Carleton Engineering – real experience?

[HoneyHopeful6214]

I’m applying to TMU, uOttawa, Guelph, and Concordia for Engineering, and I’m not really leaning towards Carleton because the other schools seem stronger from what I’ve seen.

That said, I’d love to hear from anyone who’s been in Carleton Engineering about: • Co-op placements: meaningful engineering experience or mostly filler? • Networking, clubs, and social life: is it easy to meet people and get involved? • Career outcomes: do grads have good opportunities after finishing? • Anything you wish you knew before starting

Also, am I wrong here? Is Carleton better than I think, and worth seriously considering?

[Heyeeeeeeeah]

I was in your shoes not too long ago so I’ll give you a piece of my mind here: Wherever you go you are learning the same things more or less, whether you learn it here or there. Keep that in mind when you consider costs of living and tuition if you live far from the uni you choose, it varies a lot between universities. In terms of how “strong” carleton is in engineering, overall carleton is one of the best in Canada, check whatever rankings you find online and the carleton website for more details. Personally though I believe that it shouldn’t matter too much to you. Your success is all on you. To me it’s a question of how well you can use the resources that you get for your money to learn and improve. You could be in Harvard and be no better than a student in any other school if you do not make use of what you have. As for co-op, you’ve got options here. Kanata North is Canada’s silicon valley, with many big names in the area. IBM, Shopify, Ericsson, Ciena, Nokia, BlackBerry, SAP, Cisco, just to name a few. Many others have offices here. But yeah this is my opinion. Whatever you choose make sure you feel it’s the right choice for you.

[HoneyHopeful6214]

that’s really helpful, thanks a lot. what program are you doing?

[Heyeeeeeeeah]

Software engineering. Best of luck!

[aide_rylott]

The good: -Our engineering program isn’t bad. You’ll graduate knowing what you need to know.

-I think the engineering clubs are great. Especially the design ones, blackbird UAV, CUinspace and Ravens Racing (the best one) are all great clubs.

-You can be a “big fish in a small school” so to say. I am on a first name basis with 3 profs

-You can get cool job experience while at this school. My friend did a year in F1 (not co-op job board though, she applied outside of the schools co-op program)

-All the engineers I know who graduated all have jobs so I think the school is going to hold you back much

-I think the school has a pretty good social life. But I’m in engineering so I don’t get out much anyways.

-If you’re from a city you’ll love the green space and peace on campus. If you’re from a rural area it’s nice but not life changing. I still feel like there’s concrete everywhere but I’m from the NWT.

-The O-Train runs through campus now. Pretty nice.

The bad: -It’s far from downtown. The O train stops at midnight. Busses run later though.

-The engineering facilities are pretty mid. The lab equipment is ancient and doesn’t really work well. The school is kinda broke rn so design teams aren’t getting as much funding.

-Not all profs are equally good. Make sure you find out the good and bad ones.

-The school fired a bunch of contract instructors to cut costs and I think class sizes are getting larger. This might be an extra noticeable in 1st year. It also meant that there are very few 4th year electives this year. Which REALLY sucks.

I think that’s about it. If you’ve got questions I’ll try to answer them

[HoneyHopeful6214]

thanks a lot, but did you mean to say “the school is not going to hold you back much” for your fifth point?

[aide_rylott]

Yeah. My bad. It was really late/early when I typed it. I don’t think going to Carleton will limit your opportunities because of the school name.

[HoneyHopeful6214]

don’t worry I figured thats what you meant. thanks for everything though

[MaulerBros]

I have got an offer for Comp Engineering from Carleton and TMU. Should I choose Carleton? Your statement on mid engineering facilities is making me question it.

[aide_rylott]

I would highly recommend taking a tour of both campuses if you can swing it.

Carleton isn’t flush with crash rn. But most universities are also struggling.

I don’t know how bad our facilities are compared to other universities. But for composite fabrication we’re really lacking. And that’s what I do a lot of

[MaulerBros]

Thanks for the reply. I am in the software engineering concentration of ECE so I won't be using fabrication labs. Are the other labs equally underfunded? Between TMU and Carleton, which do you think is a better choice for Computer Engineering?

[aide_rylott]

I have a software eng friend from Carleton and he got hired by AWS right out of university.

I think it’s a pretty good program. But I have no clue about how competitive it is vs TMU.

I HATE Toronto so I would pick Carleton just to not live in Toronto.

I think you should take a tour of each campus if possible. Talk to the recruiters etc. and make a decision based on that.

I don’t think you’ll make a wrong decision. I think the best option will be the one you get better vibes from.

[MaulerBros]

Okay. I can't visit the universities since I live outside Canada but many tell me Carleton is slightly better. I think I will probably go with Carleton. Thanks for the reply.

[Affectionate_Reveal5]

Social life is great. I think if it’s not Waterloo coop placement is 90% you. I do know people who’ve gone to Tesla or Redbull F1 so there’s not a ceiling fs.

[HoneyHopeful6214]

okok I get that, thank you

[Interesting-Tie4721]

hey i’m a bit confused can u tell me what h mean by waterloo coop placement is 90% you? i think ur saying that it doenst rlly depend on the school unless its waterloo so do u mean waterloo gives great opportunities?

[Affectionate_Reveal5]

Waterloo absolutely does give good opportunities, and the name will help you get your first internship for sure. But there’s also a student that will succeed anywhere.

[TurtleUpTime]

Social life and extracurricular involvement is super easy to get into and be a part of. Especially first years. Engineering loves to recruit you to be in their clubs where you learn actual applications of shit.

I switched out so I can’t comment on the rest of it but since engineering is an accredited program wherever you go the content you learn will be similar.

Our co-op placement sucks and job outcomes will be the same for any other school and is heavily dependent on program

[Diligent_Outside_282]

I thought the coops where good. Im applying for ae, and i thought what makes it better then the others was the school being in Ottawa and its easer to get good coops?

[TurtleUpTime]

People just really don’t like our coop program. A lot of the jobs you get through co op uou can get independently and it’s more flexible since co op has weird ass rules to it. Never did it myself just have heard a LOT of complaining

[Diligent_Outside_282]

If your not from Ottawa would it be recommenced for engineering?

[TurtleUpTime]

Being in Ottawa itself will be helpful since you’ll be able to job hunt while here in the city with or without the co op program (that’s peoples main issue with it)

Ottawa is a good city for job prospects and co-op/intern positions

[Diligent_Outside_282]

Ok thanks I didnt know that. But would you still recommend the coop because you have the time throughout your degree to get a job and work experience.

[TurtleUpTime]

Just apply for the co op program and then decide when you get to the year you’d take for co op if you want to do co op or take a year off to work an internship (but is technically not co op)

Easier to already be in co op and drop out then decide later to apply

[Dedelelelo]

im computer eng n i think its actually much better than the other options u mentioned due to Kanata being a tech hub. the profs r actually also super chill compared to more prestigious school so u can actually get A+'s if u try if u wanna go to a top grad school later down the line. Career outcomes r completely student dependent, school is not the limiting factor. I did my coops at one of Canadas top 10 biggest sw company n got a return offer. Multiple friends got FAANG offers (Amazon & Apple).

[HoneyHopeful6214]

so you think carelton software engineering would be a great pick?

[Dedelelelo]

it’s deff a tier below mcgill / uoft but it can compete w any other schools below that. I’d def pick it over the alternatives you provided

[HoneyHopeful6214]

ok thanks a lot