Hey guys,

I noticed there isn't really any Tron discussion thread, so I figured I'd go ahead and create one. A bit about me: I'm currently a first year Engineering I student, looking into possible options/paths in second year. My original goal was to go into Computer Engineering, but after some reconsideration, I've also considered Mechatronics (and Management, possibly) as options.

To the upper years, some general questions:

-What's Tron like? I know McMaster is the only other University nationally (in Canada) to offer Tron, with the first Uni being Waterloo. I know that Mac's Tron is more Software Eng heavy (some put the numbers at about 85% Soft. Eng, 10% mech, 5% ECE), whereas Waterloo focuses more on Mechanical Eng (again, some say about about 85%, 15% ECE and Soft. Eng). Is there any benefits that Mac Tron is more software eng heavy?

-How's the workload? I hear Tron and Electrical and Biomedical Eng. (excluding management/society/international degrees) are 2 disciplines with some of the most work, and most of the difficult of the engineering disciplines. Mainly, second year Tron is hard(er) because they want to weed out everyone except the best of the best.

-What kind of average (By the end of the first year) should I be expecting so that I'm competitive? What's the cutoff (on average) for Tron, and how may people are usually accepted into second year?

-How's the workload like in Mechatronics and Management? More specifically, how many courses/units can I be expecting to take? I know that in Mechatronics, it sort of makes sense to take management with it since when you graduate, I've been told you're most likely going to be working in management-like positions (due to the lack of deep specialization in any discipline).

Howdy, Alfred.

I'm in Mechatronics and Management and I feel that I can give you my insight on this.





























































Tron is AWESOME.

Elaborate please? D:

Originally Posted by Evo9

Hey guys,

I noticed there isn't really any Tron discussion thread, so I figured I'd go ahead and create one. A bit about me: I'm currently a first year Engineering I student, looking into possible options/paths in second year. My original goal was to go into Computer Engineering, but after some reconsideration, I've also considered Mechatronics (and Management, possibly) as options.

To the upper years, some general questions:

-What's Tron like? I know McMaster is the only other University nationally (in Canada) to offer Tron, with the first Uni being Waterloo. I know that Mac's Tron is more Software Eng heavy (some put the numbers at about 85% Soft. Eng, 10% mech, 5% ECE), whereas Waterloo focuses more on Mechanical Eng (again, some say about about 85%, 15% ECE and Soft. Eng). Is there any benefits that Mac Tron is more software eng heavy?

-How's the workload? I hear Tron and Electrical and Biomedical Eng. (excluding management/society/international degrees) are 2 disciplines with some of the most work, and most of the difficult of the engineering disciplines. Mainly, second year Tron is hard(er) because they want to weed out everyone except the best of the best.

-What kind of average (By the end of the first year) should I be expecting so that I'm competitive? What's the cutoff (on average) for Tron, and how may people are usually accepted into second year?

-How's the workload like in Mechatronics and Management? More specifically, how many courses/units can I be expecting to take? I know that in Mechatronics, it sort of makes sense to take management with it since when you graduate, I've been told you're most likely going to be working in management-like positions (due to the lack of deep specialization in any discipline).

Not being in Mechatronics (or in engineering for that matter), I can't answer most of your questions. However, I might be able to help with that last bit about how many courses/units you'll be taking. From my understanding (both from looking at the links and anecdotal evidence from my friends) you'll be taking a bunch of commerce classes alongside your normal eng schedule. Society is a mystery to me but it seems to be similar in the fact that your eng workload is broken down over a 5-year degree with some non-eng courses sprinkled throughout.

Here are some links:
Mechatronics Engineering (B.Eng.)
Mechatronics Engineering and Management (B.Eng.Mgt.)
Mechatronics Engineering and Society (B.Eng.Society)

Originally Posted by Evo9

Elaborate please? D:

One thing. It's a really demanding program - especially with management.

I'm just on my way to finishing a really rough week.

We've had 3 midterms, 2 15-page management papers, a pacemaker deliverable (programming and documentation),
a formal presentation, a MatLab assignment that's worth 7%, and a Psych quiz for my
elective. There might be some other things that I'm missing, but my brain is dead at this point
with an Accounting midterm tomorrow.


Yep, it's tough.

Heh, I'm also ending my week with a third midterm tomorrow afternoon.

How many units are you taking this year?

Originally Posted by Evo9

Heh, I'm also ending my week with a third midterm tomorrow afternoon.

How many units are you taking this year?

40.

10chars

So do you know anything about how Mac Tron is more software eng heavy than Mech? Anything good/bad about it, or whether or not it really matters?

Yeah Tron is definitely more software oriented than Mech. So if you are looking for a more physics approach then Mech is the program for you.

