Engineering

[brentwoodbc]

I am currently upgrading my math and physics and am interested in engineering, possibly electrical engineering.

All the schools that offer for example a "bachelors in electrical engineering" like BCIT, SFU, and UBC have different courses as their prerequisites. I am finishing MATH Principals 11 and physics 11 in January "have an A in both." and am trying to decide which school to choose if this is the career I want to follow.

For example it looks like UBC requires a language 11 like French/spanish...
and physics/math/chemistry 12

where sfu is language11/math/physics/chem 12

BCIT is math 12 physics 11 and chem 11 done by end of first year


^I think those are right, correct me if I'm wrong. esp. on UBC language 11.

what is language 11, french etc?


My question is what school is the best, what courses should I get/need? Do prospective employers look down on a degree from BCIT vs ubc/sfu? And anymore info about engineering would help alot ie. info about "Bachelors, Masters, Senior engineer vs. junior engineer."


Thanks. Ryan.

[deerock]

if your really down with engineering you should consider UT's renowned Engineering faculty. Other than that UBC>SFU>BCIT

[hub714]

I have to agree with this guy above me.

I'm in UBC Engineering right now. It's not bad though. Apparently SFU Engineering is supposed to make you kill yourself.

UT..is far. That's why I'm here. That and they didn't take me for what I wanted to go into. They only took me for Mech. Though i didn't even end up going into Mech...lol

[SeanJohn]

well, if youre staying local then your choice really comes down to whether you want to do "traditional" engineering (UBC) or business oriented engineering (SFU).

i left out BCIT because a degree from BCIT wont have the same recognition outside the lower mainland. im not saying they dont have a good program, because they do, and im not saying an engineer from BCIT wont be as good as one from UBC or SFU, because some will be better and some wont. but if you want a job outside of vancouver, bc, or canada, a degree from UBC will carry more weight than BCIT and even SFU. but there will be people that disagree but there are many more that agree with me. it's something to think about when it comes to your career and where you want to work.

when it comes to the languages i think they mean you need another language, other than english, up to the grade 11 level. im not 100% sure but i think you only need the other language if you go straight to university from highschool but you dont need it if you go to college then transfer to university. ask someone else about this because i have a grade 11 language and did university transfer from a college so it wasnt an issue for me.

like i said, i did a university transfer from college to UBC. i'll list the pros and cons.

PROS:
-tuition a little cheaper than going straight to university
-made the transition to ubc a little easier. going from highschool to college will be a jump for most people. going from college to university is another jump so going straight from highschool to university will be a challenge.

CONS:
-my second year marks are lower because they teach things different at university as compared to college. think of college instruction like highschool-they tell you what you need to know and you learn it. think of university teaching like guidance-you figure out what is more important to study.

to answer your remaining questions:
-you get your bachelors degree first (4-5 years). if you want to do more schooling then you will do graduate studies where you get a masters degree. there are 2 types of masters degrees at UBC-thesis and non-thesis (1-3 years, depending on what you choose, on top of getting a bachelors). after the masters degree you could always do a doctorate and get a phd (3-5 years on top of masters).
-senior or junior engineering titles shouldnt be a concern of yours for now. you dont become an straight up engineer straight out of school. you first become an EIT, engineer in training. after 5 years, or 4 if you do co-op work terms, you become designated as an engineer with a PEng after your name. i dont know the exact usage of senior or junior but im assuming s senior engineer is someone who is PEng with many years of experience and a junior engineer is likely an EIT or a newly designated as an PEng.

if you have any other questions ask them here and i'll answer them to the best of my knowledge.

[brentwoodbc]

Thanks everyone, very helpful.
seanjohn thanks for taking the time to answer my questions.
Im not straight out of high school, im am 19 I worked for a while and am going back to school but I will look into the college transfer. What are good colleges for that, and what do you take just "engineering?"

[cow20xx]

stay away from sfu.

[SeanJohn]

vwryan, what college you go to depends mostly on what university you want to attend. spend some time figuring that out first.

