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Too lazy to read all of the above, but...
It certainly is possible to transfer into engineering. I know many people who transferred from science into engineering at the University of Alberta. BUT, and it's a big but, NONE of your courses will transfer. So you basically just wasted a year of university. Not a big deal in the long run, but still. You need pretty decent grades to transfer, and at the U of A you had to do really well in your first year in or they kicked you out of engineering forever.
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Rank: Student Body Vice-President  Joined: 6/19/2012 Posts: 708
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mathisfun123 wrote:
Because consider this: You can get a UWaterloo or UofT Master's degree in Engineering with your UOttawa Bachelor's Engineering degree. Your undergrad university does not matter if you are going to pursue Grad school. However if your only aim is to land on a "big" career following undergrad university, then UOttawa wouldn't be your best bet. You can still get the same job as Waterloo students, but the ratio between students who go to Apple/Microsoft/Google/etc. from UWaterloo/UofT and UOttawa has a large discrepancy, working into Waterloo/Uoft's favour.
That's true, but only in regards to getting your first job after graduating from university. As I said, I have family members that work as engineers, and they all say that they don't care where someone studied engineering. All they care about is that they graduated from an accredited program and that they have the required experience they are looking for. Then, once you finish being and Engineer in Training and write your professional practice exams, employers only care that you have your P.Eng. designation. Yes, Toronto and Waterloo students may have a small advantage in securing that first job after graduation. After that, though, it's all down to your work experiences and how well you present yourself in interviews. University of Guelph - Applied Human Nutrition 2014 - Scholarship RecipientHave questions? Check out these links: AMA: University of Guelph, Why People Choose GuelphFeel free to ask me about nutrition & dietetics programs, Dietitians of Canada student memberships, or Guelph (Was accepted to Nutrition/Dietetics at Guelph, Brescia/Western, Ryerson, Alberta, Acadia, MSVU, St. FX)
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nutritionrunner wrote:mathisfun123 wrote:
Because consider this: You can get a UWaterloo or UofT Master's degree in Engineering with your UOttawa Bachelor's Engineering degree. Your undergrad university does not matter if you are going to pursue Grad school. However if your only aim is to land on a "big" career following undergrad university, then UOttawa wouldn't be your best bet. You can still get the same job as Waterloo students, but the ratio between students who go to Apple/Microsoft/Google/etc. from UWaterloo/UofT and UOttawa has a large discrepancy, working into Waterloo/Uoft's favour.
That's true, but only in regards to getting your first job after graduating from university. As I said, I have family members that work as engineers, and they all say that they don't care where someone studied engineering. All they care about is that they graduated from an accredited program and that they have the required experience they are looking for. Then, once you finish being and Engineer in Training and write your professional practice exams, employers only care that you have your P.Eng. designation. Yes, Toronto and Waterloo students may have a small advantage in securing that first job after graduation. After that, though, it's all down to your work experiences and how well you present yourself in interviews. Actually Waterloo and Toronto have a large advantage with the first job. See the Bill Gates quote on the first page. **Shields**
Accepted:
University of Toronto: Social Sciences + Vic One (Pearson Stream)
Carleton University: Honours Science
University of British Columbia: Arts
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ktel wrote:Too lazy to read all of the above, but...
It certainly is possible to transfer into engineering. I know many people who transferred from science into engineering at the University of Alberta. BUT, and it's a big but, NONE of your courses will transfer. So you basically just wasted a year of university. Not a big deal in the long run, but still. You need pretty decent grades to transfer, and at the U of A you had to do really well in your first year in or they kicked you out of engineering forever. Yes, they transferred to the University of Alberta, not the University of Toronto or the University of Waterloo. BIG difference. **Shields**
Accepted:
University of Toronto: Social Sciences + Vic One (Pearson Stream)
Carleton University: Honours Science
University of British Columbia: Arts
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mathisfun123 wrote:Eh... it's still not a good choice. If you all of a sudden decide you want to go into the health, there is virtually no overlap between Life Sciences and Engineering, so you would have to do first-year Life Science, and you just wasted valuable time and money on your Engineering studies in the beginning.
