One might expect first year engineering to be easier than fourth year because of misconceptions like coursework difficulty as you progress along your degree. However, when you consider the facts, it’s evident that first year is harder.
One of the most notable things about first year engineering is how packed the engineering schedule is. It’s literally just a block of text when I open it in Quest. We usually have at least five classes a day and barely any break between them (what is up with the 40 minute lunch breaks?). This leaves us with much less time to do things outside of class. There’s so many cool things happening at the various clubs and around campus in general. It somehow always seems to conflict with my schedule. For example, my friends and I went to go see the poster fair and the International food fair for all of 15 minutes before we had to rush back to eat lunch and make it to class on time.
And it’s not just the recreational activities either. There have been FOUR career fairs that happened during the day… as in when our classes were actively going on. Did I still make it? Yes, of course I did. Was I salty about having to skip classes to be there? Also yes. In contrast, the fourth years only have a couple of lectures a day, meaning they can attend these events without having to make up for the content they had to miss.
What makes our busy schedule worse is that these are all classes we didn’t choose. Unlike the fourth years who get the luxury of choosing electives and working on classes they actually enjoy, we didn’t get to choose our schedule or our classes. Don’t get me wrong, most of our classes are great. However, there are some that I wish I could’ve tested out of and others that I wouldn’t have chosen to take if it were up to me. Sitting through a three hour lecture is much more bearable if you enjoy what you’re learning.
Speaking of getting to choose classes, it was brought to my attention that fourth years don’t have any midterms or finals. While some electives may have tests, upper years generally don’t choose the classes with tests so they don’t have exams in their final year. Could you imagine not having the stress of tests? No Hell Week?? While I appreciate that we don’t have classes during midterm week (my condolences to the other programs that do), the back-to-back midterms can be a bit much. There’s not much time for review between tests. Classes may get harder in upper years, but at least you don’t have exams anymore.
“But what about Capstone?” You mean the project that you get to choose? The one you work on with a group of like-minded people that you also get to choose? I know I’ve already talked about upper years getting more choices, but I feel the need to mention this again. The Capstone project is a really cool way to apply what you’ve learned throughout your degree. It’s exciting to be able to actually make something and work on a project that you’re passionate about. I understand that you can work on personal projects anytime through the course of your degree. But having dedicated time to work on it and getting to display it at a showcase is a different experience altogether. (Quick sidenote: anyone reading this should definitely attend the Capstone showcases!)
Moving on to one of the most important differences, co-op search is so much more brutal for first-years than it is for upper years. There have been so many cool jobs on WaterlooWorks that I couldn’t apply to because they only wanted students in second-year and above. Upper years are often also more employable because they’ve had previous work experience and more relevant coursework by that point. Basically, we have to put in more effort for the co-op search than upper years do. Understandably, the upper years get paid more as well. Although the job market is pretty bad in general right now, it’s probably worse for us than it is for a third or fourth year.
Overall, fourth year is easier than first year because you get to work on things that you’re passionate about. You have time to work on your hobbies and personal projects, unlike the first years who have to fit extra-curriculars around their busy schedules. While it may be daunting for the fourth years to focus on things like finding a full-time job after graduating or their capstone projects, they’ve been through almost five years of Waterloo Engineering and at least five co-op terms. I’m confident that they have the skills to land a job and do amazingly on their capstones. To the fourth years reading this, I hope you enjoy the rest of your final year. And, to my fellow first years, I would like to point out that we only have 4 more terms with exams. 🙂
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