UBC has "traditional" engineering fields such as: engineering physics, chemical, electrical, mechanical, mechatronics, civil, or integrated (which is a new discipline where you take courses in all fields so you will be a generalist instead of a specialist.)
langara, kwantlen, and capilano all have 1st year transfer programs that are more specific to get you into 2nd year at UBC.


im not as familiar with SFU, but from what i remember SFU is more focused on high tech engineering that pushes boundaries, at least that was what i was told when they came to kwantlen to recruit. they will also get you ready for the business side of engineering so you will have a more diverse skillset coming out. because in the end, what you do in engineering is a result of business anyways.
douglas has a transfer program that caters to SFU transfer.

i see you live in coquitlam so your first choice is probably going to douglas since it is closer. i dont blame you because i was going to go there too for that same reason. but when i asked the advisor about courses that transfer to UBC, it clarified my choice because they didnt have all the courses that will satisfy UBC's first year requirements. they have courses that you can take that will get you credit for certain 1st year courses but you will have to do some others once you get to UBC. it's not a bad option and in hindsight i shouldve done it this way. this way i wouldve got most of first year done at douglas, went to UBC and do split first and second year studies.

keep in mind this was about 2 years ago and things may have changed, so ask the right people to help make your decision and really take the time to think about what type of engineering interests you.

[SeanJohn]

oh and your last question: i suppose you do take "engineering" aka applied science. i had to declare that i wanted to do a university transfer when i applied for college.

[brentwoodbc]

thank you, I just have to make some decisions on what my plans are exactly, then maybe set some appointments.
Is there more of a demand/higher wages for one particular field of engineering, electrical,civil etc? or is it more what you find interesting.
Thanks again.

Cap college looks very interesting as well as kwantlen. Ill look into all of them later.
I wish I didnt need chemistry it holds me back another semester+summer.

[aznrsx1979]

I didn't take any of the engineering programs at BCIT but I did graduate from the Building Technology Program which is the equivalent to Architecture and I just graduated from the diploma program. You'd be suprised to find that people outside of Canada have heard of BCIT and my first job was working for an architecture firm in Bellevue, WA. Granted, Bellevue isn't that far from Vancouver anyway.

Always do what you think you'd find more interesting. If you don't enjoy it then there's no point in persuing a career in that field. Another factor is, do you want to run your own firm when you get older? To me, that's the only reason to get a degree. If you plan on only working for someone else, there's no reason to get the degree and become a licensed engineer. As for money, I make as much or more then most of the other technologists in my office and a lot of them.

I do agree with SeanJohn though, opinions will vary about where you go. I've got classmates working in Hong Kong, Alberta, Ontario, New York, San Francisco with just the diploma from BCIT.

[E N D L E S S S]

I don't know how it is for engineering, but for business, most of Douglas' lower level classes transfer nicely into SFU (but not many transfer to UBC), and most of Cap's transfer to UBC. So like seanjohn mentioned, be very be careful and do your research when picking a college to do your transfer at... because taking courses that do not have an equivalent credit at the university you are planning to go to is useless/a waste of time and money.

Also, sometimes there are discrepancies between what the sending institution says you have to take, and what the receiving institution says you should have took to make the transfer. So I think its better to make an appointment with an admissions adviser at the receiving institution, since in the end they are the ones who deem you eligible to enter their program.

[goo3]

Do what you find interesting. It's a highly technical job, so you don't want to feel like it's a pain to do. The pay should be at least good cuz not every random joe can handle the program.

In EE, there's a hardware side and software side. They are not the same, although an EE can get jobs in both. Usually, ppl like one or the other.

Oh and if you want to work for the big companies with nice equipment and big budgets, go get your degree. Better yet, go get your Masters. It gives you a better piece of paper than everyone else and sometimes that matters more.

[brentwoodbc]

What would happen if I went to cap college or kwantlen for the university transfer and I wasnt accepted by the university? Could I get a bachelors degree at the two colleges or would I transfer to bcit or?

[brentwoodbc]

If a job posting says "a degree from an accredited university" and you go to bcit does that mean you do qualify for the job or not? You have a bachelors degree and can be registered with "APEGBC"

[impactY]

Originally Posted by vwryan

If a job posting says "a degree from an accredited university" and you go to bcit does that mean you do qualify for the job or not? You have a bachelors degree and can be registered with "APEGBC"

you cant get registered with APEGBC with just a bachelors degree...

