Waterloo University

[cool dude]

hi i'm thinking of applying to waterloo next year but i dunno if i can afford living there and all the expenses involved. i heard about co-op programs there that help u pay for all your expenses. so i was just wondering how co-op works at waterloo university. here's some questions

1)do u have to compete or its just applying?

2)do u apply or the university puts u in a place?

3)can it be in ontario or most likely it will be in another province or country. i.e. martin in japan

4)does co-op take place during one year of study or how does it work?

5)do u have to have co-op

6)is it easy to get a job with co-op

7)is residence and living at waterloo expensive?

8)do u make friends easy at waterloo or r they all asians who make friends with only asians (nothing racist just a question)

9)does it have a software engineering program and wat is the minimum average to get in?

***answer any questions u can or want please***

[md]

First, just a note: "u" != "you". Please for the love of god use real words, and maybe some capitalization.

cool dude wrote:

1)do u have to compete or its just applying?

From this I gather that you are asking if you can apply directly to coop of it you need to compete to get in. You can apply directly; or if you apply to the regular stream you can apply for coop after your first year. Getting into coop through anything other then applying directly is rather difficult though.

cool dude wrote:

2)do u apply or the university puts u in a place?

See #1. I think.

cool dude wrote:

3)can it be in ontario or most likely it will be in another province or country. i.e. martin in japan

Jobs are all over the place. Some in Ontario, some in other provinces, even some in other countries. You get to choose which ones you apply to though, so if you don't want to work outside of Ontario then you don't have to apply for jobs that aren't in Ontario.

cool dude wrote:

4)does co-op take place during one year of study or how does it work?

Coop is part of your regular yearly schedual. Depending on what stream you're in the first year is different but it ends up becoming one semester on campus, followed by a semester working, followed by a semester on campus, etc.

cool dude wrote:

5)do u have to have co-op

You can apply to most if not all coop programs as a regular student.

cool dude wrote:

6)is it easy to get a job with co-op

Depends. If you have good marks, are enthusiastic and interview well then you should have no problem. If you have bad marks, and suck at interviews then you'll probably have problems. It's just like applying fora job in the real world.

cool dude wrote:

7)is residence and living at waterloo expensive?

Residence can be more expensive then living off campus. However that being said first year you want to meet people and there is no better place to do that then residence. Living expenses for both living in residence and living off campus are about what you would expect to find in any university town.

cool dude wrote:

8)do u make friends easy at waterloo or r they all asians who make friends with only asians (nothing racist just a question)

Depends on the people really. Do you make friends easily where you are now? If so then you'll make friends easy at UW; if not hten you might have a hard time meeting new people. If you open youself up to meeting new people and doing new things then you'll almost certainly meet new friends easily here.

cool dude wrote:

9)does it have a software engineering program and wat is the minimum average to get in?

Yes, and you'd have to check the UW website. I'd assume it's pretty high though.

[cool dude]

thanks cornflake i should have checked the website it had a lot of information!!!

u = "you" --- ya i'm just lazy. i'm not that terrible at english (lol). just wondering if i have all 90+ marks and i just get terrible at english will Waterloo look at that so heavily?

[Martin]

cool dude wrote:

3)can it be in ontario or most likely it will be in another province or country. i.e. martin in japan

My job in Japan was very lucky. Most jobs are in Ontario, then some more in other provinces, then a few in the US and even fewer over seas. Most people go through the system without ever leaving Ontario, let alone Canada.

cool dude wrote:

4)does co-op take place during one year of study or how does it work?

Depending on your stream, it'll look something like this:
4 months school, 4 months work, 4 months school, etc. You don't get summers off.

cool dude wrote:

5)do u have to have co-op

To get a co-op degree, yes. To get a normal degree, no. Waterloo offers both (the academic side of both is the same).

cool dude wrote:

6)is it easy to get a job with co-op

It's easy to get a job, but whether you get a good job depends on how ambitious you are. Marks don't really matter for getting jobs unless your average is really low (under 65) or really high (over 95).

cool dude wrote:

7)is residence and living at waterloo expensive?

Yes. Residence is a huge ripoff. It's something nuts like $600/month and not tax deductable. You meet lots of people though.

cool dude wrote:

8)do u make friends easy at waterloo or r they all asians who make friends with only asians (nothing racist just a question)

Yes. Every single person who goes to waterloo is a xenophobic Asian...

[Andy]

most of my firends are brown... the asians are too fob here. if you come to waterloo, definitely do co op, other wise, you're wasting your time. If u manage your money wisely, osap + co op is enough to get you through university without any problems

[Dan]

As a LUSU director i have to try to promot my uni :

Think about other unis, Lakehead is a gr8 uni and we have one of the best student unions. We have gr8 residences witch are not 10 sotrys high and have a much greater censes of comunity. Also we do not have the chisrtion cursade for chirst runing around on there cursades.

Bacilky no matter where u go in ontaro for your undergrand it will be the same so why not go to a uni the has a gr8 comunity as well as educatal value? We are working on the wifi hostants =p


Now as a compsci student i have to say this:

Don't be a softy (software engerner), be a real man an stopy playing in the midde of enering and comps. Become a CompSci magor and aucatly do somthing usefull =p.

Note: please don't get made at me u of w is fine in all if u are in to that sort of thing i am just trying to give peoleop choices. And thos "gr8"s are for u cornflake.

[Martin]

Also, at Lakehead you do NOT have to worry about all of those pesky wireless hotspots that dot every other Canadian university's campus. Have you ever found yourself hopelessly stressed out by the tough choice of whether to use a wired or wireless connection? Lakehead is the place to be - no wireless internet on campus!

[md]

Don't forget the bears... LU has the advantage that when you get shockingly drunk and go out streaking you never know if you'll make it back with all your buddies...

[Dan]

Keeps the out door rec popualtion down

[Andy]

http://cgi.ebay.com/authentic-engineer-engineering-engineers-IRON-RING_W0QQitemZ5079228767QQcategoryZ67728QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

this is the reason you should go to udub

[Dan]

Do software engeriners even get the ring? I know some places do not consider them real enginers.

[bugzpodder]

1)do u have to compete or its just applying?
limited enrollment

2)do u apply or the university puts u in a place?
apply

3)can it be in ontario or most likely it will be in another province or country. i.e. martin in japan
mostly in ontario

4)does co-op take place during one year of study or how does it work?
study, work, study, work, etc 4-stream.
8-stream starts with 2 study terms

5)do u have to have co-op
no

6)is it easy to get a job with co-op
depends on what kind of jobs. Google jobs are probably hardest to come by. Data entry jobs are probably the ones that nobody wants

7)is residence and living at waterloo expensive?
4k per term

8)do u make friends easy at waterloo or r they all asians who make friends with only asians (nothing racist just a question)
most chinese hang out with only chinese

9)does it have a software engineering program and wat is the minimum average to get in?
yes, 85%

[Andy]

yeah dan they do

[cool dude]

Hacker Dan wrote:

Do software engeriners even get the ring? I know some places do not consider them real enginers.

wat do u mean the ring?

oh and can u explain actual things such as projects and work u do in compsci and engineering because i like both so thats why i'm thinking of software engineering but if u say compsci is better can u tell me a bit about the prog. also wat do u mean by gr8 at lakeside?

@ bugzpodder: u say residence and tuition and books cost altogether 4k?

[Andy]

no he meant tuition it self costs 4k.. rez you have to add on top, and food, and books, and other misc fees.

umm i'd advise you to not go into software engineering, it's alot of documentation and project planning... and half of the people there cant program, im serious.