You have acceptances into a broad range of disciplines: accounting, psychology, law, engineering. You should think hard and try to pick one now, although I think you should go with UOttawa Engineering since you do have a keen interest in that program. However, if you do decide to go with that program, do not go in with the mindset that you will be at Waterloo or Toronto the next year, because the chances of that happening aren't high and this will cause your arrogance to precede your success once again. No, my arrogance is gone. It is more so determination now, I realized my mistake, understand my potential, and plan on capitalizing on my opportunities that are there. Well psychology is just something I was somewhat interested in, but I'm not sure if I want to try to get a Ph.D. to become a psychiatrist as I was told this is probably the only well-paying job in that field. Same with law, not too sure if I want to stick with it for 8 years and I just wanted to know about law. I may grow to love either field, but I'm not sold on any of the programs I was accepted to. Business is what I really want to pursue, but I want to open my own business. This is risky as I can go broke easily which is why I want a professional job such as a lawyer or an engineer to provide my initial investment so that even if I lose all of my investment, I can still provide for myself. Yeah, whatever program I choose, I'm going to choose it with the mindset of completing it and staying with it - but I'm still going to try to go to Waterloo or Toronto. mathisfun123 wrote:This is all relative - if you were to get an Engineering degree, where would you see yourself afterwards?
Because consider this: You can get a UWaterloo or UofT Master's degree in Engineering with your UOttawa Bachelor's Engineering degree. Your undergrad university does not matter if you are going to pursue Grad school. However if your only aim is to land on a "big" career following undergrad university, then UOttawa wouldn't be your best bet. You can still get the same job as Waterloo students, but the ratio between students who go to Apple/Microsoft/Google/etc. from UWaterloo/UofT and UOttawa has a large discrepancy, working into Waterloo/Uoft's favour. Probably mechatronics or ECE or EE or something. Perhaps nano or petro, but I don't know anything about either - mostly considered for the money haha. I want to get into management eventually, should I become an engineer, for a higher salary. I may or may not pursue grad school, still not too sure. Quick question, kind of off topic, do you know anything about Rotman's commerce? And if so, is it true that if I pursue another degree or something that I can't transfer/finish my degree and get a degree for commerce? Anyhow, back to the main subject, like I said earlier, my final goal is to open a successful business, but I know this is difficult and so I want to have an initial investment with my own money and still be able to provide for myself should I lose all of it. ktel wrote:Too lazy to read all of the above, but...
It certainly is possible to transfer into engineering. I know many people who transferred from science into engineering at the University of Alberta. BUT, and it's a big but, NONE of your courses will transfer. So you basically just wasted a year of university. Not a big deal in the long run, but still. You need pretty decent grades to transfer, and at the U of A you had to do really well in your first year in or they kicked you out of engineering forever. What is the lowest GPA I could achieve with a REAL chance of getting in? Doesn't have to be 100%, just a real shot. nutritionrunner wrote:That's true, but only in regards to getting your first job after graduating from university. As I said, I have family members that work as engineers, and they all say that they don't care where someone studied engineering. All they care about is that they graduated from an accredited program and that they have the required experience they are looking for. Then, once you finish being and Engineer in Training and write your professional practice exams, employers only care that you have your P.Eng. designation.
Yes, Toronto and Waterloo students may have a small advantage in securing that first job after graduation. After that, though, it's all down to your work experiences and how well you present yourself in interviews. Interesting... I was also told that undergrad doesn't matter too much, so that's factoring into my decision as I begin to lean towards Ottawa. But like mathisfun123 said, Waterloo students have a huge advantage over their first job. mathisfun123 wrote:Yes, they transferred to the University of Alberta, not the University of Toronto or the University of Waterloo.
BIG difference. How large of a difference? and how good is Ottawa engineering? do you know? ALL of you have been great help, I really do appreciate it! ^_^
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Waterloo and Toronto are highly competitive, even for transfers, but no one really wants to transfer into Alberta. Hence the large difference. And Rotman's Commerce is an undergrad program, AFAIK. And honestly, for your ambitions, you should do UOttawa Engineering and following that, apply for a program to get an MBA at Toronto, Queen's, Western, or Harvard/Yale if you're feeling up to the challenge. However, if you want something only for money, almost always you will never get it because a true ambition or love for something will always ensure success no matter what. Follow your dreams (as corny as it sounds) and you'll become successful. **Shields**
Accepted:
University of Toronto: Social Sciences + Vic One (Pearson Stream)
Carleton University: Honours Science
University of British Columbia: Arts
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mathisfun123 wrote:Waterloo and Toronto are highly competitive, even for transfers, but no one really wants to transfer into Alberta. Hence the large difference.
