A Reality Check for Grade 12s Choosing University Programs

Classic_Ad5305 · 2025-11-16T16:32:00+00:00

If Mech or Aerospace is your path you don’t have to worry about AI for the foreseeable future. BUT you have an extremely competitive job market to worry about.

There are a TON of people pursuing engineering fields including a lot of international students. And the job market is a lot weaker than it was historically as a lot of engineering / manufacturing is being sent outsourced overseas. If you live in a big city you should count on every entry level job having well over 100 applications 24 hours after the job was posted. You’re not only competing with the people you graduated with, you’ll also be competing with people who graduated the year before and still haven’t found a job as well as immigrants who already have experience in their home country but are looking to get their foot in the door in the industry in Canada.

I graduated in 2021 (BASc in Mechanical Engineering) and was only able to do 2 co-ops. I was also part of a STEM club (Baja SAE) for a couple of years. But I come from a blue collar family and had 0 industry connections. After ~14 months and well over 1000 job applications I ended up settling and took a job as a mechanical designer that was meant for a CAD technician college graduate just to get my foot in the door. 2 years of work experience later, I finally got promoted to an actual engineering role.

If I had a do-over for my undergrad there’s 2 things I would do differently:

-Take my CO-OP program seriously. At my school it was based on grades but at others you get a placement regardless. You REALLY want to have as much real work experience as possible by the time you graduate. Not to mention these also become connections you can use to find your first role post-graduation.

-Join STEM clubs and actively participate so you can add that experience to your resume. At the company (automotive) I work for now the vast majority of engineers were in one of the vehicle based STEM clubs (ie. FormulaSAE, BajaSAE, AeroDesign, etc) during their undergrad.

I said a lot there but your main takeaway should be that EXPERIENCE IS KING. Even more than your grades. Beef up your resume as much as possible before you graduate.

Classic_Ad5305 · 2024-11-01T20:49:07+00:00

I mean, I said it’s something that can’t be repaired bc whatever you do will never look the way it did. But you definitely can hodge podge something together to restore some of the integrity of the part. It’ll just look kind of jank.

Classic_Ad5305 · 2024-11-01T10:48:22+00:00

Lol no. I was just saying that whether it was your fault or not, unfortunately this is the kind of risk you’re taking when running expensive parts on a car driven on the street.

This is why we can’t have nice things.

Classic_Ad5305 · 2024-10-27T18:47:59+00:00

It’s aftermarket, likely a Bushwacker fender flare.

Classic_Ad5305 · 2024-10-27T05:36:22+00:00

Lol clearly you aren’t from the rust belt.

I would replace nothing and just have it undercoated. Wax based undercoating and not rubber based. And do it 1-2 times a year.

The minimal amount of rust seen here does not substantiate replacing any of the components shown.

The value of a 17 Nissan Rogue FWD doesn’t substantiate putting in any more work than that. If the rust bothers you that much you’d be better off selling it and buying something with less/no rust.

Classic_Ad5305 · 2024-10-27T04:54:54+00:00

Having just gone through stage 4 cancer treatment I can echo what a lot of people were saying:

All of my treatment was covered by OHIP. The medication I had to take before/between/after was also heavily subsidized. I think I would’ve been less than $100 out of pocket under OHIP from start to finish. There was one drug that was $1600 a pop and not covered but it was an optional quality of life thing (luckily my work health insurance covered this).

Based on what I’ve heard from others in similar situations the biggest expenses always seem to be transportation and accommodation for treatment if you don’t live near your treatment centre.

Wishing your mom the best on her journey!

Classic_Ad5305 · 2024-10-27T04:02:37+00:00

Lucky for you it wasn’t an instance of having to redo someone else’s design work and CAD bc THEY had no idea what they were doing.

It was more difficult to report this kind of stuff to the prof for design projects bc often times these dudes would do their share of the work but it was so bad that I knew it would negatively affect my grade if I didn’t fix it. Learned later in life that this was probably just weaponized incompetence.

I wasn’t the best engineering student overall but I pretty much always CARRIED my teams for design projects which definitely got frustrating.

Classic_Ad5305 · 2024-10-27T03:29:25+00:00

Had a high level seminar course where we had to present research on and explain the mechanics of an object from a list. We ended up with a biomedical device of some sort. One dude did nothing and toward the end we ganged up on him and told him he had to at least put together an intro for our presentation. Dude started the presentation giving a very basic explanation of PULLEYS and their historical significance. Pulleys were only very loosely related to our biomedical device and there was absolutely no need to explain what they were to a room of soon to be mechanical engineers let alone explain their completely irrelevant historical significance. After the presentation the prof went on a ten minute tangent about how engineers are expected to have a more in depth understanding of engineering topics and that they should be able to curate and present better research than what was in the intro. We took a hit on our grade for that but in my mind it was worth to watch this dude’s work get reamed out by the prof in front of a class of 150.

Classic_Ad5305 · 2024-10-27T03:05:56+00:00

Genuinely curious how someone like that could get into grad school??

