Eshan Sankar
About Me: Hi! My name is Eshan, an EngSci 2T7 who will be entering my second year in September. As of now, the EngSci majors in which I am interested include Robotics and Electrical & Computer Engineering (ECE). I am from Calgary, Alberta, and have lived in Calgary and the Greater Toronto Area for my entire life. In my spare time, I enjoy exercising, playing video games, and scrolling through LinkedIn.
Why I Chose EngSci: I’ve loved technology all my life, so during high school, I knew that I wanted to study something related to ECE or mechatronics in university. However, I also had other interests and overall, I was passionate to learn about many new things. Therefore, I selected EngSci so that I could major in Robotics or ECE and specialize in the concepts to a great extent, while still having an opportunity to explore many new fields of science through a holistic learning experience. I also appreciated the option to consider other innovative majors such as Aerospace and Machine Intelligence!
My EngSci Experience: Personally, I went through first year with a growth-oriented mindset, intending to learn what I was capable of; I tried my hardest in all my classes while ensuring that I prioritized learning outcomes and devoted time for other endeavours. Outside of school, I worked on embedded systems for the University of Toronto Robotics Team (UTRA), which allowed me to further expand my practical skills. Overall, my best advice is to give a worthy effort in everything you do; having the right mindset is the most important factor towards success!
EngSci classes have an appropriate breadth and depth that really make you feel like you’re learning more valuable topics, without being overwhelming. For example, in Praxis I and II we are given free rein to identify our own stakeholders and engineering opportunities, which was initially challenging, but made for a very enjoyable experience since we were working on projects that were meaningful to our group.
Finally, EngScis have a great sense of community; not only does the cohort system allow us to more strongly connect with our peers and make friends, but overall, EngScis are friendly, while still being extremely talented and motivated people.
That’s all from me! If you ever need academic or professional advice, or just want to chat about something random, feel free to reach out!
Farzin
About Me: Hello 2T8s! My name is Farzin, and I am an EngSci 2T6 – I have just completed my 2nd year of EngSci and will be starting in the Aerospace Engineering Major this fall. Outside of academics, I enjoy playing classical guitar, consuming too much media, and designing solar cars.
Why I Chose EngSci: The Aerospace Major! I have always been fascinated by all things related to Space. So, when I decided to move to Canada a few years back, I knew I wanted to study Aerospace Engineering at U of T. After moving here though, I ended up taking a few gap years and working in the tech industry. And even though this job took me in a completely different direction, I learned a ton of new things about problem-solving, providing technical support, coding, and had the opportunity to work with some amazing people. I also realized that there are other areas beside Aerospace that interests me. And since EngSci gives you the opportunity to explore all the different engineering disciplines in the first two years, it was the perfect fit.
My EngSci Experience: Course-content wise, I found that a lot of the first-year courses, such as ESC180, PHY180, and ESC103 are taught from the ground up and/or start with a review of the relevant high school courses. This really helped me since I was coming back to school after taking a break.
During my first year, the toughest part was figuring out study strategies for each course and managing my time better. So, I decided to focus just on academics and not get involved in extracurriculars right away. This gave me a chance to check out all the design teams and clubs from a distance and hear from people about their experiences. And then over the summer after first year, I started working with the Aerodynamics team at Blue Sky Solar Racing.
During first year, I really enjoyed ESC190 and MSE160. But my favourite courses in EngSci so far have been the 2nd year courses – AER210 Vector Calculus & Fluid Mechanics and ECE253 Digital and Computer Systems. AER210 is divided into two parts. In the vector calculus section, all the calculus you learn in first year is expanded into higher dimensions and you get to work with spherical and cylindrical coordinate systems. This means that some of those long integrals from first year can now be solved in just a couple of lines! In the fluid mechanics section, you take a more mathematical approach to understanding how fluid behaves. And if you’re lucky, you might even get to design your own theoretical wind tunnel in one of the problem sets!
Overall, being in EngSci gave me the opportunity to explore such a wide variety of subjects that I wouldn’t have encountered in any one Core 8 program. And even though it can be challenging at times, everyone here is always up for a challenge and to lend a helping hand. The sense of community in EngSci can help you get through even the most stressful weeks.
That’s all from me for now. But if you ever want to talk about courses, extracurriculars, career, your favourite shows, or just life in general, you know where to find me!