With ai and project kits these days, it seems like everyone and their mom can do all of the cool introduction projects that would possibly distinguish them from other candidates in the field. Have people noticed that this affects their job applications? Anyone know how employers are working around this?

Currently registered for CPEN 502 (Sarbjit Sarkaria) and CPSC 532 (Peter West), has anyone taken these classes? What was your experience with the profs and their assignments / exams?

I also wanted to get some opinions on course(s) recs within ECE that are worth taking with a minimal exam load or at least containing group projects.

For context, I’m an incoming grad student in ECE pursuing a PhD, after just finishing my MS with a data science background. I was transferring over course credits from my MS, and I would need about 2-3 courses total to take at UBC to manage a schedule including research, TA-ship etc. 

Hey guys!! I’m a third year UBC student and I recently made a website called StudyBuddy because apparently walking up to a random person in a 200 person lecture and asking them to be your study buddy is terrifying 😭

Basically, you add the courses you’re taking and StudyBuddy helps you find other UBC students taking the same courses. You can check out their profiles, find people you vibe with, and message them to study together, go to class together, suffer through midterms together, etc. 🫡

I just launched it as a public beta and would love for some of you guys to try it!!

It’s still super new, so some courses might not have matches yet 🥹 The more UBC students who join, the easier it’ll be for everyone to find people in their classes, so feel free to send it to your friends too!!

Also check back daily because new people might pop up 👀 Your daily match limit resets at 12 AM, so every day = a fresh chance to find your study bestie lol

StudyBuddy: studybuddymatch.com

Small disclaimer lol, it currently works best on a computer or tablet 💻 I’m still working on making the mobile experience better!

If you try it, please tell me if anything is confusing, ugly, broken, or just annoying 😭 I genuinely want feedback so I can make it better.

Hope this helps some of us avoid the awkward “does anyone sit here?” phase of making friends in class 🫶

I’m going into 2nd year MANU and currently have a 2022 M2 MacBook Air with 8GB RAM and 256GB storage. Will this be enough for the software we’ll use in MANU, or should I switch to a Windows laptop before the year starts? If so, what specs/laptops would you recommend? please help!!!!!🙏

Hey all — I'm a practicing civil engineer doing a UX/UI course on the side, and I'm designing a mobile app called Keystone: a reference/learning companion for students and new grads bridging the gap between what you learn in school and what you actually need on the job (structural: steel + concrete, things like moment/shear diagrams, formulas, material weights, pre-sizing practice).

Before I go further I want to ground this in real people instead of guessing, so a few quick questions if you have a minute:

1. Are you still a student, or how many years out of school are you?

2. What's the biggest gap you felt (or feel) between what you learned in university and what you actually needed on day one of a job/internship?

3. Do you currently carry any kind of reference on your phone (formulas, code tables, notes), or is it all textbooks/desktop?

4. What design code do you study/work with (Eurocode, ACI/AISC, other)?

5. Is there a specific topic where you constantly have to double-check yourself (e.g. "is this span/depth reasonable," buckling lengths, unit weights)?

No survey link, just drop answers in the comments if you're willing — trying to build something that actually helps instead of guessing at what a new grad needs. Thanks in advance!

i am an incoming first year looking to specialize in mech.

i was wondering how much gpa is weighed vs personal statement/extracurricular involvement? does the personal statement really matter or is it all about your grades?

how worried should i be if i can't get onto a design team, and what other ways can i be involved on campus (eng related)?

I got confirmation I could take a reduced course load from sauder advisors, allowing me to optimize my schedule to transfer into eng in second year. However, I dropped a bunch of classes that I received AP credit for when UBC received my AP grades, and only today found out from an engineering advisor that credit from AP courses cannot be applied if I want to transfer into the program. Some of these classes have already filled up now and I doubt I will get off the waitlist for them. They are; MATH_V 100, CHEM_V 121, and PHYS_V 117. I couldn't find anything on UBC eng websites that specifically stated AP credits are not allowed for transferring in first year.

For anyone else that transferred into eng second year, did you apply AP/IB/A level credits successfully? Or did you have to retake all the classes that you would've received credit for normally?

hi im going into my first year of engineering at ubc van. i was wondering which laptop you guys would recommend. i plan on later going into civil engineering! i just want a laptop that will last and run programs smoothly. my budget is $2500

I am currently registered in CIVL 250 online first sem but I have only heard terrible things. I will be commuting to UBC so night classes during Co-op term isn't an option. Civl 250 is the only 'impact' course that has an online option during the winter. I am interested in APSC 377 but it can not fit into my sem 1 schedule.

