hey,
okay well i guess i don’t have one particular question but more of a range of annoyingly (i’m sorry) broad questions asked as statements and the need for a bit of guidance about what i should do based on some facts: i finished my first year at uoft in 2013-2014 and then i left because i got really anxious. i was in the art and science stream for IR at trin and when i started i thought i knew what was happening at 17 and then i got really sad about how much i disliked my program because i’ve always been a sciency person with parents who want a lawyer. my college councilor recommended i apply for eng. and see what happens. my original high school pre-req average is in the low 90’s but i got a bad bout of anxiety and didnt apply for sept. 2015 and my average for my uni courses of first year is 3.52 so i was afraid of getting rejected because they are all artsci courses which i’ve been snooted at for. i’ve heard some bad stories about eng acceptances and was thinking about applying for sept 2016. i’m afraid that my first year marks and my original high school marks are not good
enough (not too many extra-currics.) because everyone i’ve spoken to about uoft eng said their requirement for acceptance information page is full of f**kery (sorry) and the cut-off is actually unimaginably high. i am worried about wasted application money or to fail in first year which means wasting 10 000 of my own dollars. i’m currently retaking the major math and science pre-reqs to brush up and prevent failure because its said uoft does not take second attempts seriously. i don’t know how honest the requirement page of the eng department is and i heard people have gotten rejected with 88’s and 89’s and i’m pretty much at that. i was wondering if i could take some eng courses in 2015 as i do have the the pre-reqs with recommended grades despite not being in the faculty and the eng. site didn’t really help. i’m also wondering what taking another year off until i apply to eng will mean for my record and whether i can. the possibility of failure is frighteningly high but i don’t want to scoot around my butt crying forever and i need a little wisdom before plunging in or a warning not to.
thanks aska.
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hey there,
so i took a look at the transfer students admissions page for the faculty of applied science & engineering to see for myself this f**kery you speak of. as i suspected, it was just as typically vague as it has to be.
the thing about these admissions info pages is that they can’t be too specific about their info because they actually don’t know how high the admissions average will be, since it all depends on the applicant pool.
that said, there are trends, and after a bit of digging, i found that the admissions average of high school students entering uoft for engineering was a 91.7% in 2013, with only 30% of applicants admitted (see page 13 of the faculty’s annual report).
unfortunately the report doesn’t mention transfer applicants, but given that they will look at your high school transcript when considering you for admission, those stats might come in handy.
in terms of your university grades, if you’re at a 3.52 now, you’re above the minimum for consideration (a mid-B average). the higher you can get above that, the more likely your chances.
and if you’ll be spending next year getting your science prerequisites, you’ll likely do a lot better than you did while in IR. if you got a 3.52 in a program you don’t like, imagine what you can do in a program that you do.
all in all, it’s not hopeless. just because you’re transferring from the faculty of arts & science, doesn’t mean you don’t have a chance. despite the fact that engineering students often treat FAS students as slightly better than a pile of dirt, you’re not worthless if you’re transferring from artsci. so do your best to ignore all the snooting.
as for taking eng. classes while you’re taking your prereqs, i doubt they’ll allow that. certain departments will allow you to audit a course, but it’s quite a process; you have to pay and apply and yada yada yada. these professional faculties tend to be pretty guarded, to be honest. you can always call and ask, though.
finally, i doubt taking a year off will impact your admission. you can definitely talk to your college registrar’s office about it if you’re unsure, but i think that as long as your high school marks are still within 5 years ago by the time you apply, you should be good.
take the year if you need it. rest. cry a little bit, if you need to – it’s good for you. work. goodness knows, the engineering faculty’s tuition could use some saving for.
all in all: admission is definitely competitive, and probably even more so for transfer applicants. however, if it’s something you really want to do, i say go for it. you can always switch into a science POSt in the faculty of arts & science if you don’t get in, and you’ll regret it later if you don’t at least apply.
best of luck,
aska