And Rotman's Commerce is an undergrad program, AFAIK. And honestly, for your ambitions, you should do UOttawa Engineering and following that, apply for a program to get an MBA at Toronto, Queen's, Western, or Harvard/Yale if you're feeling up to the challenge.
However, if you want something only for money, almost always you will never get it because a true ambition or love for something will always ensure success no matter what. Follow your dreams (as corny as it sounds) and you'll become successful. Nah, it's not only for the money. It's a part of a field I'm interested in and it just so happens that it provides a very substantial income. I was told that Rotman's Commerce has undergrad, but it is more known for it's MBA. I'm most likely going to pursue a masters/Ph.D. regardless of what I do, so Ottawa is looking more and more like a good option. Would my undergrad even matter if I had an MBA at one of the schools you mentioned? So again, do you know if Ottawa's engineering program is any good? Would I be able to work out of Canada and potentially overseas? Again, I'm probably going to pursue a master's so it probably won't matter, but IF I decide to take a few years off to get some work experience so that my initial salary once I obtain my MBA is higher, would I be able to do the things mentioned above?
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jmslee wrote:mathisfun123 wrote:Waterloo and Toronto are highly competitive, even for transfers, but no one really wants to transfer into Alberta. Hence the large difference.
And Rotman's Commerce is an undergrad program, AFAIK. And honestly, for your ambitions, you should do UOttawa Engineering and following that, apply for a program to get an MBA at Toronto, Queen's, Western, or Harvard/Yale if you're feeling up to the challenge.
However, if you want something only for money, almost always you will never get it because a true ambition or love for something will always ensure success no matter what. Follow your dreams (as corny as it sounds) and you'll become successful. Nah, it's not only for the money. It's a part of a field I'm interested in and it just so happens that it provides a very substantial income. I was told that Rotman's Commerce has undergrad, but it is more known for it's MBA. I'm most likely going to pursue a masters/Ph.D. regardless of what I do, so Ottawa is looking more and more like a good option. Would my undergrad even matter if I had an MBA at one of the schools you mentioned? So again, do you know if Ottawa's engineering program is any good? Would I be able to work out of Canada and potentially overseas? Again, I'm probably going to pursue a master's so it probably won't matter, but IF I decide to take a few years off to get some work experience so that my initial salary once I obtain my MBA is higher, would I be able to do the things mentioned above? If your Master's is good, then where your Bachelor's is from does not matter. However, know that a Harvard MBA is worth far more than a UofT/Queen's MBA, which itself is worth far more than an MBA from another Canadian university. This isn't like undergrad, where your undergrad doesn't matter. The institution where you got your degree for an MBA DOES matter, especially because of the connections you will get from these universities. A board of directors, for example, would rather hire a CEO with a University of Toronto MBA than one with an MBA from University of Ottawa. The student at UofT would also get more connections to the business world, than a student at UOttawa. As long as you have the required experience, you can get an international job pretty easily if you can provide something unique for the company. However for your first job, since you are going to get a Master's (and possibly an MBA at UofT), then the fact that your Bachelor's is from UOttawa does not matter and your first job would be a pretty good one (if your MBA is from Toronto, Queen's or somewhere "big"). **Shields**
Accepted:
University of Toronto: Social Sciences + Vic One (Pearson Stream)
Carleton University: Honours Science
University of British Columbia: Arts
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mathisfun123 wrote:If your Master's is good, then where your Bachelor's is from does not matter.
However, know that a Harvard MBA is worth far more than a UofT/Queen's MBA, which itself is worth far more than an MBA from another Canadian university. This isn't like undergrad, where your undergrad doesn't matter. The institution where you got your degree for an MBA DOES matter, especially because of the connections you will get from these universities. A board of directors, for example, would rather hire a CEO with a University of Toronto MBA than one with an MBA from University of Ottawa. The student at UofT would also get more connections to the business world, than a student at UOttawa.
