Hey guys,
I'm leaving McMaster after my first year, and I wanted to write a quick review of what I thought of the university as a whole. I also want to thank MacInsiders and everyone on here. You guys helped a lot in making a smooth transition from high school to university.
For my first year engineering brothers/ few sisters, here is a little something to make your lives easier:
http://www.mediafire.com/?lavo7cbtttjrkah
http://www.mediafire.com/?k48a8eq3zsj330n
Campus:
A. I have been to a lot of universities, including big name ones like Harvard and NYU, and I have to say that McMaster has one of the nicest campuses. It’s a bit small, but that’s a very good thing as it doesn’t take long to walk from one class to another. Most of the building are up to date, and the libraries have top of the line technology…although they could use some more study space, and the better locations for the libraries would have been nice.
Professors:
B. I only took engineering courses, so this is really what I thought about the Engineering profs. Out of the nine profs I had, I would give seven of them A’s, but the other two (Barbier and Sultana) I would give Ds. So, it kind of averages out. The one thing I loved about the profs (all of them) was that they were very available to the students and responded quickly to emails. Of course, Barbier and Sultana could improve in their teaching skills.
TA’s:
D+. There were one or two good TAs, but most of them either had one type of problem or another. I had TA’s that either couldn’t speak English well enough or didn’t know the subject they were teaching well enough. I remember 1D04, where my 3rd year TAs would come to me for help with the coding. I think the problem really is that profs, when they hire TAs, just look at the marks the person got, instead of whether or not they have relevant experience.
Food/Restaurants:
B-. The one thing that really annoyed me about McMaster’s campus is that there were no big fast food chains. No McDonalds, Burger King, Wendy’s or Taco Bell. Instead, there were “fancy” fast food places like La Piazza. Although, there are plenty of coffee shops/ Tim Horton’s and I guess that’s all you need if you’re Canadian.
Libraries:
C+. There was a lot of technology, and most of the libraries looked really nice inside. The problem is the noise level and the amount of study space. There are a ton of books, and I know that’s what libraries are supposed to be there for, but I think McMaster libraries could use fewer book and more tables and chairs.
Fitness Center/Athletics: A+. For the money you pay, you can’t get anything better. Unlike the libraries, there usually are more than enough machines for everyone other than maybe treadmills, but there is the 3rd floor track. Plus, there are courts for a very wide range of sports. Anything from squash, volleyball to football and basketball.
Student Life:
B. I think McMaster has the typical student life. Parties are like parties at an average school. Nothing crazy, but definitely not boring. One thing I really liked about McMaster is that most people are very accepting of other people’s faith/religion. I didn’t see that in places like Waterloo.
Off-Campus Housing:
D. The landlords near McMaster should be put in jail for stealing money. For $380, I get one little room in the basement, albeit everything paid and that was a pretty good deal. Most of the properties were ancient and most landlords just did the bare minimum to pass housing inspections. They know that students really have no choice but to rent the crappy places for the prices they set, so they charge whatever they want for sub-par houses.
Co-op/Counseling:
D. I’ll flat out say it: McMaster’s co-op program is a joke. The co-op office simply doesn’t seem very serious about getting anyone jobs. The “career” specialist is simply some guy with a life science degree, who couldn’t find any other job. I remember one of the first things he said during my co-op course was, “I really don’t know what I’m doing at this job”. That should give first years a lot of faith in their department.
Overall:
B. Somethings were good, other not so much. One thing I loved about McMaster was the people. I don’t think I met one “bad” person the entire year, and really its people that make a place, not the buildings or restaurants. I have to say I’m a bit disappointed with the educational quality. The main reason I chose to come to McMaster over University of Toronto is because UT has a bad reputation about not caring about their first years, and expected McMaster to be different, but I have to say, it really wasn’t.
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