University of Waterloo

I recently had to visit the University of Waterloo. I was with my manager to interview prospective co-​op students for the next intern period at my company.
I haven’t stepped foot on this campus since I was in my last year of high school, trying to figure out where I wanted to do my undergraduate studies.
It was my first time visiting the William M. Tatham Centre for Co-​operative Education & Career Action. We parked in lot H and hiked a moderate slope up to the building.
The employer reception area was easy to find. We were greeted promptly. We took the elevator to the third floor, as I had my rolling computer bag.
We used offices that are normally occupied by administrative staff. They were tiny, but served our purpose well when we had to interview a total of six students.
There is a button on the wall. You press it and the co-​op scheduled at that time comes by. It was a nice touch! We all need a button like that everywhere we go.
There is a café on the first floor. I didn’t have to use it, but it’s nice to know that it’s there. There are two water fountains by the elevator on each floor. We could also use the staff lunch room if we wanted to.
Wifi is available for employers and students. Great!
At the end of our day, we checked out. There were buttons in a bowl. I asked the woman whether I could take one. Not only could I take one, she led me to her stash of colourful U of W pins and hand sanitizer! I thanked her.
I felt like a prospective student again, except with more work and life experience. It was nice to be reacquainted with the university.

Great school! My #1 choice through out high school and no regrets for many reasons.
Co-​op program is the reason you go for this school. You can acquire the ultimate internships because many top ranked companies consider UW a place of great talent and a place to grab super smart people. Co-​op is a super big focus at UW and they have many resources and people dedicated to running this program. It’s the biggest co-​op program in the world.
The people you meet here are amazing. It’s a very diverse group of people and as long as you come in knowing some people it will be super easy to meet other people. And I’ve met people who’ve I’ve become great friends with and still stay friends with awesome people from my high school who’ve come here.
In terms of education, school is hard but being hard can be seen as a positive because it makes you collaborate and communicate more effectively with your peers. It also lets you take something away because you’re receiving a world class education from really smart and caring profs and TAs. You can also put on your resume how hard Waterloo was and people will be impressed (probably).
The only things that are bad about the school is it’s an ugly campus, it’s in Waterloo, and there are not many females within the math and engineering departments. The school is aware of this and it’s a general diversity problem in the tech industry. Also there are way too many geese.
Also Bomber Wednesdays are bomb.

Ahhh my alma mater…
There’s a lot of good with UW, you’re getting one of the best engineering/​math post secondary education in Canada, couple with the coop program, and at a fairly low tuition, you’re almost guaranteed a job upon graduation, this is assuming that you are enrolled in a prestigious program at UW.
The bad is the administration, the student body governing entity: Feds, as well as the campus itself. The administration work almost as much for the employers who come recruiting at the school. The Feds don’t work for the interest of the students, and the campus is one of the most ugly campuses I’ve ever seen.
Of course, the coop program is the one big advantage of Waterloo, so I’d give them a bit of a pass on the cons.
Overall, not bad, would consider sending my kid (if I had one) here.

Computer Engineering class of 2013 here. University of Waterloo was a life changer for me. Here is why.
The Good:
University of Waterloo is not just another university that stands in middle of a city. It offers several top programs in Canada, including Engineering and Computer Science.
On top of that, you will be surrounded by very smart students and professors. I believe the environment that one is in is very important. In high school I was a kid who doesn’t like to study, who doesn’t like to think. After 5 years, the environment had made me into a kid who likes to think and who likes to learn new things. Without being surrounded by smart people, perhaps I am still that same kid from high school now.
The professors are amazing, most of the professors are always there for you, wanting you to succeed.
Co-​op program was a life changing experience for me. University’s number of partnerships with employers in North America is huge. Co-​op programs will let you learn life-​time skills in job hunting.
If you are a person who wants to become smarter, just go to University of Waterloo. With smart people surrounding in you, you will become smarter.
The Bad:
One bad thing though is that their facility for engineering is old. Lab computers in for my program was slow. Computer Science is better though because they have Mac computers in labs.

