A couple of weeks ago they handed out engineering specialization placements… well it popped up on the SSC and I couple weeks later I got a letter from my new department.
In Engineering your specialization is a big deal, once you have your specialization, that’s it. You have to stick with it for the next 3 (or in my case 4) years. It is extremely difficult to transfer from program to program (unless you are changing between electrical and computer engineering) and most people have a pretty set idea of what type of engineering they want to go into.
In April we ranked our top 8 choices and were told that we would be notified of our placements by mid-june…. we didn’t hear anything.
Then we were notified that they were delaying the placements, but we would hear by June 25th at the latest…. we didn’t hear anything.
I didn’t get my placement until about June 30th, most likely because I was a transfer student. My nerves were tingling like crazy for the whole three days while placements were going out. They messed up the process this year and quite a few people got had their placements change around a bit (but for the most part they were just bumped up into their first choice).
I chose Engineering Physics as my first choice. Engineering Physics has the highest entrance average out of all of the different specializations. It is also considered either the coolest or the nerdiest specialization depending on who you talk to. I chose it because it has a bit of everything, especially the physics which I really like. I also really want to go into research (or you know test it out see how I like it) which makes it seem like a good fit. Also it is definitely going to be a challenge, and for some sick reason I always choose to do things that will challenge me… I can’t explain it.
Also for anyone who is thinking about going into Engineering Physics in future years: From what I have heard the entrance average for this year was just around the 80% mark, aim for at least 85% to play it safe new first years! This average includes courses that “don’t really count” such as English and your elective. Although at some point during the year you might stop caring about your courses make sure that you don’t slack off! I made that mistake for Chemistry 123 and ended up with a low B which really brought my average down and scared me when I was waiting to hear about specializations. =P