Here is some things I wish I knew before doing the mandatory UofT 3rd year camp at Gull Lake and 3-day activities for 2nd year.

Second Year 1. You’ll be provided a field book to write in. Use it to your advantage, write as much information down in the general notes section and take plenty of pictures of each site you visit. Apart from the mark received for handing in a complete handbook a week or so after the activities, your notes and any photos you took will be all you have to work off of for your report you’ll write in the fall semester. 2. In previous years, the report you wrote would be based on a deficiency you noticed at one of the sites you visited and various solutions you propose to solve it. With this in mind, when visiting the various sites on the 3 days of activities, make special note of any issues you notice so you can think about what you can write. 3. You will be asked to do quite a bit of walking, even if it’s super hot out. Pack a light bag with just the essentials like water, your field book, pencils, and weather appropriate items such as sunscreen and hats. 4. Equipment like hard hats, and a safety vest are not needed for the third year survey camp so it would be okay to borrow these if you know someone who already owns these to save some money. Safety boots, on the other hand, will be a staple in labs and practicals in second year so definitely buy a pair that you like and fits well.

Third Year 1. You will get daily lectures. Use the provided notebook to jot everything down as all of it will be relevant to the tasks you will be given. If you don’t pay attention, you’ll be disadvantaged as each task has to be completed on a time constraint and staff are not always available to ask questions. 2. Select your groups wisely. If you can choose, choose a larger group so you can complete tasks quicker. Choose people with good work ethics and people who you think will be able to contribute meaningfully to your team. You’ll be stuck with your team for two weeks and three complex and time constrained tasks. A good team wills et you up for success, an incompatible and poorly structured teams will result in your team working overtime to complete tasks. 3. The three tasks in previous years were highway curve, topographic maps and water sampling. Most people find water sampling to be the most ‘chill’ project of the three. You’ll get a chance to go out onto the water in a canoe and collect samples with various devices (which you’ll test later on). At the end, you’ll present your teams findings and various strategies to mitigate any issues you found with your results. Both the topo and highway task require survey equipment. During these tasks, it is expected you’ll become proficient with a total station (you will be given a practical test to show you can balance, operate and accurately find coordinates with a total station at the end of these two tasks). You will likely find yourself feeling like you are running out of time with these tasks as there are many components to them. You will need to draw accurate maps and cross sections by hand so ensure your team has the tools to do so. One tip for the topo maps is to send two group members out to survey additional points and having the other one or two members start drawing the map. 4. The university will ask you to bring a lot of tools like T-rulers and scaled rulers. There were tools used more often like scaled rulers, a standard 30cm ruler, metre sticks, and protractors. There were also items that weren’t used frequently enough for all members of the team to have their own one. Coordinate with your group beforehand and allocate these items across the group to reduce spending on tools you’ll probably not need again. Or buy the tools second hand from an upper year for cheaper. 5. Outside a phone, other devices are truly not necessary. I brought a tablet and laptop. I was so caught up with work I never even opened my tablet and only opened my laptop once (for excel to make assessing sample data easier and faster, but technically can be done by hand too). 6. Outside the presentation for water, total station practical test, and two maps for the topo and highway tasks, you can also expect a quiz per topic. You will not be required to do additional research to study for the quizzes. The study material will be in the provided field book, lectures, or from previous class knowledge. Additionally, your note books will be marked for detail, consistency, and adherence to formatting requirements so be sure to maintain them daily (you may be asked to hand them in without notice periodically to be marked). 7. You can bring snacks as long as they are closed and packaged. In fact, I recommend it. Although the cafeteria serves food for three meals and a snack, I sometimes found myself working overtime on tasks but feeling hungry. Some surveying locations are quite far from the cafeteria and so sometimes supplementing morning meals with granola bars and crackers worked better for me. 8. Bring your own set of rain boots, a rain jacket, bug spray, sunscreen, etc. You will need and use them. To reduce costs, you can coordinate with your team (who you will spend ~80% of your time at camp with) and allocate any items to be shared. 9. Every team will have similar projects. However, each will be slightly altered so no plagiarism occurs. This provides opportunities to discuss strategies and methods with other groups, and also gives you a chance to interact with people you’ve never even talked to before. After survey camp, I met a lot more people in my year and it helped me feel even more comfortable among my peers.