It’s hard to argue against this university, unless you’re talking about the architecture of some of the buildings (MC = YUCK!).
80% of the profs are great. Their office hours are widely accessible, many stay behind after lectures for any questions, most are simply not just slide readers, and many profs incorporate real-​life concepts into their lectures.
Sure the social life isn’t the best, but that’s why you attend Bomber Wednesdays, join clubs, make friends in classes, etc.
I’m currently in my last year in UWaterloo, and overall I have been satisfied with what this university offered me, and hopefully it would be a stepping stone towards the future for me.

Ha, I guess I should review the school I go to. So, been at Waterloo for 4 yrs. It’s a pretty awesome place overall.
People here are all really smart it’s crazy. Life’s hard during interview season though. If you’re in the co-​op program, you get to do assignments, interviews, and midterms all at once for about a week. but interviews last about 3 – 4 weeks so that’s generally the most stressful time period in a term.
Overall though, I must say, I feel like I’ve been thoroughly educated. Oh right, I’m in Software Engineering, cool program. Co-​op jobs are generally pretty awesome. Profs aren’t amazing all the time, but they’re decent

Definitely agree that the social life here is what you make it. I graduated in 2006 and highly recommend that students take advantage of the school’s various summer programs. By doing a full course load in the summers, I was able to graduate from a four-​year honours program in just three. Not that everyone can do this, of course, but it would help to get your most-​dreaded course out of the way in the summer.

I truly love this campus. It’s beautiful here… of course it’s Fall. Everyone has been so nice. Even though I don’t see a lot of folks that look like me, I don’t get the sense that people are conscious about race. People are people here. The students seem like normal students but a bit more conservative like (get this…) they are actually focused on school! I would send my son or daughter here. The staff is really helpful to the students — you can tell they want the students to succeed. There are great opportunities to learn in a variety of environments. GLOW is a campus student group that helps to create a thriving gay community here, it’s all about love. I love my Cal Bears but I could be a Waterloo Warrior any day!

I wanted to rate the University lower, but could not bring myself to do it after reading the other reviews. Future-​wise, UW brings an amazing amount of opportunities that I do not think any other Canadian school can offer. Being a new grad from ECE, I can say it will take you all you got to get through school unless you are a super genius!
There are a lot of endearing things about the school. The RCH dungeons and ²⁴⁄₇ Dana Porter library. TC airport and maybe the DC dating centre (although its changed now). And of course the people, the school is big enough, you will meet people you will know for life. You should also know even after you graduate, there are UW grads everywhere so you will never really lose base good or bad.

Maybe I’m being slightly nostalgic at the moment. I convocated from UW last Wednesday and I just have to say a few things about it.
Stereotypically — people always claimed that Waterloo is a boring school and people have no life.
I disagree. Th 5 years at Waterloo were amazing for me. I was enrolled in the AHS/​Health Studies Co-​operative program. Seriously — co-​op has done wonders — it allows you to experience the «real world» in bits and pieces and allows for you to realize what you want to get into.
Professors in my program were amazing, and very friendly. I got to know a few of them very well in my last year at Waterloo.
Not only that, social life is great there! Go to Bomber Wednesdays — everyone is there and it’s a great way to see your friends from other faculties and to have a great night to dance the night away.
So if you’re Loo and you’re complaining that you’re bored, I’m just supposing that you’re just sitting at your residence/​off-​campus housing doing absolutely nothing. Get involved and get to know the city as well — it’s actually a breath of fresh air.

The social scene here is what you make of it.
The professors were ok, and the hard programs were quite hard. The only thing I could do without is the self righteous attitude of some of the professors and students.
When I look back, do I regret not studying? Heck no! I enjoyed myself 5 days a week, and passed my program. I studied enough to get by.
I wasn’t in the top 10%, but after you graduate if you have experience, no one looks at your marks anymore.
I guess one benefit I had was co-​op, which gives you 2 years of experience upon graduation, employer referrals (references) from past employers, and money to pay for your school. I think being in a co-​op program was the best thing about my program

Reputation wise, it’s really good. There’s a lot of building around. A lot of buildings say RIM on them. The education was pretty good. The hard majors are really hard and they really milk the Optometry school for all that it has. And rightly so. Anyway, good school. Okay professors. Good people.