Why am I in Mississauga...(done with first year UW ECE)?

A year ago, I couldn't imagine what it would be like to be living and studying at the University of Waterloo and where I would be for coop. Time wasn't slowing down.I learned a bunch of stuff about Electrical and Computer Engineering. I had some weird but awesome adventures around Waterloo with some new peeps. And holy crap, here I am... in Mississauga for coop? I thought I'll get to go back to Vancouver for coop but I had 0 interviews/offers from my home city... I guess plans are meant to be changed and altered. 

So some of you out there are wondering, what is it like to be studying ECE (Electrical and Computer Engineering) at uWaterloo? Here's some pro tips that will probably make your life easier if you are starting first year this September:

1. Get your sleep. Don't sleep in class.

Even though I'm being a big hypocrite, Go to sleep and get at least 7-8 hours of sleep. You'll be spending 8 hours a day on lectures/labs/tutorials + x hours on studying. If you get enough rest, you can pay attention in class and not fall behind on the course material which can easily pile up. Cramming will create more stress and will take a toll on your grade. And if you are bad at cramming, you'll probably fail. (such optimism =/)

2. Take breaks. Don't kill your brain.

Are you mental? Think you want to study right after 8 hours of class? Do yourself a favour and go take a break. You can go for a jog, lift weights, play LoL, make a good meal for yourself or whatever makes you feel happy for an hour. Start studying after the break+ dinner. You are losing some time studying but you will be more efficient while studying and you won't feel like shit. You could also take a power nap if you are dead tired. They are awesome. :)

3. Don't be stubborn. Ask for help.

At the same time, don't give in after reading number 1 of your homework assignment. If you don't understand something, read the textbook or Google the topic until you have a grasp of the knowledge. Then try to do simpler questions from the textbook. And if you still don't understand the topic/question, go ask a friend/classmate. If that fails, ask a TA or a professor the following day.

4. Make friends with everyone in your class

NETWORKING! You paid money for university because of the social part of learning. If you are just here to learn, get out of here and go watch MIT OpenCourseware all day. Be friends and study with as many different people as possible. 

5. Control your social life

University can get really crazy especially with the radical change in our social lives. Don't party every night or invest your remaining hours of waking time playing LoL, DOTA or SCII. Save the fun stuff for Friday and Saturday. 

Notice that I didn't mention anything about academics? Well, if you got an offer from uWaterloo, it means that you have the ability to handle the courseload and graduate. There's going to be easy courses and hard courses and that will depend on the individual's background. 

Also, for those who are interested in what programming language is used and etc, ECE 150 will be using C# which is pretty much a copy of Java. If you are new to programming, try and learn the essentials of Java asap and jump right into building your own projects as that will help you in the long run (like finding a coop job). In upper year courses (and coop), any new programming languages are expected to be learned in a matter of a couple days or within 1 or 2 weeks. And if you already have some clue on programming, then try to start your own project during the summer. Or just enjoy your summer and chillax before school starts.