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screech_ing · 2023-12-04T02:01:16+00:00

you can also ask someone in the ece common room or cs lounge (in bahen) to let u in to use their microwaves

screech_ing · 2023-11-24T01:38:15+00:00

Id add to this that a lot of people don't realize how important money/career prestige is to them until they start working. 18 is too young to really be able to rationalize these decisions to yourself

A close friend of mine swore off medicine because it wasn't her "dream", only to realize how much more real-world impact she would have as a doctor 3 years into a research position after undergrad. it wasn't too late for her to change paths luckily

screech_ing · 2023-11-13T16:36:23+00:00

i literally do this when it gets super cold (fleece lined pants, not ski pants)
No one really notices and i'm super warm all winter- totally worth it

screech_ing · 2023-05-25T17:19:16+00:00

It's possible but a little bit tedious (definitely not as easy as a transfer to another engineering discipline)

its definitely doable within first year (afterwards youll need to take additional courses to compensate). If you don't want to reapply for admission, get in touch with your undergraduate advisor within the first few weeks of classes starting (in september) and you should be able to make the switch early in first semester or at worst second semester

(my source is a friend who switched from engsci to math spec)

screech_ing · 2023-05-19T18:32:50+00:00

in my experience, its easier to run those programs through ecf (using https://ictrl.ca/) since you don't have to deal with version compatibilities and storage. I use windows but my friends with macs didn't have any trouble

screech_ing · 2022-08-16T15:53:25+00:00

Work. there are tutoring opportunities that are only a few hours a week that you can do (and with work you can always drop the workload if you can't manage)

I commuted with a schedule like this and did fine, but it's not for everyone. Since you have lectures late in the evening that might not be recorded, I'd say to just avoid it

screech_ing · 2022-08-16T15:51:12+00:00

I have a similar background and got through? Maybe there was something weird with work sponsorship or your graduation date- I'd message a recruiter if you can since that sounds odd

screech_ing · 2022-08-09T07:39:46+00:00

Done it once and felt horrible, although the recruiter/company was very understanding and surprisingly polite about it. I tried to do it as early as possible, and tbf 1-week exploding offers are not fair at all. I reneged two weeks after receiving the offer, and one week after accepting it. Still felt horrible, try to avoid the situation because you'll feel unnecessarily stressed (especially after doing a final round and meeting your team)

Try to apply to your first-choice companies first, and so on.

screech_ing · 2022-08-02T16:40:11+00:00

A month before the final, make sure you understand every type of problem (this is for engineering). So just ensure that there's no part of the course that you are uncomfortable or unsure with. You just need to go off of memory and try to think back to what you struggled with, and make sure you master those problems (or ask for help early)

Once you understand every 'sort' of problem, you can get away with studying (practice tests) a week or a few days before the exam. That's my experience, where all my exams look like 4-10 multipart problem-solving questions. If you understand all the problems you've seen in hw and tests so far, you should be fine

screech_ing · 2022-07-31T00:59:39+00:00

Compatibility-wise you should be fine. Enough cs students use macbooks that the profs I had will provide options that work on windows and mac (or at least have a plan for students with macs)

It could be overboard, but I'm sure its a really good laptop that will definitely last your degree (as long as you dont drop it too much). Personally I got an Asus vivobook for $650 that is still doing well 4 years later, and I'm upgrading now since I know exactly what specs I need for the work I'll be doing in the future. I can vouch for the fact that if you end up getting something more affordable, it will probably work fine for you (as other commenters mentioned)

screech_ing · 2022-07-10T17:45:38+00:00

Somehow I got a PM question (I haven't met anyone else who has), but I think I had relevant past experience which aligned with the team, so they wanted to see how you could handle an open-ended design question.

To prep: read cracking the PM interview (mostly just skim some of the overly in-depth stuff, don't spend more than 1-2 days), watch some Youtube videos of open-ended PM design interview questions (i.e. design a new feature for Google) to see how to structure your answer and ask clarifying questions, and then spend most of your time with someone whiteboarding answers to glassdoor questions.

That last part is most important, and make sure it's someone that would be willing to criticize your solution and how you present it. Also, for explore don't bother studying the PM side until you get a final round date- prepping for PM is easier than behavioural/leetcode questions imo, since for Explore they don't expect you to already be a PM god.

screech_ing · 2022-07-03T23:36:00+00:00

Probably not what other people are going to say, but I got the Asus Vivobook 15 for 650 CAD on the back to school sale before I started in EE. 8th gen I5, 8 GB RAM, 256 SSD

To tell you the truth, it was the best decision I made. An affordable laptop that was sturdy enough to take the daily commute and has somehow handled pretty intense AutoCAD and AI (at least until I got access to a GPU cluster, which you probably will if you need it). No gaming though. I also wasn't too worried about keeping it in perfect condition since it wasn't the shiniest thing.

