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Guide to First Year

Welcome to U of T Engineering! If you have been admitted, your department clearly believes you can succeed here. Your engineering program is challenging, yet full of opportunity. Let's look at how you can start off strong.

Workload

The first two weeks of any semester are relatively easy. There are no assignments due yet no midterm exams on the horizon yet. This tends to make some first-year students (my first-year self included) think that the courses will be much easier for them than they actually are. After all, students at U of T engineering are above average and may think they're just near the top of the class. The subsequent weeks are a reality check as assignments and midterms pile up, not helped by factors outside the students' control (e.g. their ESP teammates). At this point, it is important for you to focus on what they can control. This is not the only reality check students face in university.

The faculty recommends that you spend one hour outside class on your courses for every hour of class time you have. I believe most students do not do this (who wants to work a 50+ hour week for school?), but it is important to understand just how much time your program expects from you. University is time-consuming and students can get blindsided by the surging workload early in the semester.

First-year students sometimes struggle with managing their time when multiple things happen around the same time, for example a midterm exam and a major assignment deadline. It is very tempting to put off the assignment to study for the midterm, or vice versa. This negatively affected my APS111 team.

Attendance

Tempted to skip class due to a surging workload? You are typically allowed to, but that does not mean it's a good idea. I recommend only doing so when you are sure you will not benefit by attending. Many students get into the habit of skipping class, which can be problematic if you are not careful. Think about whether there are better resources out there, whether you will actually use them, whether attendance will ever be mandatory, whether you have any conflicts (e.g. with a personal project) and whether your professor may put questions on tests meant to reward people for attending class. Some tutorials are worth skipping, but lectures are usually not with some rare exceptions (e.g. ChatGPT lecture) even if you have a high work load. I have done worse in multiple courses due to my decision to skip class more than I should have.

Grades

Most universities operate on a GPA system. At U of T, any grade above 85% will not be any more beneficial for your GPA as A and A+ are both worth 4.0 (some schools use a 4.3 system, with A+ (90%+) being worth 4.3). This means there is no benefit to getting high 90s in university except for very particular cases (e.g. transferring to EngSci after first year).

I think most students understand that their grades will drop between high school and university. However, not everyone understands how much the grades will drop. Among first-year students in the core 8 programs (not EngSci), median course grades typically range from C+ to B (high 60s to mid 70s), B- being the most common.

The median first-year GPA is approximately 2.6. Many students will get especially stressed about their midterm exam grades. Midterm exam grades are typically lower than course averages: Outside APS110 and your programming course, midterm averages above 70% are rare. A typical exam in first year has an average grade in the low to mid 60s, and almost every year there is at least one in the first semester of first year with an average below 60%. That's all to say: University is tough. Even the best students' grades drop compared to high school (it is rare for your grades to not drop).

Grades matter to an extent, but often less than first years think. Some of the most "cracked" companies in some more competitive disciplines will require a high GPA, 3.7 (approximately low 80s) is the highest I have seen. The highest I have seen in Civil was 3.0 (approximately mid 70s). However, even in cases where there was a clear GPA cutoff, things you did outside the classroom mattered a lot. My PEY co-op position had a GPA cutoff but I was hired because of what I showcased with my personal projects. Those tend to matter a bit more and you should devote time to them. I was much less employable when I had a near-4.0 GPA.

Transferring between engineering programs

U of T's core 8 programs have very similar courses in first year. This makes it easier for students to transfer between programs. If you make the Dean's Honours List (79.5%+ average) during both semesters of first year, you are guaranteed to get any core 8 program you want even if you did not make it during your initial university applications. Approximately 15% of the class achieves this. If you do not get this, you may still get in depending on space availability. Electrical, Computer, Mechanical, and Industrial Engineering often require higher grades, while Civil, Mineral, and Materials Science Engineering often have more people leaving than joining their programs after first year allowing them to accept almost anyone who is passing first year. It will also be easy for students in Engineering Science to transfer to any core 8 program, as long as you are passing.

