Environment and Urban Sustainability at Ryerson University

Kevin (Year 3)

What did you wish you knew before going to your university? What made you choose this institution over all others? What are advantages and disadvantages of your institution or campus? List any advice for incoming first-year students about your university. 

I wish I knew more about the physical area around the campus and more about how Ryersons online system works. I chose this institution because of the unique majors it had and how some, such as the one I chose, match what I wanted to study down to finer details. The advantages of Ryerson for me is the experience of downtown and learning more of independence. A disadvantage would be that since it is in the city the campus buildings are either very close together or very far apart, making classes hard to find despite being in the school for over a year.

What did you wish you knew before choosing your specific program? What are the advantages and disadvantages of your program?  List any advice for incoming first-year students about your program of study.

As a person who changed their major, I wish I did more research into the courses within my major. For the major I left, I had many courses that should have needed prerequisites for courses such as math which I did not take in grade 12. When choosing my current major I made sure to do much more research and made a plan for all the years of study within this new major. The advantage of my program was that many courses could be transferred to my next major but the disadvantage was that some were exclusive only to my last major.

What was your favourite university experience? 

My best experience in university would be when I was eating alone at late hours in the library. Although it may not seem exciting it gave me a sense of independence and freedom that I do not see much of at home.

What was your least favourite university experience?

My worst experience in university would be that math class I took in first semester. The course was Thursday and Friday and 8am, with a 1.5hr commute. I had to wake up so early and the professor taught so fast that I could barely  retain anything I learned in that class.

What is the hardest part about your program and what were the steps that you took to overcome any difficulties?

The hardest part about my program would be choosing the right electives as there are lists I have to choose from for half my courses. My program gives us certain humanity and social science courses within these lists and they are enough to make or get very close to a minor, so it was basically a choice of which minor do I want. I decided on a geography minor, but there were about 3 other minors I could have chosen. Once you start one it will take a lot of time and money to switch to another.

If you were able to take electives, what was your favourite elective? If you were not able to take electives, what was your favourite course and why?

My favourite course was an environment elective EUS750 sustainable transportation. The professor and classmates were very nice, the workload was not tough but taught me a lot of relevant information about the current world that stuck with me. It was a great experience overall and I got a good mark as well.

Additional Comments

Don't stress yourself too much about university. Just try to get assignments done as early as possible (or at least 2days before) and the workload will seem so much lighter.

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