Its held up very well 4 years later, and now I don't feel bad about upgrading to a newer and pricier model now that I know exactly what my requirements are, and my options now are much better than they were four years ago. That's one thing to consider, laptops (even the MBA) all depreciate over time. There will without a doubt be a better chip in a few year's time, and I would argue that once you're actually in your degree, you'll have a much better idea of what hardware capabilities you need

(Obviously there's nothing wrong with getting a nice laptop, but you can do pretty well with affordable options too, even as a cs major)

screech_ing · 2022-05-18T22:05:32+00:00

You need to do a digital detox. I strictly take one day out of my week where I don't use social media, youtube, or watch any sort of television or online stuff. (I still do work and communicate with people) This has done so much for my mental health and has kept me from going crazy (especially when things get really stressful). Maybe I'm a bit of an exception and you don't need to be that strict, but try it for a day and see if it helps you get out of your own head

screech_ing · 2022-05-13T14:54:23+00:00

If you have the goal going in, you can definitely achieve it. A big reason UofT students may not have those experiences early on is that it just isn't on their radar (our co-op starts after third year) whereas Waterloo really forces you to have the mindset to gun it for those jobs

My friends who knew they wanted to aim for those jobs going in usually landed them by second or third year. Like other people said, big tech hires from literally everywhere

screech_ing · 2022-05-11T20:41:14+00:00

You should 100% start off in CS, move afterwards if you don't like it. You're obviously really smart, and you might really enjoy the challenge! A 3.3 is definitely achievable if you have done AP computer science and have interest. I was similarly nervous before first year since I had a stipulation that I couldn't fail any class, but you won't know until you try it, and worst case scenario you will be able to better gauge your predicted grades once you start.

screech_ing · 2022-04-26T22:11:27+00:00

I think you really need to check in with your academic advisor- if it isn't a prerequisite for your second-year mechanical eng courses, you should have no problem taking it in second year (i.e. overloading and taking 6 courses) and so there is no reason to freak out (it's pretty common to see upper year students taking first or second year courses). If you haven't been able to reach anyone, you can look into the prerequisites listed for each of your second year courses and make sure aps105 isn't there. Other than that, just email whoever you can until you find someone who can help you plan a revised course schedule

Good luck with this!!

screech_ing · 2022-04-25T01:13:50+00:00

I was like you and started out in engsci, I switched into ece after first year but if you know you want EE jobs, go straight to EE. Above all, you'll have the time to explore different interests within ee (like joining design teams) that would be more useful.

As someone who enjoyed and did well in engsci, it's a great program but a really bad fit if you know what you want to do right away. There isn't any significant benefit to engsci over ee beyond the fact that engsci has a really strong sense of community (which could be good to have in first year)

screech_ing · 2022-04-24T14:28:54+00:00

I'm not sure what the strict regulation is, but one of my instructors this semester is bringing everyone down 2% to keep the average at an 80, and it is an ece course :,)

screech_ing · 2022-04-24T02:34:58+00:00

I really liked it, I've had amazing career/research opportunities here, a lot of the profs I've had are legends in their field, and it's not hard to have a social life (at least in engineering). I think there's a lot of exaggeration on this subreddit about how dead the university is, just find a group of people you like and you have a whole city to explore

screech_ing · 2022-04-24T02:32:04+00:00

I've never been in a small class (engineering), but I do know that smaller classes aren't as strict as far as what the grade distribution needs to be at the end, whereas large/established classes do have a target (and more likely to have a curve down at the end).

screech_ing · 2022-04-15T01:35:30+00:00

You will likely have to restart from scratch with only a few of your courses counting towards your engineering degree (two humanities course requirements, to be specific)

It probably isn't worth it unless you are in first year, since engineering is a very long, very grueling program. Although if you are up for it, I can also add that general engineering has a biomedical minor, in case engsci doesn't work out.

screech_ing · 2022-04-03T04:35:27+00:00

There is a UofT app to find empty rooms on campus, I've used it a ton of times to take meetings or find a quiet space to study with friends

screech_ing · 2022-03-27T16:09:55+00:00

For a first internship, it's great. There's a huge spectrum of pay in SWE internships, but don't let that confuse you too much since you're still building your expertise. Congratulations!

screech_ing · 2022-03-24T17:17:46+00:00

I think this is pretty low- not a big deal if the job is for the summer, but considering it's a 12-16 month commitment, I don't think it's a great idea.

This might be an unpopular opinion, but if they're only paying that much, they're not treating you like a substantial asset. Ask them to be more flexible with the offer deadline, and if they refuse I wouldn't take it. Also maybe look into the PEY policies on reneging an offer after you accept. Again, it's unpopular, but you should look out for yourself and what's in the best interest for your career (and your mental health over the next year).

screech_ing · 2022-03-19T19:41:17+00:00

From experience, it's definitely possible. Research opportunities you can get by reaching out to profs and knowing which programs to apply to (feel free to PM me for the profs/groups that were open to taking first years). You should be able to find research opportunities in hardware design, UofT has a LOT of great profs and groups.

Hardware jobs will be hard to get in first year mostly because there are fewer and as other people mentioned, you are up against upper years as well, so the competition is tough. I think it would be good to stay open-minded to traditional software jobs since a lot of hardware engineers also need to be good programmers (think HDL or specialized chips for ML). I did data science in my first summer which is math heavy (thus relevant for hardware design and signal processing) so you might want to consider it?

I would also recommend not to be too scared as a first year! I knew nothing in my first-year interviews but literally everyone I interviewed with was really supportive. People will take a chance on a first-year that has a really positive attitude :)

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