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University of Ottawa, Master of Engineering in Electrical and Computer Engineering
Reviewed on Jan 22, 2025(Enrolled 2022)What Students Say
Likes
- University of Ottawa is one of the highest research output universities in Canada.
- The learning is mostly practical instead of theoretical in form if assignments real life projects, including group and individual work.
- The university takes efforts to engage various programs like career fairs, networking events, hackathon etc.
Dislikes
- The university dining does not necessarily offer food that relishes your palette (especially Indian)
- Getting TA positions can be tough sometimes since there are no Scholarship options for non research based programs.
- The learning is mostly self directed and not necessarily guided by the professors as personal attention.
Course Curriculum
8
- The courses are competitive and demanding considering the self learning involved in the delivery. It was mostly 80% practical that involved projects and research and 20% theoretical.
- Positive is, you can get a TA position in Computer related courses as well as electronics and electrical courses. Negatives being the selection of coop is very random. It literally has no basis of selection whereas in CS, mostly everyone gets a Coop.
Admission Experience
- Applied – Accepted/ Rejected from.
- University of Ottawa, Concordia University, Lakehead University, Carleton university- Admitted
- McGill, McMaster, Queens University- Rejected
- University of Alberta- Waitlisted.
- University of Ottawa- received confirmation of admission.
- French is very important and an added asset for McGill. I did not have any research background which was also an essential factor. Plus to get an admission in these universities, the CGPA must be higher than 9.
- According to the rankings, it was a prestige to get admission in University of Ottawa. At that point ranking was my only criteria.
- Filling out a form stating your intention to be a Ottawa student, Statement of purpose from 3 professors of your undergraduate or work, Letter of Intent, transcript of undergraduate were the documents required. After filling these they update the status to either accept or rejection. You have 10 days to accept the offer. You pay the fees and apply for visa.
- The admission process is very self explanatory and smooth. You can always reach out to the university on email for assistance if required.
- Application Submission: December 2021
- Admission Offer: April 2022
- Program Start Date: September 2022
- The process took approximately 4-5 months from the time I submitted my application in December to the admission offer in April. This allowed me enough time to carefully consider the offer, arrange my travel plans, and finalize preparations for the upcoming academic year.
Class Schedule
8
- The max I have done is 2 classes in a day and 4 times a week depending on number of courses.
- Average number differs from course to course enrollment. May vary from 20-35 students in a class.
- 40 percent of the class population is Indian.
Faculty
8
- The faculty ratio is 15:1 max. The quality is much better in terms of infrastructure and facilities. Although the learning is mostly self taught, the professors act as a pushing force to help you with projects.
- Learning and securing good grades is far from fetching a job. These two are very different things. Securing a job requires lot of networking and skills that are not necessarily taught in the coursework.
- That happens but extremely rarely.
- Prof Masoud taught us full stack cloud development and was one of the best proffers ever. He was very engaging and helpful in the learning process.
Campus Life
10
- The campus has 3 locations
- Main campus which includes Telfer
- 200 Lees Campus
- Ottawa health campus
- The campus has medical facilities only for students and it is covered for free by Uhip although it takes a long time to get an appointment. The campus also has small food joints and cafes. There are 2 gyms at the main campus, swimming, basketball, football court, ice hockey area etc.
- Panda fest is a very popular sports activity at Inter University. The university also has clubs that organise Indian festivals like Holi, Diwali and there are major celebrations like Halloween parties.
- The university has a student council for graduate students named PDI and they organise various networking events and cultural activities.
Part Time Jobs
- 20% of students of the total receive TA and RA positions as they are highly competitive to get.
- Pay range is 50 CAD an hour for graduate students and 30 CAD for Under graduate students for a contract of 130 hours each semester.
- Other camps jobs may include cafes, library, food joints with minimum wage being 17 CAD an hour.
- Max hours are currently 20 hours a week
- It is fairly difficult to find even a part time job
- 17 CAD an hour being the minimum wage.
- The average could be around 20 CAD per hour.
- It can be fairly difficult to find a part time job but if you are consistent in applying on platforms like LinkedIn and hand over the resumes in person at malls, it could be easier to fetch one.
- LinkedIn can be used to find openings for any relevant positions and you can go in person and apply or you can even apply online. Once you get short listed for an interview, you can be confident and fetch a part time job
Placement
4
- Only 20% of students or even less find a full time job within 6 months. It is extremely challenging and stressful. Consistently applying, networking and having the right skillset is very essential.
- Starting salary on an average could be around 80k a year.
- Internships leading to full time job opportunities are subjected to vacancy and availability. Networking events, career fairs and LinkedIn could be really helpful in such cases.
- My friends have been placed in companies like NVIDIA, Amazon, IBM, Deloitte etc as software developers, Consultants and Business Analysts.
- Companies like RBC, BMO, Deloitte etc, Amazon hire graduates but with an experience of 3 plus years minimum.
Accommodation
Off Campus
10
- Finding accommodation is a big task here. I found it through a WhatsApp group and Facebook marketplace.
- My current monthly rent is 930 plus utilities which are another 50 dollars for a private space which is one stop away from the university.
- Not knowing anyone while finding accommodation from India was very challenging. Considering the scams going on, trusting someone was very difficult. I found it through my friends who came before me.
- Finding accommodation off campus through friends and seniors is highly recommended. The university accommodation is very expensive.
- My accommodation is just one stop away from the university station. Mostly Indian students stay in areas like- Smyth station, lycee claudel, Lees etc.
Exams
- Required admission exams include but not limited to
- IELTS, TOFEL, PET.
- GMAT for MBA (sometimes) GRE(only for some universities which is 5%).
- IELTS with no band less than 6 is the requirement but it is better to score more for getting accepted.
- Admission documents include:-
- SOP, LOR (from either profs from under grad or manager at work), transcripts.
- Interviews are mostly held for Phd or Masters thesis based students and not the course based programs. The interviews might discuss the papers you have previously published or a quick review paper to be written by you of the professor you are are interviewing with.
Fees
- The tuition fees are based on the number of credits. In my course, it was mandatory to complete 30 credits. Every course is 3 credits and costs around 4000 dollars so 30 credits are 40000 CAD.
- I did not opt for university accommodation but I stayed in a shared space nearby which was 500 CAD a month. A private space or room may go upto 900-1000 CAD a month
- Credit based which you pay before each semester starts upto 1000 dollars a month
Scholarship
- I did not receive a scholarship as mentioned earlier since it was a course based masters but I had a TA position which pays 50 Cad an hour to masters students for 130 hour contract as a full TA.
- They also payed scholarship just for TAs which included fees rebate of 200 dollars
- 200 CAD a semester
- The thesis based students are offered RA and TA positions whereas course based ones are offered TA positions that act as scholarships.
- I don’t know anyone who received a scholarship. Except the scholarship for TAs
