McGill, Concordia or Polytechnique?

<p>Hi I'm a c</p>

<p>Well, a number of my uncles and cousins went to Polytechnique and got jobs without problem (one even turned down an offer from RIM, I think he could have been vice-president back before they were big; has no regrets now as his current job has him travel all over the globe in business class all the time). I also have a friend who went to Concordia and has plenty of work, now. My one friend who did engineering at McGill went on to graduate school in applied math… In fact, my friends who went to UQAC in engineering had no problems getting jobs either.</p>

<p>All this to say that, engineering is one of the field where finding job is not a problem, no matter what school you go to, as long as you get through your degree and know how to present yourself to people. So, reputation aside, what kind of environment do you want to be in? Francophone: go to Polytechnique (though the bureaucracy at UdeM and its affiliates would make McGill blush). Students focussed on their studies (doesn’t mean they don’t know how to party): McGill. Students from different socio-economic background, ages, perhaps more focussed on job and life outside school: Concordia. Also, have you considered ETS? I hear they do very well too. Their “hands-on” approach is supposedly more creative than the more theoretical approach of places like Poly.</p>

<p>What kind of engineering?</p>

<p>Don’t be oversold on the co-op - what matters is that you get work experience. You can do the same thing at McGill with internships - they do have a (very good) engineering career center that will help you (MECC).</p>

<p>Polytechnique has an excellent reputation academically and now requires at least 1 co-op term (stage) before you can graduate with your B.Eng. </p>

<p>I work in a pretty large Quebec-based engineering firm (though I have a B.Sc. not a B.Eng) and most of my engineer coworkers are (more or less in order) from ETS, Sherbrooke, Polytechnique, Laval, Concordia and a few from McGill.</p>

<p>$50-60k is the normal starting salary for an engineering graduate here. It picks up fairly fast in the first few years.</p>

<p>My personal experience with Concordia vs. McGill is that Concordia’s classes are overall easier, much larger, and the students (on average) are weaker. No breath taking news there, and there are exceptions - this is just the overall trend I noticed.</p>

<p>I’d recommend Poly or McGill but make <em>sure</em> you are busy every summer. Either work in industry (best option) or do research internships with your profs (also useful for grad school, not as much for industry employment).</p>