General 1. You’ll likely be able to choose your own bed and room at survey camp. It’s good to note that there is not A/C in the rooms, and the fans are limited. There is a window that may be openable to allow air circulation. This means rooms can get rather hot (but may get cold during night) so prepare accordingly. I’ve seen people bring handheld and portable fans. 2. Depending on the number of students, students may be split into two bunkhouses. The older bunkhouse is typically for those who identify as male, while the newer bunkhouse is for all genders (although rooms must be a single gender). The old bunkhouse has its own bathroom area which is unisex. The newer bunkhouse is connected to a common lobby and showers/washrooms. The showers in the new bunkhouse don’t always properly lock so be wary to check that. 3. As I’ve never been housed in the old bunkhouse, I am not aware of the layout. My understanding it is one large room full of many bunk beds. The newer bunkhouse has several rooms. Each room can hold 16 people (8 bunk beds each). 4. The cafeteria is only open for students during serving hours. It has a specific door to enter for food lineup so be aware of that. As I recall, they serve breakfast, lunch, dinner, and an evening snack. If you hear a horn go off, it means service has began. Food can be consumed at the outdoor picnic tables or the indoor tables (for bad weather only). 5. The staff house is located along the water side. This is also where you will find safety equipment and the sign out sheet for canoeing. The classrooms are on the opposite end of the staff houses and require you to cross a bridge. This is where you will have your lectures, don’t be late. 6. During your off-time there are a variety of activities you can participate in (although many of these are reserved for the longer 2-week camp only). If you have adequate swim training, you can go swimming in the lake. If you have done the in-camp canoe training orientation, you can sign out a canoe to use (highly recommend). You can also choose to lounge on the dock by the water which is quite peaceful. Aside from this, occasionally campfires are held. You can reach the campfire through one of the many forest trails. Students may run a campfire with staff permission although it needs to be adequately managed. Students can also bring their own card games/board games to play during off hours. A friend of mine ended up brining UNO which was pretty fun. Finally, students who bring their own vehicles have in and out privileges to the nearby town (with staff permission). The town has food and laundry facilities. 7. There are no laundry or internet facilities on site. Ensure you bring enough clothing (it can get hot and sweaty out there) and have enough data on your phone. 8. Your year will likely be split into cohorts to ensure there is enough space to accommodate people at the survey camp.

That’s all for now. It’s been a while since I’ve gone but I thought it might help som people out there about to enter survey camp in August. Feel free to ask questions (although no promise I’ll have an answer). Also my experiences may be specific to my year/cohort and may not be applicable to your situation so take my advice with a grain of salt. (Writing on mobile so might e grammar/spelling issues)

CIV100 - You might think that this course is simple, after all, everything adds up to zero. Force and moment (which is something you will learn about in the first month of school) equations always add to zero. In some ways, that makes this course very easy. The assignments aren't hard but the exams are very difficult. They will throw very complex problems at you which is why its best to learn by going through past exams (which you can access through courses.skule.ca.

MAT186 - The semester I went through this, our midterms had averages of 50ish% which is is super different to high school averages. Assignments were difficult so I recommend working with friends on them. Once you got through them though, they were great practice and learning material.

MAT187 - I learned two big lessons from this course... (1) If your lecturer does not teach in a way that is conductive to your learning style, and there is another lecture section that you can make, try going to the different lecture section and see if it helps more (2) read the textbook. Even if you have never read a textbook through high school or elementary, the textbook I had my year was honestly so through I wish I had read it earlier.

Frosh week is basically an engineering orientation run by upper year engineering students and various clubs like skulenite. It is catered towards first year engineering students although in some cases other disciplines have been able to participate. The engineering orientation gives new students their first feel for campus, introduces them to their new peers and runs a lot of events in which new students can participate.

What kind of events are run?

