Tips for first year

[crowdpuller]

Yes but don't expect summer internship in your first year.. not atleast at Queen's or UT

[trusoulja2g]

Get involved in clubs as soon as possible. Try to land a position as the "first year rep" for clubs in your faculty. ie. engineering club, commerce society, accounting club, etc. It's easiest to get an exec position in first year when there's less competition. By fourth year you might be president. It's a lot of fun. And this kind of thing is just as important as marks, if not more so, for getting a job.

[TheDude79]

Some tips for 1st year Engineering Students:

10. Most importantly of all!! If you have the opportunity to take a bird course while in engineering, TAKE IT!!!!!!! I cannot stress this enough!! I made the mistake of taking a "constructive" elective in my first year, thinking that it will "help me in the future", instead of taking a course which had a mutiple choice midterm and exam about wild animals native to Canada. BIGGEST MISTAKE EVER! Electives in engineering are a rarity! Don't take courses which have the potential of lowering your GPA or can cause you to loose your scholarship!! It's a waste!

I totally disagree. I used my elective courses to take courses that gave me a different perpective on the world, as believe it or not there are a whole lot of other things that are interesting and relevant about the world than the engineering discipline. The intent of supplemental electives as part of the curriculum is to give you a chance to explore other interests and give you some perpective, at least to a basic level. The key is to take something that you are interested in and won't be bored stiff by. Then the workload of that course, if it is moderately heavy, won't seem like such a burden.

I suppose though if you're into taking the path of least resistance though life, then that's a choice that is available. IMO, you have to take advantage of your opportunities to learn when you can, because it gets harder as time goes on.

Oh yeah, the most important thing about university though is that school isn't all about book learning. Get out and play some sports, go to some parties, join some clubs, volunteer. Don't fail out because of any of these things, but don't spend all your time in the library either.

[samj1]

Take courses you find interesting.

Manage your time.

Set goals.