As long as you have the required experience, you can get an international job pretty easily if you can provide something unique for the company. However for your first job, since you are going to get a Master's (and possibly an MBA at UofT), then the fact that your Bachelor's is from UOttawa does not matter and your first job would be a pretty good one (if your MBA is from Toronto, Queen's or somewhere "big"). Do you have any knowledge on what my GPA, etc. would have to be to enter a Harvard MBA program? Well I want to get a job right after I get my bachelors so that I can 1. help pay for my loan, and 2. have some work experience before I get my MBA so that my initial pay is even higher. Or am I wrong in assuming that?
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jmslee wrote:mathisfun123 wrote:If your Master's is good, then where your Bachelor's is from does not matter.
However, know that a Harvard MBA is worth far more than a UofT/Queen's MBA, which itself is worth far more than an MBA from another Canadian university. This isn't like undergrad, where your undergrad doesn't matter. The institution where you got your degree for an MBA DOES matter, especially because of the connections you will get from these universities. A board of directors, for example, would rather hire a CEO with a University of Toronto MBA than one with an MBA from University of Ottawa. The student at UofT would also get more connections to the business world, than a student at UOttawa.
As long as you have the required experience, you can get an international job pretty easily if you can provide something unique for the company. However for your first job, since you are going to get a Master's (and possibly an MBA at UofT), then the fact that your Bachelor's is from UOttawa does not matter and your first job would be a pretty good one (if your MBA is from Toronto, Queen's or somewhere "big"). Do you have any knowledge on what my GPA, etc. would have to be to enter a Harvard MBA program? Well I want to get a job right after I get my bachelors so that I can 1. help pay for my loan, and 2. have some work experience before I get my MBA so that my initial pay is even higher. Or am I wrong in assuming that? It's not just GPA for Harvard. Obviously the GPA has to be high, but it's not a major factor. Your GMAT scores, your reference letters, your essays, your interviews, your extracurricular all play a role as well. For Harvard Business School, you need 1-2 years of work experience to get in and the average age of someone entering HBS MBA is 25. I'm not too familiar with grad schools yet, so you should look it up right now! And stop thinking about pay. People who go in for money never reach success. **Shields**
Accepted:
University of Toronto: Social Sciences + Vic One (Pearson Stream)
Carleton University: Honours Science
University of British Columbia: Arts
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mathisfun123 wrote:It's not just GPA for Harvard. Obviously the GPA has to be high, but it's not a major factor. Your GMAT scores, your reference letters, your essays, your interviews, your extracurricular all play a role as well. For Harvard Business School, you need 1-2 years of work experience to get in and the average age of someone entering HBS MBA is 25. I'm not too familiar with grad schools yet, so you should look it up right now! Well I know what it takes to get into Harvard for undergrad. Grades aren't too much of a factor (of course, you still need a solid SAT score etc. but extracurriculars are MUCH more important to outshine the competition). I don't really want to go to Harvard for engineering, I'd prefer to go to MIT, Cal Tech, Stanford or Berkeley but those are top of top tier schools and stupid hard to get in. What are GMAT scores? You've been of huge help, thanks again! :)
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Okay, so I'm leaning towards doing my best in college and trying for an MBA at a top tier grad school, however, you said research is very important. No matter what school I go to, my GPA, GMAT scores (whatever it is...), reference letters, essays, interviews, and extracurriculars are ALL up to me. However, research opportunities (again, correct me if I'm wrong) can sometimes be limited or opened up by the school you attend. Would I have less research opportunities than a student attending UofT or Waterloo? Or would I just have to have good grades?
Only reason I'm thinking about pay is because I want to kick-start my business. I'm not going into the field for pay, I'm trying to maximize the money I get, if that makes sense. I mean... if you're doing the same amount and type of work but you can get more money, why not? Everyone wants a raise and people move companies for that. That's what I plan on doing. If I wanted the best pay, I'd become a neurologist or something.