In general, you will go into second year. You may need to take extra course. Students transferring to Electrical and Computer Engineering may need to take ECE110 over the summer, or go part-time for a couple of years (you will also need to take APS105 instead of APS106 in your first-year winter term or the summer). Understand what extra courses you will need to take when transferring between programs.

Transferring after second or third year is never guaranteed, and you will need to start in your new program from second year (except when transferring to EngSci, which is much tougher and requires you to start in first year).

Individual courses

For advice on individual courses, see my main advice page, or my page on APS111 and APS112.

Extracurricular activities

By virtue of being treated as adults, university students have much more freedom with their extracurricular activities then high school students do. Student groups can't necessarily book rooms 24/7 and do whatever they want in them, but there is much more you can do whether you're working by yourself or with a larger group.

It is important to choose a healthy amount of extracurriculars to commit to. I have observed many people, from EngSoc officers to people I knew in 12th grade, overload themselves with too many commitments. If you commit to too many things, you will not have time to do all of them leading to increased stress (especially with your courses) and lower contribution quality elsewhere. Finding one's limit is difficult, but it is important to remember you can't just do five different design teams while dealing with the engineering course load.

You can still join a bunch of clubs, just be careful about what you commit much of your time to - you may not be able to do everything effectively.

Clubs and Design Teams

There are many student groups within U of T Engineering, and plenty of others elsewhere on campus. Generally, clubs and design teams meet on evenings and weekends (Saturdays are much more common than Sundays). This may require you to commute or otherwise stay on campus at hours you are not accustomed to (see my advice on commuting). Some extracurricular activities will require a lot of your time, others much less.

Design teams and clubs offer much easier opportunities to develop professional skills than personal projects do. Clubs like CSCE host professional events, and attending them (or running them in your upper years) may increase your ability to network with potential employers. Design teams will allow you to be part of an engineering project team, especially if you are able to spend some time designing something (some design teams will want you to have experience before you are able to design anything). Even if something is not directly related to your field, the skills you gain are very valuable. However, you may find your greatest passion within engineering is not satisfied by the existing clubs and design teams.

Personal Projects

Personal projects are a good way to follow your passion without a design team doing the same thing. The lack of design teams in transportation at the time inspired me to start my personal projects. When done well, personal projects can impress employers perhaps more than your design team work. Some employers prefer individual work, while others may prefer design team work more. However, some soft skills are much harder to get with personal projects: particularly those related to working in teams.

Personal projects may offer more flexibility than design teams: You can often put off working on them if you have too little time or do excess work when you are more free. During my first personal project, I did the most time-consuming work before midterm exams began and did the less time-consuming parts during midterm season. However, not every project is flexible. The bus route I studied in my first project had changes implemented to resemble my 2nd-choice recommendation, which were published while I was writing my final report (I had already published my recommendation by that point). The project pretty much could not have happened later than it did.

Jobs and Co-op

U of T does not have any co-op terms right after first year. Some students get internships after first year but it is not common. Most first-year students are not thinking much about their co-op opportunities. The summer term after 2nd year, which is an official co-op term, is much more common but by no means universal. Many students do research during the summer after second year. Others may work in industry. Others may not have a co-op job that summer. The PEY co-op (a full year after third year) is nearly universal, with close to 90% of students getting a PEY work term.

Some employers will care a lot about your grades. Others will care more about your extracurricular activies, some more focused on team work and some more focused on individual work. Whatever the case, most first year students emphasize grades more than would be reasonable considering what co-op employers value. While companies have a GPA cutoff, your technical skills and out-of-school activities normally matter more.

If you are not looking for a summer job directly after first year, you do not need to worry too much about getting one. I got my co-op from projects I worked on entirely within a single (calendar) year. However, it is a good idea to start thinking about what you want to do outside school. Perhaps spend that summer exploring your passions. Part of what inspired me to do my personal projects came from experiences I had late in first year and that summer, which I spent as a shift worker. If you have some ideas, perhaps do a personal project of your own.

Last updated: 10/17/2026