I just finished first year civil engineering at UofT, and I've been contemplating transferring to ECE, but I just can't make up my mind. My average was 78 both semesters, and my highest marks were maths and programming. They're also my favorite subjects. My lowest marks were CHE in the first semester and MIN in the second semester... So I've been thinking that maybe civil is not the best choice for me since I suck at chemistry and don't really like MIN (it's mostly about rocks and mapping).

Some people say that if you are good at maths and programming you'll be fine in ECE. They also say that there's little to no chemistry in some branches of ECE. Is it true? I know that it's a lot harder and I'll have to put in more work, but I'm not afraid of the course load, I'm just afraid that I might not like the material. I didn't really like the electromagnetism units in high school physics.

I'm also afraid that if I transfer to ECE, I'll be behind from everyone since us civils didn't take the same courses as ECEs. We didn't have Dynamics or ECE, and the maths and programming courses that we took were easier. Please help me decide, the deadline to apply is tomorrow!

Don't worry about Dynamics too much, it's pretty useless, but ECE would've been pretty useful. You won't be too far behind anyways as first year is pretty basic stuff.

ECE doesn't have much (if any) chem until about 3rd or 4th year and most of the stuff you'd be doing is like electron physics and such to see the effects of electrons in electric or magnetic fields and in wires and circuits and such.

I would've said DEFINITELY transfer but seeing as how you didn't like electromagnetism in high school that could be iffy because electromagnetism is the underlying principle on which ECE is based off of, so you really gotta know it! Although it could've been that your teacher wasn't interesting or something.

Also don't care about what your marks were and base your decision off of that, look at the subject matter and what interests you the most.

I'd say look quickly at potential careers you could be doing in ECE and see if you'd be interested in that (Telecommunications, Chip design, Software design, Computer Architecture, Lasers, Radio Frequency communication, wireless communication, networking, etc). Also be prepared to move around (most likely to California or the west coast) after you graduate as in Toronto it's very hard to come by good high paying jobs for ECE's.

Good luck in your decision

Oh also have a look at the courses you'll be taking in 2nd year and the course descriptions (in the calendar) to see if it interests you at all! If it does, then yes go for the switch

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-University of Toronto Electrical Engineering 1T0!

I talked to the registrar's office and they told me that I won't have to take any extra courses in order to transfer. I am surprised too but that's what the lady kept telling me...