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GMAT is the standardized tests needed to get into any MBA program (even Toronto). It's a test that has business questions in a multiple choice format, but all the answers seem correct. It's up to you to choose the best up. Try to get a score of 700+ on that. And as far as I know, undergrad doesn't really provide much in the way of research at any university. It's more for grad school. Harvard doesn't care much about Engineering research to let someone into the Business Administration program. **Shields**
Accepted:
University of Toronto: Social Sciences + Vic One (Pearson Stream)
Carleton University: Honours Science
University of British Columbia: Arts
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Sorry, I meant to go into engineering for grad school. I don't think I'm going to pursue business until I have a strong foundation in whatever field I pursue. Even if there is not much research I can do as an undergrad, are there opportunities for me in 3rd/4th year? and if so, would my opportunities be more limited than a UofT or Waterloo student?
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And a question that just occurred in my mind: is transferring to engineering from computer science plausible? If not, is it possible to pursue engineering for a master's degree after taking computer science? Or am I an idiot for thinking so? lol
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So much talking again...
U of A is a great school. Ottawa is a great school. They just aren't as competitive to get into as some of the others. That doesn't mean jack when it comes to your future afterwards. If you want to transfer into any engineering program your GPA would probably have to be AT LEAST a 3.5.
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IMO you should go to uOttawa engineering. Its a great program and as mentioned above, it doesnt really matter where you undergraduated from. I know a friend who graduated from uOttawa electrical engineering, and he has a decent job right. Dont listen too much to the paople that say Waterloo and UofT are wayyy better than other engineering schools. As you might notice, most of those people are high school graduates or first/second year university students. Most of the actual engineering graduates I talked to said that the university you graduated from matters little in the workplace. Waterloo Computer Engineering
Class of 2017
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computerengineer wrote:IMO you should go to uOttawa engineering. Its a great program and as mentioned above, it doesnt really matter where you undergraduated from. I know a friend who graduated from uOttawa electrical engineering, and he has a decent job right. Dont listen too much to the paople that say Waterloo and UofT are wayyy better than other engineering schools. As you might notice, most of those people are high school graduates or first/second year university students. Most of the actual engineering graduates I talked to said that the university you graduated from matters little in the workplace. Well, the thing is, Waterloo and Toronto do have better engineering programs, otherwise they wouldn't have the reputation they do - or I would hope so... Anyhow, I plan on going to grad school, so I don't think it should matter too much. I just wanted to get into my school of choice :(. Thanks for that though, and again, all of you have been of great help. But here's my question: wouldn't I have better opportunities were I to graduate from Toronto or Waterloo versus Ottawa? Or at least initially? I understand to get into grad school your grades and recommendations, etc are more important, so I'm not too worried about it. However, I do plan on working for a year or two to help pay for some school costs and gain some experience so that I have experience coming from grad school to possibly boost my salary. Would my work experience/recommendations from work assist me in my pursuit of an MBA?
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For all of you that have helped me reach this (possibly temporary, LOL) decision, I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart. You may very well be frustrated with this indecisive high school kid, however, I'm leaning towards going to UOttawa and trying to go to grad school at MIT or something. Yeahyeah it's super hard, I'm still gonna try and IF I don't make it, I still have other schools to go to. Now, should I go to EE (coop; already accepted) or EEC (coop - electrical engineering and computing technology - 5 year joint degree program; not yet accepted but assuming I do)? Please don't answer that last question and the questions I'm about to ask unless you know what that second program is. Is it a double major pretty much? And what is the difference?
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Reputation isn't everything. For example, EngSci. It has a reputation for being really rigorous and difficult. Do employers care about that? Not really. EngSci is useful if you want to go into grad school, but even then, I am in grad school with a bunch of EngSci-ers and I'm doing fine.
And to add to that, there are actually some draw backs to EngSci, if you want to go to grad school. At most engineering schools, almost nobody is interested in research. That makes it really easy to get research experience. For example, in my undergrad I did a project where I was in the OR during open heart surgery collecting data. Super cool. In EngSci, since a large majority of the students want to do research, it is more difficult to get experience, due to the competition. Research experience is very important when you apply to grad school. Something to think about. Not saying you won't get experience in EngSci, but the nature of the program changes things a bit.
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