What Students Say
Likes
- Strong co-op program that University of Waterloo has and the level of companies that offer co-ops in this institution.
- I love the co-op program and the student resources. They are actually very very much updated and want to help the students both academically and outside of the academics. I also love the fact that the campus is very well structured and the transit system runs through the campus.
Dislikes
- I sometimes dislike that it is very fast paced and that although, there are resources available but because of so many resources available, it is very difficult to find what you want at first and on time but that can be solved if you do your own research. Another thing is that it is pretty academically heavy.
Required Exams for Admission
I loved my experience at Waterloo. It is an amazing facility. I would highly recommend the Velocity programs and Concept seminars. These are UW's own incubators and pre-incubators. The innovation ecosystem at Waterloo is world-class and the support available is insane. Compared to the universities, I have not seen such an ecosystem elsewhere. It is truly inspirational to be a part of UW.
Course Curriculum
I personally like it. The course syllabus is pretty vast and the co-op program gives industrial exposure with co-op. However, I do feel it is a bit disorganized to some extent as some of the course have coding languages and in my experience, I had courses with one coding language and then in my last year, they introduced another coding language in one of the econometrics courses which is unfair as this is happening in my last semester. Otherwise, I would say the professors are very knowledgeable and credible mostly and the academic advisors for students are very helpful and an important resource.
Faculty
The faculty is well-trained and knowledgeable. However, not all professors are the same. Waterloo itself is not known for its economics faculty. It has a strong faculty but not a much as engineering or science. Professor Geoffrey Malleck is definitely an amazing guy. Professor Vince De Ruzza is another one that's amazing. He is in HR and has a very no-nonsense teaching style. The one thing I would mention I absolutely love is the student services they have. They have academic advisors that help you every step of the way plan your degree in order to ensure you do your courses on time. Moreover, there are career advisors that help you navigate job hunts, mock interviews, resume critiques, career planning etc. and there is also immigration advisors that help you with study permit extensions, PGWP, work permit extensions etc. But of course, you have to yourself ask for these and book appointments for yourself but it is so worth it.
Campus Life
There are a lot go clubs available for international students as well and diversity is celebrated. They have swimming classes, salsa clubs, movie watcher clubs, economics society, other faculty societies as well for participation. You can volunteer as part of them and the more you participate, you can become part of their executive teams as well. There are always some or the other event going on and you usually get emails about them too. There are. two libraries; one is more science-focused and one is more arts focused. Both are amazing structures and offer online access to top databases in the world. There are two gyms on campus and they are huge with everything and anything you can think of. They fees is included in the fees itself so there is no extra fee to access them.
Placement
In University of Waterloo, there are actually a lot of opportunities. From what I know, more than average if compared to other universities. Waterloo invests a lot of many into their career program and co-op research and they have an amazing career centre so the opportunities and support is very very nice. Top 5 banks in Canada, Tesla, Toyota, KPMG etc. offer jobs here.
Accommodation
In my first year, I lived as on residence. I had a single room in a shared setting (my room had a door and was separate from my roommate and was through her room) After that, I have lived with my friends in apartments. There are all kinds of apartments and houses even available near the university because Waterloo is mostly a student city. I have lived in 3 bedrooms with my friends with rent ranging from $750-$800/person/month and utilities like hydro is usually extra. it depends on your building and hydro provider but usually in my case, it ranged from $20-$40/person/ month. Usually, you get apartments on a yearly lease but some places offer 8-month leases and some places also offer sublets for 4 months at a time but that depends on availability. Sublets can be cheaper in the summer but after covid, it is all the same.
Exams
IELTS 8.5 (2018) Not anymore, just these were there requirements for my program CV/SOP/LOR (3)/AIF (required by the university; it's an essay) For my program there were no interviews. I got a conditional offer for my program and the condition were based on marks for Maths and English for my ISC Board.
Fees
$2700-3200/ course and to graduate you have to do 40 courses (32 major, 8 minor or elective) you can choose to do more if you opt for a double-degree or double majors or an extra minor.
Scholarship
Yes, I received $5000 for the President's scholarship based on merit of my ICSE 10th marks and ISC marks condition met.
