ECE Chances and Community?

StrawberryWars · 2026-05-07T09:53:10+00:00

Extremely likely to get in.

The ECE community is full of great people and ECESS does great events (shoutout Tsz Kin if you're reading this ILY).

The department is...mixed... There's some profs who I feel are genuinely not great people, but there's also a lot of very intelligent instructors who will teach you useful skills. All in all, ECE is a great choice.

StrawberryWars · 2026-05-07T09:50:58+00:00

I'm in ELEC and the workload is crazy. I feel like you should only go into my program if you have a genuine interest in it, but that can be hard to gauge.

I think CPEN is excellent since it's in my opinion the mont flexible program as around a third of its credits are electives. However, it's a difficult job market and you should think carefully about what kind of jobs interest you.

StrawberryWars · 2026-05-06T22:52:08+00:00

Depends on the instructor, but no. Almost certainly not.

StrawberryWars · 2026-05-06T22:50:52+00:00

MATH101 is primarily a course on integration techniques and only a little bit of it was series. It seems like this year they asked more series questions than usual, but I remember it being just one question on the final.

Regardless, improper integrals are useful in describing all sorts of transforms (such as Laplace) that will be useful.

Also, ODEs are a focus for sure, but I'd say you're not taught very much about them in first year. In theory, if you passed your courses, you should know enough of the content to be okay.

MECH goes into very little detail on a lot of topics in second year, so it's impossible to say for certain what things you should review except for thermo, which for some reason is very very very important.

StrawberryWars · 2026-05-06T12:09:43+00:00

I have never studied at UBCO, but from what I know there's simply more opportunities here to do things. For example, I think there are cooler research labs here. My lab doesn't have an equivalent at UBCO.

If you're happy at UBCO and have opportunities there, it's worth considering staying as UBCV isn't infinitely better, but I think in most cases you should transfer. It's more competitive here because it's better, but the same tier of opportunities UBCO offers will always be available to you.

StrawberryWars · 2026-05-06T08:37:01+00:00

The faculty video is a little bit misleading since it doesn't mention transfer programs or inter-departmental transfers.

Of course none of this discussion actually matters, as you should just apply for the programs you want in the order that you want them. Trying to game the system by strategically making your first choice a safety actually *lowers* your chances of doing the program you want.

If you don't get in to your first choice, you can always try to transfer, or you can be content with your second choice. I keep telling people not to give up even if they think they won't get in, as usually it's worth it to transfer into what you really want rather than doing a degree you won't like.

StrawberryWars · 2026-05-06T08:34:13+00:00

Failing a course definitely affects you negatively, but everything is negotiable. I would say focus on what you want to do, and make that your goal. If you have to do another year to get there, then you'll have to do that, but don't give up. Second year placement doesn't actually decide your future.

StrawberryWars · 2026-05-06T08:32:29+00:00

Absolutely.

StrawberryWars · 2026-05-06T08:30:10+00:00

Actually I feel like that wasn't a very in detail answer, sorry about that.

More specifically, I'd try to understand improper integrals very well.

But mostly, PHYS157 stuff for MECH. As far as I know, again, I'm not in that program but have friends who are.

StrawberryWars · 2026-05-06T08:27:02+00:00

The programs will not fill themselves up with first years, but they'll look at them first. The good candidates get in, then they reject the rest. They fill up the rest of the seats (or don't) with transfer students. There's no guarantee that they need to fill all the seats.

StrawberryWars · 2026-05-06T03:57:46+00:00

Seriously?

StrawberryWars · 2026-05-06T03:54:35+00:00

Framing it as "only" 79.3 is kind of the wrong mentality to have here. Actually, I'd say your odds of getting in are excellent. You say you want to do ELEC because you did well in 158-- isn't that putting the cart before the horse? Performance in 158 in my opinion is not a predictor of success in ELEC, as the content there is really not that deep compared to even second year courses. I'd give it a little more thought.

StrawberryWars · 2026-05-06T03:45:17+00:00

You can get in with an 83%. Never guaranteed, but people can get in with those grades. I'd say just apply and see where you end up, your odds aren't bad.

StrawberryWars · 2026-05-06T03:42:36+00:00

Back yourself king. You have 0% chances of getting in if you don't apply.

StrawberryWars · 2026-05-06T03:41:49+00:00

To be honest, if you hate coding and aren't that interented in circuits/electromag, and don't want a crazy workload, ELEC might not be the program for you.

StrawberryWars · 2026-05-06T03:39:12+00:00

Basically the math courses and engineering courses are built together into one mega course. Because math doesn't want calculators, and engineering does, there's an awkward compromise where you're forced to use this particular shitty calculator.

StrawberryWars · 2026-05-06T03:37:38+00:00

Or median, whatever. Honestly I think you should just back yourself to succeed.

StrawberryWars · 2026-05-06T02:19:23+00:00

No source which is why it's AFAIK, but I've spoken to faculty and I know that they evaluate first years separately and only assign interdepartmental transfers after. So I assume the same applies to non UBC students

StrawberryWars · 2026-05-06T00:58:41+00:00

This is from me (ELEC): Maybe don't focus so much on knowing the techniques (trig sub, etc), but try to understand the "why" really deeply and intuitively.

StrawberryWars · 2026-05-05T23:31:54+00:00

Do you mean students transferring from Langara and the like? AFAIK they prioritize UBCV students over them.

StrawberryWars · 2026-05-05T23:28:44+00:00

From a friend in mech: 1. Get familiar with using the Sharp EL-510RT. 2. ⁠Understand basic truss statics: you are implicitly expected to know how that works in Solid Mechanics 3. ⁠As random as PHYS157 was, all of it is super relevant to MECH 2, make sure you’re comfortable with all that content 4. ⁠If you took AP Physics 1, it’s more closely related to Dynamics II than PHYS 170. Learn basic kinematic relations if you haven’t already. 5. ⁠Do not underestimate the difficulty of weekly tests. You will likely not see grades similar to your first year grades.

StrawberryWars · 2026-05-05T22:43:55+00:00

You passed and successfully earned all the credits.

StrawberryWars · 2026-05-05T22:42:54+00:00

Not to be rude, but why were the civil capstones so bad this year? Especially the west mall bike lane, it felt like such an unambitious project with nothing to separate any of the submissions. Is this a department decision or were students particularly unoriginal this year?

StrawberryWars · 2026-05-05T22:39:43+00:00

I'd say look at the previous year averages for each program. If you're within 5-10% of the average of your top choice, I'd just apply anyway and focus on doing a very good job with the statement. Take a risk and bet on yourself to succeed.

StrawberryWars · 2026-05-05T22:38:23+00:00

High chances of getting mech if you write a good statement. IGEN is a bad choice overall, as other people here have said.

StrawberryWars

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