University of Waterloo | Engineering Ambassadors (Panel 1 of 3)
Topic: How to choose an engineering program & ambassadors resources
Date: October 7, 2019
Note to reader: Some words and sentences have been slightly edited to improve grammar and coherence.
Q: Please introduce yourselves and tell us a little bit about your background you know in terms of where you attended high school, what motivated you to apply to Waterloo Engineering, and some of your extracurricular activities now that you are studying at Waterloo.
Meggin: Perfect. Hello everyone hopefully you can all hear me okay. As mentioned my name is Meggin and I’m originally from Victoria, BC. I went to Ronald secondary school there so definitely made the big jump across Canada and to Ontario for school at Waterloo. I currently have a part-time job with David’s Tea and I’m also involved in three intramural teams as well as Engineering Ambassadors, so a lot of talking to people but a lot of having fun as well. What motivated me to apply to Waterloo Engineering is the chemical engineering program itself. I kind of had a pretty good idea that that’s what I wanted to do and it wasn’t really offered at my local university so I figured if I’m gonna leave I might as well really leave and go over to Ontario.
Corbin: My name is Corbin. I come from Calgary and I went to a school called Webber Academy there. Here at Waterloo I’m in my third year of software engineering. Probably the biggest extracurricular activity that I’m a part of is a hackathon that happens every year at Waterloo called Hack the North that I help organize. I’ve also been involved with Engineering Ambassadors in the past as well as the Engineering Society, which is like our student council for engineering students, and the Waterloo autonomous car team. Coming out of high school I had a pretty decent idea that I want to go into some kind of programming / computer science program so it became a question of what are the computer science related programs out there and how do they fit into what I am personally interested in. Software engineering was a great fit for that.
Michelle: I’m from a small town called Bolton in the Peel Region. I went to Humber View secondary school there. As for what motivated me to apply to Waterloo engineering, well it was specifically biomedical engineering that I was interested in (it was mainly the medical field). I’ve always been interested in sciences and I developed a love of technology over the years and decided / thought this would be a good intersection between the two to learn more. As for extracurriculars, I take part in different drama clubs. I’m in Engineering Play, hip-hop, a design team called Biomechatronics where we print 3D print prosthetics and try to solve solutions. One of the teams is looking at Parkinson’s disease using vibrations. Also part of environmental clubs and overall try to do as much as I can.
Justin: Hey guys. So my name is Justin and I went to high school in Oakville, Ontario, which is just outside of Toronto. For me personally I’ve been interested in mechanical engineering since I was maybe about 4 or 5 years old and I’ve always really wanted to explore engineering in the real world so Waterloo’s co-op program really gave me that chance to be in the industry. It’s always exciting to see a machine or a product on the street and think maybe I’ve done something to work on that. It’s just really rewarding to be doing such meaningful work in class and on the job. As for extracurriculars at Waterloo, I joined some design teams like Formula Electric and Waterloo Rocketry but my main commitment has been to Engineering Ambassadors, which is our engineering outreach team.
Q: What is engineering and how is it different from other faculties?
Meggin: I’ll just talk on a very broad level here and then I think later in this broadcast we’re gonna go into a bit more detail into specific engineering programs and how they differ. Engineering in general, and from my point of view, is learning how scientists figured out their theories (some we’ve known for hundreds of years some we’ve only known for a couple of years) and then taking those principles and applying them to new inventions, buildings, designs, and essentially using those principles to solve problems. So that’s kind of how it’s a little bit different. Engineering is closely related to faculties like science and math, but really it’s its own beast. You kind of have to learn everything so that you can solve the world’s problems.
Corbin: I think I would just underscore the real-world applications because a lot of the stuff that you learn in engineering is going to be similar on some level to what you learn in science, physics, chemistry, or in the math faculty. Just as far as like algorithms for example in computer science. But in engineering the focus is much more on how do we turn around and make that useful in a real world so it really is more about the application rather than the theory. Because of that, the program here at Waterloo has a more entrepreneurial and applied bent to it for how we go about using the skills that we learn in the classroom.
Michelle: Just to reiterate, it’s about using science to solve problems. We go through an engineering design process so we take ideas starting from researching problems, prototyping into testing, and it’s a lot of application.
Justin: For example if I was just to look at mechanical engineering, a lot of our fluids calculations a lot of our thermodynamics calculations are based in calculus so it wasn’t for all those advances made by mathematicians we wouldn’t be able to get as far as we have today. Same thing for chemistry, they helped us figure out how to break down the crystal structures of a material, for example, which helps us to better design materials and better design products / buildings.
Q: What, in your opinion, distinguishes Waterloo engineering from other engineering programs? What made you ultimately choose Waterloo engineering?
Justin: I’d probably say it’s the co-op aspect. Just having the chance to get six different co-op terms and up to two full years of work experience by the time I graduate is something special. I’ve done three co-op terms so far and I’ve learned so much on every co-op. I value that a lot.
Michelle: It’s mainly co-op as well. Some of the people landed permanent jobs because of the co-op.
Justin: Like I was saying before, Waterloo really cares about the engineering faculty. There’s a lot of support whether it’s from the faculty or from the classmates. In general there’s a lot of helpful people here.
Michelle: There’s also a cohort system which is really nice at least for my program. I guess it’s fairly small so it’s nice to be in the same class with certain people. You can build relationships and you have a nice network of people who you can ask for help. Another thing is that Waterloo engineering is direct entry so the program that you apply to is your program. There’s no general first year.