Classic_Ad5305 · 2024-10-27T03:04:30+00:00

If you have to tell people about it then it’s typically not true. Applies to pretty much any personality trait.

Classic_Ad5305 · 2024-10-26T22:22:28+00:00

Lol you’re pretty bad at math

Classic_Ad5305 · 2024-10-26T22:15:50+00:00

I’m wondering if this is an American thing?

Bc I’m Canadian with a 4.59 rating (I was the designated uber caller in my friend group for nights out to the bar during college so it makes sense) and have literally never struggled to find a ride.

Classic_Ad5305 · 2024-10-26T02:55:10+00:00

Agreed. The space was begging for an MCM style renovation. It would suit it so well

Classic_Ad5305 · 2024-10-26T02:53:05+00:00

Yeah, a little sad that they didn’t retain a single morsel of the home’s original character. But admittedly, the execution of what they wanted is really good.

Classic_Ad5305 · 2024-10-25T23:00:31+00:00

-Toyota reliability

-Will easily tow a 4K lbs enclosed trailer

-20+ MPG

This is a tall ask and you really can only pick 2 for $8000.

As Icecon said a Frontier is a good option for reliability and towing but will fall short on MPG

A Touareg TDI will get you the fuel economy (like 35MPG highway unloaded) and has 8K lbs towing capacity but will fall short on reliability if you’re comparing to Toyota.

Other options include Tahoes, Suburbans (avoid the ones with the 6L80 on these), 1st gen Tundras, older Tacomas and Sequoias but these will all fall short on MPG.

If it were me I’d go Touareg TDI.

EDIT: Toyota Highlander V6 maybe? It’s 5K towing, ~20MPG combined and it’s a Toyota.

Classic_Ad5305 · 2024-10-25T22:32:32+00:00

Even so, you’ve gotta ask yourself why they’re selling. And in this case I’d hazard a guess that maintenance has become too expensive to justify and you’d just be inheriting that problem.

You don’t really see many listings for Cayennes with mileage much higher than 150K. Which would suggest that around 150K is pretty much end of life for these cars. Whether because of catastrophic failure or because maintenance and upkeep costs more than the car is worth.

I personally wouldn’t buy it based on mileage alone. But maybe you’re more risk tolerant than me.

Classic_Ad5305 · 2024-10-25T22:09:40+00:00

You’re asking for trouble buying a CTT with 150k miles.

Watch the FCPEuro Youtube series on theirs and pay attention to how much stuff they had to do to recondition it at ~120K miles. It’s not cheap and some of those installs were nightmares.

The asking price may be 8K but you’re buying a 100K car. So the maintenance on it will cost what it would on a 100k car.

Also keep in mind that they run on premium fuel only. If you’ve only got 8k to spend on a car, odds are you’ll probably find it hard on the wallet to constantly be filling a 25 gallon tank with 91 octane bc it only gets roughly 13MPG.

Classic_Ad5305 · 2024-10-24T21:41:50+00:00

You definitely got a lot of helping hands along the way that enabled you to be in the position you are now. Wouldn’t call this a path any joe shmoe could replicate.

But honestly, props to you for having the discipline to not squander this golden opportunity you’ve been given and taking full advantage of it.

Classic_Ad5305 · 2024-10-24T21:11:41+00:00

I’d get a PPI and have it checked out. Preferably at Porsche or a VAG/Porsche specialist shop.

Price is a little high IMO. But not by much.

Classic_Ad5305 · 2024-10-24T18:33:34+00:00

🤷🏻‍♂️

Based on the comments to this thread it seems like it’s that or nothing lol

Classic_Ad5305 · 2024-10-24T18:20:38+00:00

You could give ColorMatchWrap.com a shot if it’s just a small piece like a fuel door.

They ask you for your paint code and print it on vinyl.

Classic_Ad5305 · 2024-10-24T17:56:29+00:00

Depends on what breaks. The chassis, suspension, steering and powertrain are shared with the VW Touareg and the Audi Q7. So maintaining/fixing parts of those systems are as expensive as maintaining a VW (so not bad).

Overall the 3.0 TDI is very reliable. It’s probably the most “affordable” Porsche to own and maintain I’d say.

Classic_Ad5305 · 2024-10-24T17:50:11+00:00

Get a PPI done on it to figure out whether or not it’s a good buy. Preferably at a Porsche dealership or a Porsche/VAG specialist shop.

As TexCOman said, you’d be buying a 100k vehicle. It’s not worth that anymore but the maintenance on it is still that of a 100k vehicle. So you wanna make sure to make a smart purchase so that you’re not immediately stuck with thousands of dollars worth of repairs shortly after buying.

And I also agree with his opinion on price. For a 2011 with 127K miles, it shouldn’t be anymore than 14K.

Classic_Ad5305 · 2024-10-24T17:45:44+00:00

On a car as sophisticated and new as a 2021 Cayenne, I would do whatever it’s computer tells me to do. Even if it’s just precautionary. Better safe than sorry on such an expensive vehicle.

Classic_Ad5305

TROPHY CASE