FAQ

Each department has a dedicated undergraduate coordinator and/or advisor. All contact info for the respective departments can be found in the appendix at the end of this document.

Your departmental advisor will help you with things like course scheduling and registration issues concerning respective departmental courses (i.e. you are a Chemical Engineering student and you are having difficulty registering for one of your Chemical Engineering courses). Your departmental advisor will also need to give approval or process certain requests (i.e. you wish to join the Honours stream in your program, or you need special permission to register in a department’s course).

A MESC or Faculty advisor can also assist you with course scheduling, but it is always recommended that you speak to your departmental advisor/coordinator first. A Faculty advisor can assist you with many different questions, such as exchanges, transfer credit, minors, academic performance, planning your degree, etc.

You can reach a MESC advisor in-person at our office (FDA 22) or via email at advisor.engineering [at] mcgill.ca

It is recommended that students add a minor only after they have completed their first year of study. A minor can be added by filling out the online form for processing.  It is also advised that students meet with the respective minor advisor to discuss their course selection. Minor advisors and course requirements for all minors offered at McGill can be found in the e-calendar (simply search for any minor under the ‘programs’ tab).

Typically, adding a minor to your program will add at least one or two semesters to your degree completion time. You can discuss course scheduling and degree planning with a minor option with one of our MESC faculty advisors anytime throughout your program.

Class sizes vary depending on the course. For example, if you are taking freshmen courses such as Math, Physics, or Chemistry, you can expect very large class sizes (anywhere from 200-600 students). In terms of your Engineering courses, you can expect larger class sizes at the beginning of your program, with decreasing sizes as you progress. For example, your 200 level courses and some of your 300 level courses may have anywhere from 100-200 students, whereas most of your 300 and 400 level courses will reduce in size (60-90 students typically). Technical complementary courses, which are taken in the final years of your degree, can have even lower numbers, depending on the course (30-50 students on average).

Please refer to your departmental curriculum for the courses you will need to register for, which can be found here. If you are expecting to receive transfer credits, please ensure that you review the transfer credit website for full instructions and guidelines. Please ensure that you check your McGill email frequently, as this is how our unit will contact you with all relevant communication regarding your registration and other academic issues, including transfer credits.

Please visit the 'When to register' website.

It depends on the class in which you are trying to register. Generally speaking, classes will fill up quickly, so it is normal to have this issue. Registration will fluctuate quite a lot throughout the summer and the add/drop period, so it is important that you monitor the class enrolment on Minerva (McGill’s student platform for registration and other academic content). Please note that our office cannot help you with non-engineering course registration (i.e. you are trying to register for an Arts or Science or Management course); in this case, you would have to contact the respective department/faculty offering the course. However, if the course is a required freshmen course (i.e. Math 133, Chem 121, etc.) and you are still unable to register by August, you should contact our office for assistance.

If you are trying to register for an Engineering course and you encounter issues, you should contact the department offering the course. For example, if you are trying to register for a MECH course and are unable to do so, please contact the MECH department – a full list of departmental contacts can be found under Departmental Contact Information.

What kind of computer should I have to be able to complete coursework in Engineering? For most courses, a Windows 10 computer with an Intel i5 8th generation CPU with 8GB RAM and 256GB of storage (ideally SSD) would suffice, however, we recommend a minimum i7 CPU with 16GB RAM and at least 512GB storage. This should provide enough computing power for most courses and software packages. Check with your department to see if additional computing needs are required for specific programs.

Some students are unsure of their chosen Engineering major or have been accepted into a major that they do not intend to stay in (i.e. accepted to Civil but hope to transfer to Bioengineering). Transferring within Engineering is possible, however, it is very competitive and not guaranteed (space is very limited in our programs). Full eligibility requirements and CGPA cut-offs from previous years can be found can be found here. Note: The School of Architecture has a separate screening and application process, please contact mary.lanni [at] mcgill.ca for more info.

• Transfer credits
• Key Academic Dates
• Admission Questions
• Departmental Advisors
• Sample Curriculums
• Minors

Architecture Mary Lanni-Campoli Macdonald-Harrington Building, Room 202 Email: mary.lanni [at] mcgill.ca Tel: 514-398-6702	Chemical Engineering Corina Sferdenschi McGill Engineering Student Centre (MESC) Frank Dawson Adams Bldg. Room 22 Email: ugrad.chemeng [at] mcgill.ca
Civil Engineering Anna Dinolfo Macdonald Engineering Building, Room 492 Email: ugrad.civil [at] mcgill.ca Tel: 514-398-6345	Mechanical Engineering Tina Panaritis Macdonald Engineering Building, Room 270 Email: ugrad.mecheng [at] mcgill.ca Tel: 514-398-6296
Materials Engineering Diti Anastasopoulos Wong Building, Room 2140 Email: coordinator.minmat [at] mcgill.ca Tel: 514-398-1040	Electrical, Computer, Software Engineering Ashley Flesch and Connie Rossi Trottier Building, Room 2060 undergrad.ece [at] mcgill.ca Tel: 514-398-1077
Mining Engineering Marina Rosati Frank Dawson Adams Bldg., Room 125 Email: coordinator.minmat [at] mcgill.ca Tel: 514-398-2215	Bioengineering Aimee Jabour and Nicholas Milette Macdonald Engineering Building, Room 350 Email: studentaffairs.bioeng [at] mcgill.ca Tel: 514-398-7254

Contact newstudentadvising.engineering [at] mcgill.ca