What Students Say
Likes
- Professors are real good, they have real world knowledge like some of them are part time, they work in MNC's, some are from University of Waterloo.
- Access to wide range of tools, systems through the university.
- All the facilities, like gym, swimming, pool, student union floor, cafeteria, sports, etc.
Dislikes
- Paid Parking for students as well.
- There are a few foreign professors, who don't really speak or understand english that well, and it creates a communication gap with them.
- Housing is very expensive if you go through the university.
Course Curriculum
8
- My Course was a mix of both, and the difficulty level of some of the subjects was very high but on the other hand, some of the subjects were very simple compared to my bachelor's in India.
- Some courses were way to easy and felt like a waste of money like a subject Entrepreneurship, but some of them were worth the money like Parallel Computing, Practical Algorithm Design, etc.
- The schedule i picked, there were never more than 2 classes a day, each of about 1hr15min, mostly in the afternoon and twice a week.
- Average students were around 30.
- In my course all were Indians on the orientation day, except for 5-10 people who were Chinese, African and Turkish.
Admission Experience
-
I applied to only 4 universities in total—
- Wilfrid Laurier University - Got Admitted
- Concordia - Accepted
- University of Windsor - Accepted
- University of Waterloo - Rejected
- I received rejection from UW because of two reasons that i can think of, the first being my background was in IT and I was applying for a master's in Computer and Electrical Engineering, and secondly, one of my 3 professors didn't reply on time to the referral mail from the UW.
- There were a few factors like,
- Concordia University is in Quebec and they were mandating the French Language. And the University of Windsor was costly in tuition and at the same time in the expense of rent and other things. My family lived in Brampton, so i took admission in Wilfrid Laurier University and drove to the university twice a week. Also, the bus service is nice from Brampton to Wilfrid Laurier University
- The admission process was quite simple; my IDP agent applied on my behalf, and she asked me for the required documents and told me to pay the required fees.
- Eligibility criteria for IELTS at my time were a minimum 6.5 band in speaking and writing and an overall score ofmore than 7 band.
- The only challenge I faced was depositing the initial 2500 CAD admission fee, like figuring out how to deposit the money to the university account, because at that time they were not accepting wire transfers, so i had to go through the bank and pay extra to get that money deposited.
- I applied for Winter Intake, I was mostly influenced by the factor like my current job, I had completed a year in my job and i would get same points for PR if i leave my job in second year, or else i would have to complete 3 years to get more points for PR,
- I applied in the month of May 2023, was accepted in July, deposited the 2500 CAD in August and the remaining fees by September, got my VISA approved in the SDS Category in November and left for Canada on 23rd December.
Faculty
8
- Faculty to student ratio is nice; each professor doesn't handle more than 30 students at a time, which helps maintain the quality of education.
- Some of the professors have a very good approach to teaching, like they helped us publish research papers but some of them were just having fun.
- Yes, a few professors do help, but the places fill up fast, and then they offer volunteer work which may or may not be of your choice/field.
- Professor Powel, who is a faculty member at UW, has extensive market knowledge; he knows his stuff.
- Professor Dariush Ibrahim is a brilliant professor; he guided us to write a research paper, which will be presented in August this year at a conference in Belgium.
Campus Life
10
- I am aware of 2 campuses, Waterloo and Stanford. I studied at the Waterloo Campus.
- It has Library, Gym, Swimming pool, Medical Clinic, Pharmacy, Cafeteria, Students Union Floor.
- Major festival is St. Peter's Day; it's a huge parade in Waterloo.
- There are trips for Camping, Niagara Falls, and Canada's Wonderland, and there are also many hiking trails nearby the university.
Part Time Jobs
- 4-5 students usually secure Teaching Assistant (TA), Research Assistant (RA), or Departmental Assistant (DA) positions.
- Average around CAD 25-30/hr
- In the university cafeteria and on-campus restaurant, the pay is minimum wage (CAD 17/hr).
- It's difficult to secure a job in the same university; there is some regulation due to which they don't hire in the same university, they can but it is rare. You can apply to a different university.
- Minimum Wage around 17-19/hr. Earlier it was easy; now it is difficult to secure a part-time job as there is a lot more competition, but there is still hope—some people got the job and some didn't. Students apply for jobs in person, but mainly it is advised to apply online; from what i have heard, most people got their jobs by applying online.
Placement
6
- Full time job market is a bit hazy right now, but on average 60-70% of students find a job within 6 months after graduating. Average salary is 60-80K CAD/ Yearly which we can expect nowadays.
- Mostly students find jobs by applying only via LinkedIn and Indeed.
- No one from my batch has found a job yet. Can't say who would hire specifically from my course.
Accommodation
Off Campus
8
- Off-Campus, I lived with my family in Brampton, which was about a 100km away from the university. I bought a secondhandcar, and I drove it twice a week to the university.
- As per my observation, the monthly rent was 700-900 CAD/monthly, some included utilities and some did not.
- Challenges people faced were mostly with getting job to pay rent, or with lease agreements or landlords.
- Check the place and landlord thoroughly, also try to negotiate the best you can and don't for On-campus accommodation, and be aware of the frauds going on Facebook Marketplace.
- I lived 100kms away 100 kmhe university and Indians stay majorly in Kitchener and Brampton
Exams
- I only gave IELTS, but you can also give TOEFL, CELPIP I gave my Statement Of Purpose, Resume, References from both my employer and university professors, bachelor's degree, and also the transcript and class 10th and 12th certificates.
Fees
- You have to pay 9 - 11k CAD in fees each semester, and you need to pay about 26k CAD in advance before coming to Canada, this will all be adjusted in the fees. (This is like you pay for 3 semesters in advance.)
- The total fees for 4 semesters are 35-40k CAD. And this includes your health card, you ID card (which is also the bus pass, only around the KWC region), and most of the university-related expenses.
- Monthly expense for a single person -
- Rent - 450-500 (shared room) / 900-1000 (private room) monthly
- Utility - 50-60 / month
- Grocery - 240-280 / month
- Travel - free in KWC region
- Miscellaneous - 100-150 / month
- Total - about 1000 CAD
Scholarship
- There is only 1 or 2 scholarships for international students; that is all I know about scholarships. I didn't receive any nor any of my friends. But most of them are for Canadians or Indigenous people.
