tell me what i need to know, or i’ll kick ya so hard you’ll land back in ya mother’s womb.”

maybe that’s how it went down in an alternate universe. i hope so, though in our reality it’s probably closer to this. either way, i’m gonna answer your question, because i’m a pansy who can’t deal with being beaten up – in any dimension.

uoft engineering’s academics are something you can and should definitely read about to get a feel for what engineering is like for students. however, i think what you’re asking is what the students themselves are like.

well, engineering students- i’m assuming you’re talking about the students, even though you just said “engineers” in your question – are pretty isolated at most schools, and uoft is no exception. engineering is in its own faculty separate from artsci (the Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering), which means you take different courses from most uoft undergrads. engineering also has its own clubs and student society separate from artsci.

this, plus the general first year in which all engineering students take the same courses, and the fact that you’re in these classes together for 30 hours a week, means that most engineering students* develop a really strong relationship with their program/faculty.

in the best cases, this relationship results in camaraderie and a sense of solidarity among students. in the worst, you come off like a self-absorbed cactus to everyone else not a part of your little nucleus of supersaturated engineering culture.

but you, i can tell, are not a self-absorbed cactus. you’re here at the Askastudent Saloon, after all, and only the classiest of the class come round these parts! so if you don’t want to get lost in engineering’s (only sometimes) elitist atmosphere, then the solution is very simple – just don’t. if you can, try to participate in communities outside the faculty, and always make sure that you’re actually enjoying everything engineering has to offer, and not just following the herd of hard hats ahead of you.

engineering is so intensive because it should be – in my opinion, it’s the way all programs should be. you learn a lot, you prepare for the working world, and along the way the school provides a supportive community for students. if you actually want to be an engineer – if physics and math make you feel that special tingly sensation in your chest – then uoft is a great place to be. if you cling to the school’s/faculty’s reputations just to make yourself feel better about a life choice you didn’t really want to make, then you will turn very prickly very quickly. but you don’t have to be that way, my friend. as long as you’re doing it for the right reasons, you’ll have a blast.

cheers,

aska

* #NotAllEngineeringStudents

Hey Aska!

First, I enjoy the Dan Howell gifs on the prospective students page and Jon Snow as well…I like you already. Anyways, I’m one of the many anxious high school students coming to you for advice! I’m currently in Gr. 11 and have been looking at universities for years (because I’m a massive nerd yup). I’m planning to go into Chemical Engineering and know that tons of schools offer great co-op programs so how does the PEY program do next to integrated co-op like other universities have? Also is the ChemEng course load as tough as everybody tells me? Sorry for dumb questions from a dumb nerd. Time to go back to being emotional over fictional characters.

Thanks!

– #1 Nerd

?????????

hey there,

well first, congrats on your a+ taste! dan and jon also happen to be two of my favourites, and they’re especially convenient because i get to watch them without having to waste time interacting with them as humans! that brings me on to chemical engineering.

i’m gonna answer your second question first because i think it kind of precedes the question about PEY. first, you have to be sure engineering is what you want to do. then, you can start working out the details. so. is it as hard as everyone says? well, yes and no.

i’d say that, out of any discipline in at uoft that’s a first-year entry program, engineering has the most intense workload. the general rule of thumb i learned is that arts programs are 10-15 hours of class time a week, science programs are 20-25, and engineering are 30-35. which is why i say that in an engineering program, you can often feel like you have no time to interact with other humans. also, engineering deals with higher level mathematics and physics than any life science program, so it’s just tougher academically. it’s a big step up from whatever it is you did in grade 12, i don’t care if that was ap or ib or whatever. it’s a different environment, and that at least is bound to throw you off.

however, it’s definitely not impossible. i think (and this is just my humble opinion yadda yadda) that you need two things to do well in engineering: 1) you need to be good at math. obviously.

2) (spoiler: this one’s more important than the first one) you actually need to LIKE math (and chemistry and physics) – not just what you think you’re going to get out of the degree. if you’re not super great at math but you REALLY LIKE doing it, then you can gain a lot of ground that other people who hate every second of it lose in first year.

ok, next up: the PEY Internship Program. alright, so the main difference between uoft and other universities is that – big shocker, clue’s in the name – uoft offers an internship program, while other universities offer co-op. that means that instead of doing certain semesters at a co-op job and then coming back to school for a couple of semesters on and off throughout your degree, you do one 12-16 month chunk of work after 2nd or 3rd year. this is good because you get to see what, essentially, working full-time as an engineer as like. it also means that you get paid a lot of money in one go.

however, you do have to wait longer in the uoft programs than in some co-op programs to actually get a job, and often, your marks etc. will get in the way of you actually qualifying for the internship (no one thinks it’ll happen to them until it does). i don’t say this to SCARE you, just to INFORM you. ultimately, you need to make a choice between an academic program that offers a year-long internship, and a program that incorporates multiple work terms into your studies. capice?

ok great, well, that’s your crash course on engineering. hope it gave you summat to think about.

xoxo,

aska

Not sure if this is the right place to be asking a question but…

My U of T admission says that I must maintain “consistent” grades. In my last semester of senior year my grades dropped by around 0.1 GPA (stupid senioritis). Should I be worried or is U of T (engineering) really strict in this matter?

We go by a 4.0 unweighted GPA scale. (4.0 = A = 92.5-100, 3.67 = A- = 89.5-92.4, 3.33 = B+ = 87.5-89.4, etc). Basically in the last semester of my senior year, my physics? grade dropped from an A to a B- while my other grades stayed the same.

?????????

Hey hey

If it’s only one grade that fell, I don’t think you should be in tooooo much trouble.

Granted, if you have time left to boost your grade with, say, exams, don’t screw around! Engineering is super competitive, even if you’re just applying to ones like Chemical or Civil that seem to require lower grades than Engineering Science.

Screw around when you’re 100% in. 😉

But to be completely honest, I do find that UofT is quite strict with their conditional offers. It’s okay to drop a percentage or two, but if you do anything substantial… yeah. Don’t do that. Just don’t.

Cheers!

aska