If you want to focus only on academics, engineering is a bad place to start. Mechatronics is a co-op program. Always has been. You've always had to do at least

If you want to focus only on academics, engineering is a bad place to start. Mechatronics is a co-op program. Always has been. You've always had to do at least 5 work terms in the 6 available slots. Sounds like your friend picked a wrong faculty. Odd, since co-op and jobs and real-world-work features in engineering marketing so prominently.