Hello everyone, I have been really stressed about my future career decision and would appreciate any help here

I am a current grade 12 high school student with an 86% average. I have applied to McMaster for Life Sciences, but have decided I would much rather do Engineering instead. Of course, I made this decision in April and the deadline has passed :(

I am trying to look into all my options now. The thing is, I really don't want to waste a year of my life in a program I have no interest in. If I go into life sciences for first year before I transfer, it will feel like I'm doing it all for nothing (on top of that, I won't be motivated), since I know that I just want to get into engineering. I hope you know what I mean. Because I know so early that I want to transfer, I wonder if anything could be done for me?

I am wondering if I could salvage this year of my life in life sciences and skip engineering I and go straight into engineering II. I have done my research and it looks like there are many transfer credits:


3 units CHEM 1E03 àChem A03
10 units ENGINEER 1C03, 1D04, 1P03
3 units MATLS 1M03
9 units MATH 1ZA3, 1ZB3, 1ZC3 à Math LS3, Math LT3
6 units PHYSICS 1D03, 1E03à Physics 1B03, Physics1BB3
6 units electivesà any two electives

Missing courses:
· Math 1ZC3(summer)
· MATLS 1M03(summer)
· ENGINEER 1C03(summer)
· ENGINEER 1D04(summer)
· ENGINEER 1P03 (getwaiver)

So theoretically, is it possible to transfer from sciences I --> engineering II if I take those summer courses and get those transfer credits? Also, what average would I need to transfer into engineering to begin with?

Any advice whatsoever is appreciated I recently discovered this forum and did some searching myself and found it to be very helpful

First of all, no matter what you do, you can't 'transfer' into second year engineering; you need to pass all the requisite courses and have a certain GPA in order to get into the 'stream' you want. My suggestion is to book a meeting with Sally Williams of the Engineering Office.

If I were you (and I'm sure Sally will tell you the same thing) I would take those math and physics courses, since they're similar to a few life science ones, so technically they might let you do it (I have no knowledge of this situation, however), but no matter what, you will have to 'do' engineering I.

Any course on the undergraduate calender for engineering that has the requirement of 'registered in level 1 engineering' (or whatever it says) usually needs a waiver. Looks like most of what you posted shows you already understand this all.

In terms of preparing for second year; if it so happens you plan on going into biomedical eng or chem eng; there are some life sci courses such as bio and chem which you can take during the summer, to catch up a little. It actually doesn't theoretically seem that big of a deal to transfer to engineering I, since life sci is usually packed with students, but there are certain limits to # of engineering students accepted, obviously.
tl;dr: talk to sally williams or another academic councellor

Your best bet is to transfer now if you can.

You won't be able to transfer to eng II after completing life sci I.

Thank you for the advice, Ryan!

Does Sally Williams speak to non-univ students? I hope so. The reason I wanted to enter eng 2 right away is because if I have all of these transfer credits and I take those summer school eng courses, what am I supposed to take in eng I if I already have most of the required courses? Would I be taking eng 2 courses? Then it just seems odd..

I would think having all of those credits would speed up the process?

Originally Posted by macsci

Your best bet is to transfer now if you can.

You won't be able to transfer to eng II after completing life sci I.

Hello,

I will contact Sally Williams and see what she says. I really regret not applying to Eng I when I could have :/ but I digress...

I agree with Ryan, you can't really skip first year engineering and go into second year. If you really want to do engineering, I would recommend that you go into 5th year in high school (some people call it grade 13, others 5th year). If you know that you want engineering and decided to do life science then you are wasting a lot of money and time. I don't blame you on your sudden decision to change programs because it can happen to anyone and it's totally normal...some people are in their upper years and have no clue what they want to do with their degree/life.

Also, I have to tell you that it is not guaranteed that you go into your second year engineering program after first year eng..what i mean is:
At the end of first year engineering, students have to decide on a second year program to go into, but a lot don't end up in their program of choice because it's "competitive" to get into second year engineering. A lot of people fail/drop courses in first year and can't go into something competitive in second year. This is because your admission into a second year engineering program depends on the number of units you have taken in first year engineering.
I think mcmaster is like the only school that does that, most if not all universities will let you go into the program of your choice (like civil or electrical).
Not all programs are competitive.. usually the competitive programs are: Civil, Mechanical, Management, Biomedical...it changes each year,but usually those are the competitive programs and the ones that require higher than a 4 GPA (60%).

That's one of the reasons that you can't just transfer into second year engineering..even if it's not a competitive program you have to complete all of the requirement to go into second year engineering (i.e the courses).

Free choice :
Some people can go into their second year engineering program even if they just pass first year with a 4 GPA, and even if they drop courses...these people get a "free choice" with their offer because they have a certain average...I think 2 years ago that average was 90%, it changes each year. What that means is, if you come to mac eng with a free choice, you don't have to worry about not getting into civil or mechanical, all you have to is pass first year and your good.
You lose your free choice if you fail anything in first year eng. Also, free choice doesn't include management and biomedical engineering.

