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Second Year Engineering

 
Old 02-19-2010 at 10:09 PM   #1
lmasud
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Second Year Engineering
Hey guys,

I'm looking into Biomed + Electrical Engineering or Software Engineering for second year, and I can't find a whole lot of info on either one, can someone answer the following questions:

1) How many people do they accept per year for each specific stream? (ie how many people do they accept for Biomed or software)
2) Whats the biggest difference between game design and embedded and regular soft eng?
3) Whats the difference between Computer Eng and Soft Eng?
4) How much programming is there in soft eng?
5) If I wanted to, could I switch into Biomed 3rd year after taking soft eng in 2nd year?

Thanks in advance!
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Old 02-19-2010 at 11:15 PM   #2
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Last edited by andrew22 : 02-19-2010 at 11:45 PM.

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Old 02-20-2010 at 12:49 AM   #3
Ownaginatios
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Quote:
Originally Posted by lmasud View Post
Hey guys,
1) How many people do they accept per year for each specific stream? (ie how many people do they accept for Biomed or software)
Not sure about the biomed + electrical... but software is ~60. Pretty much anyone who applies to any stream in software gets in as long as they meet the average to stay in engineering.

Quote:
2) Whats the biggest difference between game design and embedded and regular soft eng?
Regular software is the same as the other two, just without the other required courses specific to those streams. Therefore, compared to the other two, it's a little layed back.

Game design is *supposed* to be about making games, but it also seems to focus a lot on multimedia (i.e. classes on mya, photoshop, final cut pro. etc). I used to be in it, but switched to embedded systems because a lot of the game design courses were BS. It's also not accredited (and probably never will be in it's current state to be honest...)/

Embedded systems is more focused on writing software for systems in everyday devices like cars, appliances .etc. If you like physics 1E03, there's a lot of stuff like that. After second year, the curriculum becomes very close to mechatronics.

Quote:
3) Whats the difference between Computer Eng and Soft Eng?
Well, computer and software share no courses together, so I don't know that much about computer. All I know is computer is much more about hardware, while software is more about designing software systems to run on computers.

Quote:
4) How much programming is there in soft eng?
Less than computer engineering actually. Software engineering is about designing complex software systems, where each component is specified separately for someone else to build. It's kind of hard to understand without taking a few classes in it.

Quote:
5) If I wanted to, could I switch into Biomed 3rd year after taking soft eng in 2nd year?
I don't think that would work out very well. Biomed + Electrical, or whatever it's called, only shares the general engineering math courses with software and that's it. So you'd probably have to pretty much do second year over again.

I hope that helps!
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Old 02-20-2010 at 05:08 AM   #4
Entropy
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http://registrar.mcmaster.ca /CALEN...nt/pg1202.html

It's a pretty-well known resource, but if you don't know about it, it helps a lot when planning your future and checking which courses are shared throughout different departments. It also helped me coordinate when to take my Commerce electives to coincide with my friends in Management and the stray firsties I know.

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Make sure to screenshot with your next post.

...That's what I really came in here to say. =\
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Old 02-20-2010 at 09:36 AM   #5
lmasud
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Ownaginatios View Post
Not sure about the biomed + electrical... but software is ~60. Pretty much anyone who applies to any stream in software gets in as long as they meet the average to stay in engineering.

Regular software is the same as the other two, just without the other required courses specific to those streams. Therefore, compared to the other two, it's a little layed back.

Game design is *supposed* to be about making games, but it also seems to focus a lot on multimedia (i.e. classes on mya, photoshop, final cut pro. etc). I used to be in it, but switched to embedded systems because a lot of the game design courses were BS. It's also not accredited (and probably never will be in it's current state to be honest...)/

Embedded systems is more focused on writing software for systems in everyday devices like cars, appliances .etc. If you like physics 1E03, there's a lot of stuff like that. After second year, the curriculum becomes very close to mechatronics.

Well, computer and software share no courses together, so I don't know that much about computer. All I know is computer is much more about hardware, while software is more about designing software systems to run on computers.

