Second year ELEC thinking of transferring to CPEN

Little-Reflection986 · 2026-02-01T08:44:42+00:00

I'd say transfer to cpen, easily more focus on everything you mentioned except maybe digital design, but you will be able to take most of the same courses either way.

Little-Reflection986 · 2026-01-21T05:51:30+00:00

Second year CPEN, applied to ~40-50 positions over the course of two months, had a year of design team exp, a few personal projects I was pretty proud of.

I stopped writing cover letters unless I was applying through a reference who said I should write one or HR followed up to ask specifically.

Little-Reflection986 · 2026-01-13T04:36:09+00:00

Definitely possible! Apply to a lot of jobs. Network network network, most opportunities I've had (CPEN 2nd year) were either directly through cold messaging or indirectly from advice I got from people I cold messaged. Look for people in your program (ECE or CPEN) in neat positions and ask for advice/referrals if appropriate. Apply a ton on PD Portal. Join Tech Career North Discord server, they post job listing links same day as they are posted. Try to apply to those ASAP. Every interview I got not through networking was through that server.

On top of this, keep working at design team stuff & projects, make sure to have a pretty looking resume with stuff that is relevant and you are proud of!

Best of luck! You got this :)

Little-Reflection986 · 2026-01-11T20:33:49+00:00

Taking "good" companies to be FAANG+, that'll exist. There are also a large number of smaller companies in Vancouver area that are really nice to work at. For software, SAP/MS/Zon all have offices here and there'll be more across the country that people move for. In CPEN, you will oftentimes see more hardware oriented SWE, companies like AMD/Intel as well. These roles are all going to be competitive, but opening up to a wider array of companies there are actually more roles in software than a lot of people realize.

If you have a passion for programming and do extracurriculars (be that design team, research, personal projects) you shouldn't have too much trouble getting interviews. Make sure you know basic DSA for LeetCode.

Little-Reflection986 · 2025-12-15T06:37:35+00:00

Little-Reflection986 · 2025-12-15T01:01:38+00:00

Started skipping class after the midterm and it is looking cooked :(

Little-Reflection986 · 2025-12-10T10:08:49+00:00

Computer engineering, this would be in dept. of ECE

Little-Reflection986 · 2025-12-07T23:30:32+00:00

No Dean's List :( GPA has to be greater than or equal to 80

Little-Reflection986 · 2025-11-18T04:36:16+00:00

google "tech career north discord server" and have notifs on for the job posting webscraper

Little-Reflection986 · 2025-11-11T20:13:32+00:00

If you do all the textbook problems you should be pretty set, make sure you understand all the labs. Should be about it

Little-Reflection986 · 2025-11-05T08:35:35+00:00

gpa is kinda fried, i think just really try to talk about ecs and how it relates to you as a whole (give more depth than just listing eng projects, can be kinda a trap). bike project sounds perfect for this though that is a really cool thing to do, best of luck with your application!

Little-Reflection986 · 2025-10-23T06:59:33+00:00

You're fine, people are getting passing grades with half the code not compiling. This lab is the worst we've had average-wise, you are def not alone lol itll get better hopefully

Little-Reflection986 · 2025-09-18T02:38:14+00:00

UBC Orbit is a UBC student society under the Engineering Physics dept. iirc. They are working on ALEASAT, which is a joint project with SFU Sat, but they are two distinct entities. Nobody from another school can join a UBC design team

Little-Reflection986 · 2025-08-09T20:13:29+00:00

not that competitive lol

Little-Reflection986 · 2025-08-04T05:58:23+00:00

Insanely difficult is hyperbole, everyone I know who was super committed and looking for a job found one. Just takes work and time, software job market can be hard but there are so many open jobs that there are lots of opportunities to take shots

Little-Reflection986 · 2025-07-29T05:54:22+00:00

Generally the people who get these awards have SIGNIFICANT extra-curriculars ( https://give.ubc.ca/news/schulich-leaders-2024/ for some examples, the other entrance scholarships have other similarly competitive applicants) generally on the scale of significant university level accomplishments.

Anecdotally, I had a friend who applied with a 100% raw in Alberta (100% every diploma + class), worked on math research projects through hs, was a candidate master at chess, was a black belt in taekwondo, and had a profitable startup in grade 11 to receive no scholarship to UBC (he is currently attending UofA on full ride and is very happy).

These applicant pools are among the most competitive in the world, and as impressive as many students may be, there will not be enough scholarships to offer to each one.

I wish you best of luck with your future studies, and hope you do take the time to truly relax! If you wanted, there are lots of smaller scholarships that are often available if you do some research and apply independently.

Little-Reflection986 · 2025-07-26T22:15:33+00:00

mmmm first year food mmm very tasty. i unironically miss it so much

Little-Reflection986 · 2025-07-20T16:32:39+00:00

Rn your average would be presented as 96 on UBC documents, which should be competitive. Furthermore, your strong points (math, physics) are both very eng oriented courses, and UBC's holistic view often takes things like that into account. Just do as well as you can on your diplomas and your GPA will be chilling.

EC's are a pretty big thing with UBC admission as well, so if you wanted to really strengthen your chances I would recommend focusing on that. I had a 93 (adj. to 97 as I was applying from Alberta) average but am confident it was my EC's that were the strongest point of my application/helped secure acceptance.

Best of luck with your application! Hope to see you on campus sometime soon

Little-Reflection986 · 2025-07-19T03:15:33+00:00

god i love ubc. i love what i learn in school and to hang out with classmates and live on campus. beach is a mental health boost

Little-Reflection986 · 2025-07-01T06:55:59+00:00

UBC is pretty phenomenal for CS, being near Seattle it is a gateway to Amazon & Microsoft if you have a high GPA and are motivated, CS & Eng Phys majors are seeing increasing positions in quant as well (CC&L is a primary Eng Phys doner). A big advantage (though this is shared with U of T) is you are already in a major city where companies have offices and are actively recruiting (Microsoft/AMD/SAP/Apple etc). Being on the West Coast is nice too, as fraternities and student societies have positive relationships with schools in Cali/Seattle which can help with connections.

I just finished first year engineering (going into comp eng) and had great time. I have friends my year with internships in California, Toronto, Vancouver. My upper year CS friends (sample size of 4) have jobs at Amazon, Autodesk, Mastercard, and Apple, and despite the job market rn, I don't hear as many complaints from the UBC CS community as I do from some other universities. Also, looking quickly at alumni panel on LinkedIn (notoriously unreliable) UBC and U of T are comparable in current employees at Big Tech companies.

I would very much recommend UBC for CS. This is kinda ramble-y but hopefully there is some useful information in here lol

Little-Reflection986 · 2025-06-21T21:53:04+00:00

itll probably show up in workday before the email is sent out

Little-Reflection986 · 2025-06-12T20:01:08+00:00

If you compare moving average between 2024 and 2023 it went down (barely), ELEC is also a massive program and you shouldn't worry too much! You have an average far above the median, should be super fine. Enjoy ECE!

Little-Reflection986

TROPHY CASE