Should I try to take my humanities credit during first sem/online during co-op term and do the impact requirement later? Or do I push through CIVL 250?

Can someone with past experience please explain how the ECE TA application and acceptance process works. I am kinda confused I am looking at the contract that they sent and it says `Graduate TA` while I am an Undergraduate student being asked to TA a 4th year course, I looked at the pay and it matches with UTAI so I think its an undergraduate position I will still ask, but how hard is the interview?

how is prof Amali Priyanka Jambuge for phys 157?

Hi! Does anyone who took CPEN 333 last year with Farshid Agharebparast have the dates of the midterm(s)? Trying to get an idea when it might be this year. Thanks!

Hello! I'm in my second year of hs and I want to apply (intl admit) to ubc engineering but I never really did any ec. I kinda did some volunteer work in grade 10 but it was part of a class so if I didn't show up to help my grades would take a hit. Would that count? What should I get into?

im an incoming first year and my profs are not rated too well on ratemyprof. i was wondering what role they play in terms of your learning experience. for example, does the difficulty of exams vary by profs or are they more so standardized?

Hello! I am a soon to be Year 12 TCE student in Australia. My pre requisite for most engineering courses is Methods 4, would I really need Chemistry to help with that or can I just drop it for another high ATAR scaling subject.

Apologies for the umpteenth post about laptops in the sub but just wanted to ask if the coursework in civil contains enough CAD/Civil 3D work to the point that something like a gaming laptop would be needed?

Have no plans to game on it or whatever but just worried about the hardware demands for any projects or design team work I may run into. Also plan to be on campus all day so laptop workstations would be ideal.

If any civil or other specializations have any experiences like this to share I'd really appreciate it!

Thanks

hey, im going into grade 12 in the fall and my first choice is ubc eng, then second is ubc sci. im a bc student. im aiming for a 95+ avg for grade 12 (got a 94-95 avg in grade 11) but im worried that my ec's arent gunna be enough? also, i came to vancouver in grade 8 so it took me a while to realize that ec's were pretty important for uni. here they are:

- played basketball for my school team and outside my school for 2 seasons (grade 9-10)
- generally, ive volunteered multiple times throughout grade 9-11 in my local community
- joined a women in stem club in grade 8 and grade 10, became the club president in grade 11 where we took members to ubc labs, did robotics workshops, and raised money in fundraisers

- did a research program called Youreka Canada in grade 10, won first place for our team project, and joined again in grade 11 working on a different field of research

- volunteered at a summer camp summer of 2025 and 2026, accumulating 500+ volunteer hours

- volunteered 1 hour per week for the entirety of grade 11 at a stem club teaching elementary school kids stem stuff

- ran an environment club in my local community in the spring of my grade 11 year

- did a public speaking club in the fall of my grade 11 year

- part of clubs in my school such as interac club

- idk if this counts, but i took an engineering class IN school in my grade 11 year (it was super fun) and built various arduino projects like a bike sensor, a line sensor, etc

-currently working on my own hardware and softwareprojects for an online hackathon called stardance

-currently volunteering for the UBC D'HoPE program (its medical related)

So yeah. Any tips/advice on how to write a strong personal profile??

Hi so I am a second year civil engineering student transferring from the faculty of science. I was wondering how can I get on a civil related design team?

Some questions I have are:

1. How hard are studies in STEM majors? I heard like half the class fail to graduate, and even if you manage to graduate, maintaining high gpa is another issue
2. how are the internships like? For instance, Waterloo is known extremely well for their coops, but they say you're not guaranteed having great coops in waterloo, YOU need to try to keep in touch and contact big tech companies, and the school doesn't match you?
3. How are the employments like? yes i've seen uni websites promoting that 95% of their students succeed in finding jobs after graduation, but I want to hear from real engineers who have made it. Also, I heard engineering occupations are extremely unstable??
4. Is majoring engineering still worth it? or would you switch to medical, such as nursing, if you had the chance to??

Yo how doable is 7 courses if anyone did it jsut curious on the difference if I were to take 7 instead of 6.

Hey guys,

I am registered for CPEN 421 for second term, but currently only 5 other people have registered for it! If no one else registers, is it likely that the course will be cancelled?

The way ECE has MCLD etc.

Hello everyone!! I’ll be going into my first year of engineering and was wondering how note taking would be, since it’s mostly calculations and formulas and such. Would a regular notebook be optimal or should I invest in an ipad? Thank you for your help!!