Less than computer engineering actually. Software engineering is about designing complex software systems, where each component is specified separately for someone else to build. It's kind of hard to understand without taking a few classes in it.

I don't think that would work out very well. Biomed + Electrical, or whatever it's called, only shares the general engineering math courses with software and that's it. So you'd probably have to pretty much do second year over again.

I hope that helps!
Thanks, that helps a lot
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Old 02-20-2010 at 10:14 AM   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by lmasud View Post
Hey guys,

I'm looking into Biomed + Electrical Engineering or Software Engineering for second year, and I can't find a whole lot of info on either one, can someone answer the following questions:

...

5) If I wanted to, could I switch into Biomed 3rd year after taking soft eng in 2nd year?
The only thing the two streams have in common is math; so you'll be behind about a whole year.. you would have made very little progress.

http://registrar.mcmaster.ca /CALEN...nt/pg1214.html

I'm in it and i really like all the courses by the way.
Old 02-20-2010 at 10:47 AM   #7
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For Biomed they except 35-40 students a year. You could technically switch from anything to anything else if your marks were high enough but you might have a hard time of it since besides math, all the courses you take are different in both streams.

I'm in it too and I love it.

Definitely go to the open houses for both streams and check out what courses you'll get to take and the profs that will be teaching you.

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Last edited by nila* : 02-20-2010 at 10:52 AM.

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Old 02-20-2010 at 12:14 PM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by nila* View Post


Definitely go to the open houses for both streams and check out what courses you'll get to take and the profs that will be teaching you.

ya, unfortunately open house for biomed is on the 1st, and I have Materials midterm on the 2nd, so I can't make it to that.

Apparently the biomed program hasn't filled up the last two years, so everyone that wanted to get in, got in. Hopefully that remains the same this year.
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Old 02-20-2010 at 12:43 PM   #9
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Just go, to the open house, its a couple hours that could help you decide your future. Make up for the "lost studying time" before so you dont feel bad.

Also, BioMed/Comp/Elec are more or less the same in 2nd year. Few different courses here and there, otherwise the same. You can always see the undergrad calender to see what courses each stream takes.

Last year they said biomed required a 9.0 to get in, but doubtful that everyone in there right now got a 9.0...
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Old 02-20-2010 at 01:22 PM   #10
lmasud
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Quote:
Originally Posted by blackdragon View Post
Just go, to the open house, its a couple hours that could help you decide your future. Make up for the "lost studying time" before so you dont feel bad.

Also, BioMed/Comp/Elec are more or less the same in 2nd year. Few different courses here and there, otherwise the same. You can always see the undergrad calender to see what courses each stream takes.

Last year they said biomed required a 9.0 to get in, but doubtful that everyone in there right now got a 9.0...
Well, thats why I care very little about what the average was. Its more useful to know how many people they take in.
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Old 02-20-2010 at 02:28 PM   #11
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I agree with above posters. Go to the open house/lecture on the particular stream your interested in. I was in your situation last year aswell with tests popping up left right and center but in the end I felt that going to those open houses and talking to the profs/students it helps you decide alot.
Old 02-20-2010 at 03:33 PM   #12
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BioMed is pretty small. Probably like ~30 people or so
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Old 02-20-2010 at 04:14 PM   #13
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hey i am in biomed second year..

they accept 30-40 for biomed i believe but pretty much if you have 7-8 gpa, you have an extremely good chance of getting into the program.

other than that, I like biomed too but be prepared to study hard or face some gruesome low marks specially in second term in second year.

good luck and god bless.
Old 02-20-2010 at 04:59 PM   #14
lmasud
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Quote:
Originally Posted by maclover View Post
hey i am in biomed second year..

they accept 30-40 for biomed i believe but pretty much if you have 7-8 gpa, you have an extremely good chance of getting into the program.

other than that, I like biomed too but be prepared to study hard or face some gruesome low marks specially in second term in second year.

good luck and god bless.
yea...I have a 7-8 average right now, and I could probably pull it into 8s, but I didnt take any electives, so thats gonna kill my SA
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Old 02-20-2010
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