[Boostaholic]

Originally Posted by impactY

you cant get registered with APEGBC with just a bachelors degree...

all ubc engineering students are members of APEGBC. we all pay for the membership in our student fees.

[shenmecar]

im in the electrical engineering program at bcit, this has the lowest requirements for admission but it also has the most course load each term. you hear ppl taking 5 courses in ubc/sfu and they complain like bitches, try 6 at bcit.

bcit also has the worst exam schedule, its a whole week. so basically 6 exams in 5 days. '

if you are wanting to transfer then u can transfer to UVIC third year engineering after u finish 2 years at bcit and gone thru some "bridge" program, some alumni said its just a lot of math physics and chem.

[aznrsx1979]

^^

I agree about the course load and the exam schedule at BCIT. I nearly dropped out of the Building Technology program after the first year. The worst I had was 9 courses in the term and 5 exams in 3 days.

Makes me so happy I'll never have to go through that again.

[SeanJohn]

I think impactY meant that you are not automatically registered as an practicing engineering (PEng) with apegbc, fresh out of univ, with only a bachelors degree because you still would have to do the EIT first.

and shenmecar, sure 6 courses is a lot of but the normal course load for a ubc engineering student is actually 7 so maybe the people you hear complaining are not indicative of the general ubc engineering faculty. 5 courses is considered light.

[shenmecar]

well all the people i know who goes to ubc/sfu who are in engineering are taking 4/5.

[DragonChi]

are the labs considered seperate courses at BCIT?

[jjeng]

engineering is not for the learning challenged.
most of the time you're gonna be looking at all night studying and coming out with a 70% average, and you'll be glad.
That being said, UBC is probably a better choice (within BC) since they have a wide variety of disciplines. I just recently graduated from the EE program and I know they are starting the nano-technology, power systems and biomedical program. That's on top of the traditional electrical and computer engineer. They really follow the trend.

[yayabonks]

Originally Posted by vwryan

My question is what school is the best, what courses should I get/need? Do prospective employers look down on a degree from BCIT vs ubc/sfu? And anymore info about engineering would help alot ie. info about "Bachelors, Masters, Senior engineer vs. junior engineer."


Thanks. Ryan.

ryan,

this all depends on which engineering discipline you plan on taking. traditional programs like civil, mech, eng physics, are great at traditional schools like ubc. they have great reputations for those industries.

go to sfu if you like more techy kind of engineering (ie computer eng) they have great coop that will give you an edge when you get out of school. (most ppl that work in the big companies start from coop)

go to bcit, if you want the quick route (2 years) but still have a lot of hands on experience. you will probably know as much as any bachelor degree grad, but you will have difficulty finding jobs and getting interviews compared to uni grads.

senior just means you have more experience. dont even think about masters until your 2nd year.

good luck

[carsncars]

Like others have said:

UBC will offer a more traditional EE curriculum. More tailored towards circuit and chip design and hardware. UBC's name is more well-known out of province.

SFU's EE degree is more computer-oriented. Gives you chip and circuit design (perhaps not quite as in-depth), but they'll have you focus more on networking and make you take some rudimentary programming/coding courses and--ugh--economics as well. SFU is well known for forward research, computer science, and it's co-op program.

While UBC's name has more cachet in Canada, leave this country and neither of them will be very well known. Furthermore, name is not a huge deal for an undergraduate degree. Most employers know that any accredited university in Canada will teach with basically the same quality of education (that is, a fairly high quality).

I ended up at SFU (currently in Computer Engineering--think Software and Electrical Engineering combined) because I'm more inclined towards the "computer" side of things. Also, though SFU and UBC would have cost me exactly the same in terms of tuition, SFU was closer so I wouldn't have to stay on residence.

EDIT: On second look, what I wrote sounds extremely biased. Uh. UBC has a nude beach. Do what you will

[orange7]

UBC undergraduate electrical engineering right here, and I have NO life.

look at this post.. 9:36pm on a Friday night, and I'm at home doing hwk + surfing rs.