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Advice for Prospective Engineering Students Studying engineering is tough, but not for the reason most people think. As far as I'm concerned, if you can get a driver's license, you can get an engineering degree. The key to a B. Eng. is pure, bullish stubbornness. Also, marks are completely arbitrary. I've studied my ass off for some courses and gotten D's, while I've put absolutely no effort into other courses and gotten A+'s. Of course if you get a whole lot of D's and F's, then maybe you should recognize a trend... but overall, A, B, C, D, E, F... as long as you get through your degree it doesn't matter. When you apply for your first job out of university, they don't ask for your GPA. Only worry about your GPA if you want to go on to grad school (which is a huge mistake in my book). The wash-out rate for 1st-year students stands at around 50%. So that old rumour about your first day of classes, where the prof tells you that either you or the two people sitting beside you will not be back next year, is true. A sample group of 100 engineering students in first-year will dwindle to about 50 for second-year, and then down to 25 or 30 for third-year. Then it stabilizes through the end of fourth-year. The reason for this drop-out rate is because young students, who are used to getting great marks in high school, find themselves competing with other students who were also the cream of the crop from their schools. So when some of these young, competitive (and often sheltered) students slack off for a booze-addled, upper-class ski-weekend and get 35% on their first midterm, they feel like miserable failures, lose heart, and transfer to Fine Arts.... either that, or they can't handle the freedom of being away from home for the first time and go a bit strange in the head with the lack of self-discipline. Now, I have failed midterms horribly, and still managed to squeeze out A's and B's for a final mark... the trick is not to let a couple of lousy marks get you down... I have it on the authority of a UVic prof that yes, there IS a concerted effort by professors (and the faculty policy in general) to weed out students in 1st and 2nd year. They make the tests and assignments intentionally hard and time-consuming, to ensure that only the serious ones get into 3rd and 4th year. Here's my observation of engineering at UVic: by 4th year, few students actually came straight through the ranks directly from high-school. The majority of 4th-year students are trades (or, "bridging") students, college-transfer students, mature students, or students who have spent a few years in the workforce before returning to school. Maybe 20% of the graduating class actually (successfully) came straight from high school. But DON'T LOSE HEART! Just play the game... if you do crappy on a test, make that extra effort on a lab report or assignment to make up for it. Law of averages. So here are three simple rules for success in engineering...
Now I'm not advocating cheating. Only being resourceful. That's how the real world works. Oh, one last comment about the Engineering Program at UVic... unfortunately, it's not a good one... The UVic B. Eng. program includes a mandatory Co-op Program, which means that every other term (after 1st year) is spent on a work term. Now, the principle behind Co-op is great - you finish your degree with some extra money, you make important contacts, and get valuable work experience. Unfortunately, the UVic Engineering Co-op program is lacking in several ways. Personally, I have a list of complaints and grievances as long as my arm not the least of which is the $600+ fee we have to pay for each work term, regardless whether you choose to use the Co-op office's 'services' to find a job or find one on your own. And overall, the administrative staff is not helpful (and give the impression that students exist solely for the benefit of them, not the other way around). Their effectiveness and productiveness are highly questionable; learn the conditions (ins and outs) of the Co-op program, and be prepared to fight them every step of the way - otherwise they'll screw you over just to keep you enrolled (and milk you for every scrap of tuition they can squeeze from you). Contact any Engineering grad from UVic and I GUARANTEE that they will repeat this information. But try not to let this minor aspect deter you from looking into UVic Engineering. Think of it as a necessary evil to studying in one of the best cities in Canada. |
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