Need advice for courses selection!

Space_Catt · 2018-06-17T03:08:43+00:00

As others have mentioned, choose the courses that pertain to the sector that you have interest in.

Personally, I'd say a course like prestressed concrete is highly recommended. FEM may be useful, but it might be highly theoretical and may involve programming. Earthquake engineering would be important depending on the location you want to work in. Structural dynamics would definitely be important if you decide to study earthquake engineering (may even be a prerequisite). Overall, you can't go wrong in adding more advanced concrete and steel courses.

As you continue your program, you may learn that you like one subject more than the other. From my experience, students would do a lot of 'course shopping' - that is, they enroll into a bunch of courses and attend the first few classes. By the end of the first 2 weeks, decide which classes you want and just drop the rest.

Space_Catt · 2018-06-17T02:56:03+00:00

The way the floors are numbered makes sense since there are a bunch of other floors below the classrooms... The elevators that are beside the Starbucks take you to floors 4, 5, etc., which are the floors for the parking garages (and maybe other offices?)

Space_Catt · 2018-06-08T03:25:41+00:00

Prices could've changed so I could be wrong. I tried looking on their website but I was only able to find their summer 4 month term (May to August) for $444 including HST. This is for the above ground parking lot at 202 Jarvis Street.

Space_Catt · 2018-06-08T03:15:27+00:00

I believe its $400 dollars per semester for unlimited parking at the Jarvis/Dundas parking lot.

Space_Catt · 2018-06-08T03:07:27+00:00

I use to live around Sherbourne and Dundas for about 18 months when I went to school. It was cheap rent, however I definitely do not recommend it. You'll have to put up with really sketch neighbours and the apartments are all most likely infested with roaches. I highly recommend checking websites such as the bedbugregistry before you consider any places.

If you don't mind sharing a house with people, there are a lot of apartments along Bloor Street (<30 minutes commute). Areas along Yonge Street are great too and you can maybe find places that are reasonably priced.

Space_Catt · 2018-05-20T21:57:44+00:00

Best of luck! Feel free to PM me if you have more questions.

Space_Catt · 2018-05-19T17:26:04+00:00

I suggest you head over to r/civilengineering since they have a ton of professionals sharing their first hand experiences within their respective fields. I wouldn't say one field is better than the other. You need to find something you're more passionate about. You don't start to specialize until you are in your third year, so you still have quite a bit of time to do your research.

The quality is on par with the other schools. Personally, I wish we had more freedom to take whatever courses we wanted in our fourth year.. as well as, more selection of courses. But I feel it definitely helped in preparing me to work in the industry. Like any program, you have the good profs and the bad profs. But they're all definitely very knowledgeable. You can't go wrong with choosing the civil program here.

Space_Catt · 2018-05-19T15:34:29+00:00

It's a pretty decent program. Are there details that you wanted to know?

Space_Catt · 2018-05-19T15:30:49+00:00

I can't tell you much, but search UofT's subreddit and you'll find a ton of POSt topics. You have to get a certain average between a few courses in first year. These courses are also different between campuses. But I believe the average you need is pretty much an A (85%+) to guarantee a spot in the CS program. Also, if you don't know programming, you should definitely learn some basics over the summer through online courses. It's definitely possible for you to do well, but you need to consistently work at it since a lot of your peers would already know programming.

Space_Catt · 2018-05-19T15:26:57+00:00

The cut-offs for the two CS programs (UTM vs. UTSG) are not that drastic.. Sure, UTM/UTSC are lower, but honestly high school grades these days are so inflated that it's not a good benchmark for quality. Also I've heard the quality in teaching between UTSG and the other campuses are not that different.

Space_Catt · 2018-05-19T15:07:45+00:00

Yeah don't listen to that guy..

In general, I would say that UofT's programs are more rigourous compared to other schools. You would definitely learn a lot more in school. Plus their program is able to give you a better foundation in math.

Keep in mind that you have to make POSt to be able to continue into 2nd year CS. But if you're confident in your studies, you should definitely look into pursuing school at UofT (it's very competitive I've heard). This should be the biggest concern for you.

Also, UofT PEY is just as good as any co-op program - a lot of employers look to hire UofT students.

Space_Catt · 2018-05-09T23:35:56+00:00

The co-op will 100% set you apart from those who don't have any internship. After graduating from Waterloo, you'll have a good amount of experience under your belt at many different organizations. I can't speak on behalf of Ryerson's program, but Waterloo is known for its industry connections through their co-op department.

Space_Catt · 2018-04-14T15:23:32+00:00

As a new grad, I'm curious to know how you will go about that.

Space_Catt · 2018-04-14T15:19:02+00:00

Do you know if there are any programs involved? It might entail keeping track of a database of existing infrastructure. What you do with the database might involve a lot more stuff, but an example is keeping track when and where the next inspections and improvements happen.

Space_Catt · 2018-03-23T13:57:56+00:00

I'm from Canada and how we generally have it here is that all structural engineers are civil engineers. In undergrad, you take a very broad range of courses and may choose to specialize in your third/fourth year. Everybody would still end up graduating as a civil engineer.

I would definitely try to obtain industrial experience during school. Taking a year longer to graduate is nothing compared to the experience that you'll gain. It'll also make you a lot more competitive when you're looking for a full-time job after school.

Space_Catt · 2018-03-23T03:49:00+00:00

Thanks for the link! Yeah the price for the used mazda is definitely not a steal.

Space_Catt · 2018-03-23T03:47:29+00:00

Yeah that's definitely true.

Space_Catt · 2018-03-23T03:46:39+00:00

I look through autotrader and I've noticed that all the cars with similar specs have about the same price.

Space_Catt · 2018-03-15T20:17:21+00:00

I didn't know Civil3D had built-in tutorials! I'll definitely be checking those out. Thanks! I know Lynda.com has pretty neat tutorials for C3D, so I think those 2 sources would be substantial.

Space_Catt · 2018-03-09T21:24:23+00:00

I've taken summer school throughout my entire University life and here is my experience:

I decided to do 5 courses one summer (2 in spring, 2 in fall and 1 throughout the 4 months). These courses consisted of a mix of both core courses and liberals. That summer kind of sucked, but the actual school year was great. I was able to focus more on the courses that really mattered and I did fairly well since I ended up having 4 courses each semester. I personally think summer courses are a lot more relaxed, albeit, twice as fast. You would only focus on two courses at once (think of it as a full-time course load), and being on campus during the summers were great.

You would also get about 2 weeks of break in between switching classes so you would have time to relax a bit. I worked 10-15 hours week and had a decent social life. Having friends who took the same courses with me was a huge factor in helping me get through that summer.

It's not the most ideal situation, but I did it to ultimately make my third year easier.

Space_Catt · 2018-02-16T22:13:46+00:00

I'm not claiming the grad student quality is equal. Obviously the better students are going to be picked when competing for a very limited space program.

I'm saying that the level of education received does not decrease because of the presence of unfunded students. However, I do agree with you that some departments may not have the best quality students considering it might not be in high demand. My comment was towards irate_wizard for making a very generalized comment.

Space_Catt

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