I am not sure what average you need to transfer to engineering but I think it would be around 8/9shh.

I am not trying to put you down or anything i just want you to be comfortable with the rules and know what your doing.
Hopefully that helps

I'm pretty sure you can still apply on ouac. I added engineering last year around this time too and got an acceptance very soon. Add engineering to your ouac application thing now if you can.

Hello! I was in the exact same position as you last year and you can in fact transfer to eng II from life sci I provided you have the correct courses. I would phone someone at the university ASAP to see if they can just put you in eng I. I regret not talking to someone before the school year started and it made my life a lot more difficult. Hope it works out!

Originally Posted by Silver

I'm pretty sure you can still apply on ouac. I added engineering last year around this time too and got an acceptance very soon. Add engineering to your ouac application thing now if you can.

Also, try this. I had a friend who applied to Mac eng in April and got in. 86% isn't bad so it should not be too late to give it a shot.

Originally Posted by lordnerd

Hello! I was in the exact same position as you last year and you can in fact transfer to eng II from life sci I provided you have the correct courses. I would phone someone at the university ASAP to see if they can just put you in eng I. I regret not talking to someone before the school year started and it made my life a lot more difficult. Hope it works out!

Thanks for the advice everyone!

lordnerd, can you tell me what you did / what ended up happening exactly? Did you enter eng I at the beginning of the school year (if so, how?) or did you transfer right into eng II ? What are these "correct courses" that I would need?

I just went on OUAC and applied to mac eng co-op, so im hoping for the best! I don't think they've sent out all acceptances yet, have they?

1. You need all these courses to apply to a second year stream: http://registrar.mcmaster.ca /CALEN...13/pg1197.html
2. Talk to Sally; yes, you should be able to do so as a prospective student. Keep in mind that if you send her an email, you're competing with many first years for her attention because they're eagerly awaiting a few marks and their acceptance into level 2. She has office hours during the summer I believe, if you happen to be in Hamilton.

Here's what I'd do. Ignore the fact that you are in life sci. Pretend you are in general(but can take the following courses). No one forces you to register for your required courses so don't. Take:

Chem 1A03
Matls 1M03
Math 1A03, 1AA3, 1B03
Comp Sci 1MD3
Phys 1B03, 1BB3
2 electives from the approved engineering electives list(you can't just take anything)
*double check with Sally Williams if these courses can in fact be considered equivalent.

then just take 1C03 and 1P03 the following summer once Sally sees that you are a boss and can handle university. Or you won't do very well and probably drop out or have to play catch up on your life sci degree (which shouldn't require an extra year anyways).

Originally Posted by EngHopeful

Thanks for the advice everyone!

lordnerd, can you tell me what you did / what ended up happening exactly? Did you enter eng I at the beginning of the school year (if so, how?) or did you transfer right into eng II ? What are these "correct courses" that I would need?

I just went on OUAC and applied to mac eng co-op, so im hoping for the best! I don't think they've sent out all acceptances yet, have they?

I remember my friend applied at the end of April (in our year, the deadline to amend your OUAC applications was Apr 28), and she found out she got accepted 8 days later. I'm not sure if it's too late this year? But even if that route doesn't work out, I know some people who have switched programs during Welcome Week, before classes started--if you have the marks, and there is space in the program, they will let you.

If that doesn't work, take all the required courses for engineering that you are allowed to take while being registered in life sciences, however, this is a risk in terms of getting in to the second-year program you want. Chances are, you'll get "last choice", meaning once everyone else has been assigned a stream, you'll get what's left.

My question is, why do you want to rush through university? Your time here can be absolutely amazing if you want it to be. You're in high school and you're already planning the quickest route to the finish line.

You won't get there in less than 5 years as it stands. But you can overlap some engineering with life sci and integrate some of your socializing with the people who will matter most in your future: Your engineering student peers.

Originally Posted by EngHopeful

Thanks for the advice everyone!

lordnerd, can you tell me what you did / what ended up happening exactly? Did you enter eng I at the beginning of the school year (if so, how?) or did you transfer right into eng II ? What are these "correct courses" that I would need?

I just went on OUAC and applied to mac eng co-op, so im hoping for the best! I don't think they've sent out all acceptances yet, have they?

I don't know if I have been "approved" for transfer yet. I put eng I as my first choice program for transfer next year because I had a really bad year and just want to start fresh. I had to write a letter to Maria White, the dean of engineering, explaining why I want to transfer. I am waiting for a reply.

It looks like someone else already went over the courses you need.

EDIT: If you want to kill two birds with one stone in regards to the approved elective courses for engineering, both psych 1X03 and psych 1XX3 count as approved electives and are good to have if you are in life sci.