I'm in 2nd year tron and management, and I'm gonnna be completely blunt with you...It's A LOT of work, this semester has been really tough with 3 physics courses, and then trying to balance that with programming, group assignments in my management course, and group assignments in marketing...Just finished a week where I had 3 assignments, a lab report and 2 midterms...just know what you're signing up for and be sure thats what you wanna do

Hey Alfred! Glad to see your interested in pursuing a degree in Mechatronics Engineering! Here are my thoughts on some of your questions...

Originally Posted by Evo9

-What's Tron like? I know McMaster is the only other University nationally (in Canada) to offer Tron, with the first Uni being Waterloo. I know that Mac's Tron is more Software Eng heavy (some put the numbers at about 85% Soft. Eng, 10% mech, 5% ECE), whereas Waterloo focuses more on Mechanical Eng (again, some say about about 85%, 15% ECE and Soft. Eng). Is there any benefits that Mac Tron is more software eng heavy?

Early in third year it really hit a lot of us just how much software orientated Mechatronics is. When you think about it though this is probably the best approach. In this day and age everything deals with software and if you have those skills already your a valuable asset in the workplace. I'm not going to lie some of the courses really need to be reviewed since some can be kind of redundant (3N03 for instance) but from what I heard the University is reviewing the program this year and is trying to move things around to make the program better.

Originally Posted by Evo9

-How's the workload? I hear Tron and Electrical and Biomedical Eng. (excluding management/society/international degrees) are 2 disciplines with some of the most work, and most of the difficult of the engineering disciplines. Mainly, second year Tron is hard(er) because they want to weed out everyone except the best of the best.

Workload in second year is pretty tough but don't be discouraged by that. All streams have weeks were you just want to quit haha.

Originally Posted by Evo9

-What kind of average (By the end of the first year) should I be expecting so that I'm competitive? What's the cutoff (on average) for Tron, and how may people are usually accepted into second year?

Average for all streams this year I would expect to be pretty high. Reason being is this year there is a HUGE influx of students entering University (even more than the year with grade 13 cutoff) and the amount of students in Engineering is way above the resources the University has to accomadate everyone (classrooms, profs, TA's etc). For my year only ~50 seats were available. I'm not going to even ballpark the cutoff, just give it your all in first year!

Okay, so it sounds like Mechatronics @ Mac is still fairly new and being ironed out (from what I can find on google). I can understand if it's not completely refined; but, if you're in Tron, do you feel that the curriculum is appropriate?

McMaster's website seems to be a pretty poor resource to find information regarding Mechatronics, so if any of you have any experiences (whether positive or negative) to share, please post them here! I'd really like to get a wide scope of opinions.

I just wish there were more mechanical courses. Mechatronics here is more software and ic based, but some more exposure working with motors/pneumatics or a course hwere we build a robot from scratchish would be welcome.

yes it is being refined, so the workload us management people have this year is going to be different when u come around since they are moving some management courses around to other years. in terms of workload, we had a shit week last week because all our assignments/midterms were due around the same time. but it is totally manageable like any course, just have to beat procrastination. for example, the two assignments vast was talking about could have technically been finished the week before, atleast in my case, but i got lazy.

pace maker is a pain though...

Originally Posted by Evo9

Okay, so it sounds like Mechatronics @ Mac is still fairly new and being ironed out (from what I can find on google). I can understand if it's not completely refined; but, if you're in Tron, do you feel that the curriculum is appropriate?

McMaster's website seems to be a pretty poor resource to find information regarding Mechatronics, so if any of you have any experiences (whether positive or negative) to share, please post them here! I'd really like to get a wide scope of opinions.

Alfred, I'm gonna try and answer everything as best as I can when I get a chance. I'm fifth year mechatronics and management with an accelerated masters in software eng (not sure if you knew about that option ) and am currently on an internship. I was president last year of the tron student society and I'm almost done so hopefully I can answer everything you want to know. Anyone wondering about mechatronics can also feel free to email me questions and concerns to matt[at]atypicalclothing.com.

Hey!

Tron and Mgmt 2nd year here. The workload demolished me. I thought I could handle it, but caved under the pressure. This term has been hectic for me. I started out with 6 courses, but had to drop two because I was failing both of them. I'm going to be switching into Software as of next term.

If you can manage your time really really really really well, and don't procrastinate, and are resourceful, then you can do tron and mangement. Otherwise, not to discourage you, but another option is probably better.

The program is designed basically to weed people out. Look at last years' graduating Tron class - there were less people than all second year Tron.

One of my main reasons for switching out of Tron (apart from doing really poorly in two courses) was that I was most interested in the software aspect of things. Also, I figured that if an employer was comparing whether to hire a Tron grad or Software grad for a software related position, naturally he'd pick the software grad. I could only see myself doing a software job, and not anything related to mechanical or electrical, so Sfwr is the sensible choice for me.

In the end, it's your choice. If you do choose to pursue Tron and Mgmt, good on you, but be ready - it's a hell of a ride. You won't have a social life for the first term. Also the second term follows a similar format to the first (one physics, one eng phys, one mechanical, one math, one sfwr course, etc), and I hear it's even harder.