Originally Posted by ILikeMC

Oh what a relief, my dad keeps saying i wont get in. :p

Thanks for the help guys!

Nice dad. LOL

If you're going to go to Mac (which I highly advise against), then don't go for business or engineering. Terrible idea. I got into engineering with an 84% or something like that, so an 85 ought to do you fine.

Go somewhere good instead.

Originally Posted by healthsci1

Mcmaster actually offers a co op MBA program which offers placement in some of canada's top firms. A relative of mine got his Bsc, didn't get into medical school so he applied to the MBA co op program. He is now doing his Co-op at RIM. He regrets wasting his time doing a BSC.

yeah but he only regrets it b/c he didn't become a doctor, everyone here knows a degree in life science will get you nowhere.

Originally Posted by bcars

If you're looking for a co-op program, I strongly recommend you take Business. I'm trying to be unbiased (I am a third year Commerce student); Commerce has an internship program which you can take, and you get paid for it. Same as co-op pretty much; full-time job, but you get paid. Average salary is I believe between high $20k to mid $30k, with a range of mid $20k to low $40k.

55k. my e-peen is longer

In today's job market, co-op, an internship, or general related work experience is an absolute necessity to be a competitive new graduate. For a number of people I know, not gaining related work experience in engineering as a student was the biggest mistake they have made in their lives. Some will never find work in the field because of it.

I know this will fall mostly on deaf ears, as it would have for myself if an older graduate had told me this when I was in first or second year. Fortunately I made the decision to do so in later years. You will have a very hard time finding a job with zero experience, especially when competing against your peers from UofT and Waterloo who have pregrad experience up the ass. I have a few friends who didn't get any experience as students, and they haven't found an engineering job after 7 months/1yr,7months. They now work in retail, a call center, a couple of crappy technician jobs, or are back at school studying something else.

You should enrol in co-op, without hesitation. It is not a question, it is a requirement.

Now as to the quality of McMaster's co-op program.. Like most other services here, don't expect much. McMaster is a lackluster school in this regard (and several others). In retrospect, if you want to study engineering, I would recommend you go elsewhere.

Good luck.

I also recommend doing co-op unless you have some other ideas lined up to make you competitive. The job market is cruel and you need all the experience you can get during university before you venture out into the real world.

Originally Posted by ILikeMC

Oh what a relief, my dad keeps saying i wont get in. :p

Thanks for the help guys!

I would be surprised if you did not get into all of them.

Wow, your dad sounds like a great guy >.>

It's interesting how so many people suggest to go elsewhere for Mac eng... And yet we have one of the highest rated schools for engineering in Canada.

Ultimately, people don't like our co-op department because it doesn't HAND them a job. In the end, I will look just as appealing with "& Co-op" on my degree as any other engineering school, because it just says you have experience in an engineering related job: The ADVANTAGES to Mac's co-op program are that you decide how you want to organize the experience: 3x4month terms, 1x12 month, 1x16 month, a 4 month and an 8 month, etc... You're not told that you have to go get a job now for 4 months, and thrown out of the regular school loop from everyone else, like at Waterloo. After that, what's the real hate towards the department? Disorganized? They offer you resources to get a job, and they do it SIGNIFICANTLY cheaper than any other school. I say: Win.

As for the relevance of Co-op, some can argue that you just need the experience on the resume, so you don't need the co-op department. While I would agree, I can tell you first hand that some companies hire because they can get a government kick-back for hiring a co-op student. That's how I obtained a valuable job out of first year!

Great post, Mike. People who complain so much about the co-op services probably didn't take much time to get in touch with the office or ACTUALLY visit them. They WILL NOT just hand you a job. NO co-op department does that.

I still wholeheartedly recommend Engineering at Mac, including Co-op. The world does not revolve around you, if you take the initiative to learn and do something with your work experience, you will be rewarded accordingly. You don't have to take everything the office says as gold - everyone has their own techniques. You need to read between the lines and pick up what you need to get your job.

And the 4/8/12/16 month co-op option is really great. Having previously done 4-month co-ops before coming to Mac and currently on a 12-month internship at Hydro One, I honestly have to say that compared to the longer terms, the 4-monther is almost useless. You barely figure out where to park your car before its time to wrap up the term and go back to school.

Originally Posted by ILikeMC

Hello, I am a high school student planning on going to Mcmaster university, currently my average is 85 (might go up to 87 by the end of summer) and I applied to Business, Engineering, and Medical radiation sciences.

I checked the admission requirements for the 3 programs all were "low - mid 80s". I did not participate in any extra-curricular activities except maybe cross-country (left after 2 weeks).
Do I have a good chance of getting in at LEAST one of the program?

Also is it better to take co-op because i heard it helps u find a job after graduating.

The admission average for MedRadSci's gone up over the years because of popularity, but I'm quite sure an 85-87 will get you in to the program. Not just MedRadSci, but Business and Engineering as well. So you really don't have much to worry about.

Best of luck!

I forgot to add: MedRadSci has clinical experience sessions, not co-op, so you have to pay to go to work. *rages*
But it's nice knowing that the job market is pretty awesome at the moment for health-related careers, so you can make up for all that student aid in a hurry.

run while you still can. University is waking up to a punch in the face every morning and a wedgie at bedtime.