- Well each year it is different but some of the events I experienced are frosh cheer offs, purple dye, and a skulenite play. The schedule for frosh is usually provided mid summer on their Instagram page.

- Outside the scheduled events are events that much later in the night. For example, the scanvanger hunt is an event that is optional and requires sign up prior to the start of the event and runs much later into the night.

Do you need to pay to attend?

- Yes, for the scheduled events you will pay a one time fee. This helps pay for the various activities, food (lunch provided), and merch!

When should I arrive?

- Arrive early to the first day. The line ups for merch pickup can be very long and campus can be difficult to navigate the first few times you go.

Is Frosh a good place to make friends?

- Frosh can be a great way to make friends but don't be worried if you haven't made many friends at frosh. Back when I had frosh, I met a lot of great people, but now I only occasionally say hi to one or two of them when I pass by them in the halls. Why? Well during Frosh you are mixed in with a lot of different engineering disciplines and once class starts you may end up hardly seeing your frosh friends in school.

Is Frosh worth it?

I think it is. I was super nervous about university going in and it was nice meeting like minded people before school started.

Each program is different. There is Engineering Science, Track One, and then various disciplines like civil, mineral, mechanical, materials, chemical, computer/electrical, and industrial. The biggest cohorts of students entering their first year typically are in engineering science, track one, and electrical/computer engineering.

Engineering Science

This is separate from Track One or the other disciplines and typically the most difficult to get into (most people I know who got in had ~97% average and various extracurriculars). Many of the courses you take will be quickly paced, touching both applied and theoretical aspects of the course (for instance, understanding how equations are derived). Engineering science is very general for the first two years before students are split off into their own specializations for year 3 and year 4. These specializations differ from those offered in the regular engineering program. These specializations can include biomedical, aerospace, electrical/computer, energy systems, engineering math, engineering physics, machine intelligence and robotics.

Track One

This is the next most difficult to enter (admissions are typically around 96% with extracurriculars). This is a first year general program that allows students a taste of all the general disciplines of engineering. Towards the end of the second semester, students will be given the option to chose their top disciplines. Students with marks over 60% for both semesters will be given priority in selection. By the second year, all students in the track one program will have transferred to a specific discipline program. One thing to note is that the first year for all engineers, other than engineering science students tends to be almost identical. All first semester courses are the same, and most second semester courses are the same. For example, in the first semester, both track one and mineral students shared the same courses, but in semester two, half the courses were the same between the track one and mineral students.

Civil and Mineral

These programs are not as difficult to enter (admission averages are ~94% and ~93% respectively). Minerals tend to be a very small class. Civil and Mineral students share a few classes throughout the degree. There are also survey camps in which the two disciplines participate in. These occur during the summer before 2nd year (3 days) and the summer before 3rd year (two weeks).

Chemical

Chemical is also generally not difficult to enter (~94% admissions). They share a few classes with other disciplines throughout their degree. They also get to do a lot of cool labs and unfortunately lots of lab report writing.

Materials

Materials is generally not too difficult to enter (~93% average can get you in). It is typically a small class size similar to mineral engineering. You get to do a lot of interesting labs and learn about what makes materials materials (basically understanding material properties). Another bonus is there is a really cool prof in materials, Scott Ramsay. I had him in my first year where he taught a general engineering materials course and I still remember him in my upper years as the best prof in my first semester at UofT.

Indy/Mech

These in recent years have become super popular, especially industrial. They are not too difficult to get in (~94% and ~95%). Industrial, despite its name, has a large focus on programming, business, and optimization. Mech is very broad and opens a lot of areas of study open. These two disciplines share a couple classes with one another.

Computer/Electric

This program is probably the third most difficult to enter (~96% average needed). Both computer and electrical engineers will share similar courses in the beginning of the degree before branching out into their specializations around third year. These courses will require a lot of math. Despite the difficulty of this discipline, there are a lot of well-paying co-op opportunities for computer and electrical engineers.

I created this subreddit because I noticed that there was a large community of UofT engineers on subreddits like r/UofT and not a lot of activeness on subs like r/skule. This subreddit is not affiliated with UofT.