Meggin: For me, the reason I came to Waterloo was because I was 80% sure I wanted to do chemical engineering specifically. So for me I knew that I was guaranteed to be in chemical engineering since I had an offer in hand to the chemical engineering program at Waterloo.
For other schools that I was considering, I wasn’t guaranteed to be in my program of choice. So, if you’re sure that there is one type of engineering for you it is kind of nice to have that reassurance that you will start studying it from day one. And then also just having smaller cohorts makes it feel like a small family or like a larger version of your high school classroom. It makes it a lot easier to approach professors and stuff like that if you’re in a class of 70 versus a class of 200+ students.
Corbin: Yeah I would underscore the co-op program again. I think that’s a fairly common selling point for a lot of students here. I talked to so many students from other schools around Canada, in the U.S., and elsewhere in the world and when you just start talking about yourself and introduce yourself one of the first things that always comes up is like “oh you’ve got two years of work experience in the course of your program”, which is just very unique. You learn so much on the job that it really ends up being quite valuable. The other thing that was a pretty big factor for me when I was choosing Waterloo was their IP (intellectual property) policy. So at Waterloo, when you develop an idea, the idea is wholly yours. If you’re not familiar with other universities IP policies, this is quite rare back when I was looking at schools. I think the only other one that had a policy like this was MIT. If you develop ideas at most schools the fact that you use the school’s resources, professors, and knowledge, they are able to take a piece of the intellectual property rights. At Waterloo you don’t have that. You can use all the resources you want to come up with your own ideas and they stay yours.
Q: Why did you choose your program? Can you explain what your program is about?
Justin: I got interested in mechanical engineering from a pretty young age and my parents both supported me and my interest. It probably also helped that they’re also both engineers. Again, the co-op really helped me make my choice to go to Waterloo. As for my program, we study the theories behind how mechanical systems are properly designed. For example, we’re currently learning how to calculate now various stress states being applied to structures and are loading. But we’re also learning differential equations, which is a mathematical concept that would be very useful in areas like fluid dynamics or fluid thermodynamics. There’s also the mechatronics program which is very similar. The easiest way to explain mechatronics is that it’s mechanical engineering with a focus in computer engineering and electrical engineering. You would learn a specific skillset in addition to the base mechanical engineering curriculum. This would help them design robotic systems used around the world.
Michelle: I chose biomedical engineering. I’ve always been interested in the medical field and developed my love of technology over time so that’s why I chose my program. Specifically for my program, even though the courses are pretty general in the first year, everything was tailored for biomedical applications. For example, if we were studying physics, we wouldn’t just look at bridges and such, we would actually look at human body parts and we would use real numbers from databases to calculate what the human limits are and how we help those who are below the limit to reach that limit. All of our courses have the BMI course code but the courses we’re doing are part of different faculties. Right now I’m taking two mechanical courses. For mechanics of deformable solids, we’re going to be studying bones and how we can help those with weak bones or help fortify those bones. It’s really just applying engineering to the biomedical field
Corbin: So for me, the choice at least within Waterloo was between like software engineering, computer science, and possibly computer engineering. The reason I chose engineering in general over something like computer science was twofold. Number one was the cohort system which was mentioned before. You get this in all the engineering programs where in your first year you take your classes with the same group of people. In contrast, for example, in the math faculty your courses might be with a completely different group of people because you might not be enrolled in the same things. With software engineering you are in courses with the same people so as folks have said before you build up a bit of a network and you have friends around you who can support you through some of the more challenging academic workloads that you get in engineering. And then the other thing that I would mention here as far as the difference between software and computer engineering would be that software engineering is more focused on software and computer engineering is much more focused on hardware. So for me I knew just from prior experiences in high school, I was involved with a local FIRST Robotics team and through that I sort of had some experience working with the hardware side and also with the software side. I thought that the software side just spoke to me more and was more interesting for me personally so that’s why I ended up going with software.
Meggin: For me, and as mentioned previously I’m in chemical engineering, essentially what that is at its core is using a wide range of math, chemistry, physics, biology, and economics to use, transform, and produce both energy and materials. On the energy side you could be looking at something like batteries or fuel cells. One of my classes right now is how do we design and optimize a fuel cell. Or you could also do something as different as pharmaceutical production. For example, if a scientist created a great vaccine but it costs $100,000 to make one little vial, we would look at how to produce that on a large scale at a rate that’s affordable for most governments and private individuals. You can also do something completely different again and look at plastics. So that’s just looking at polymers, how those are created, and how do you optimize the strength. For me the program offered a variety of things I can do while still having a base in chemistry and physics. In terms of actual job prospects, I could be working in a lab, I could be working on a manufacturing floor, I could be doing consulting work more in an office setting. So for me it was about the variety of options that I had within chemical engineering.
Q: What surprised you most about your program that you did not know beforehand?
Meggin: I guess I could start this one off and so for me what surprised me the most about the actual program I was in was how much of a family feel it has. It really feels not competitive at all for me. I had always had this vision of university being super daunting with 300 people in one lecture hall and that I wouldn’t even know my professors’ names let alone they would know mine. Our class sizes really does feel like a larger version of a high school class. I have some classes right now that have 30 kids in them and you really get to know your professor, they know your name, and you know everyone sitting in the class around you. I’m not afraid to ask anyone for help knowing that they’ll give it to you wholeheartedly, which was a very pleasant surprise. This wasn’t a stereotype about Waterloo specifically. It was just what I’ve seen on TV shows and stuff of universities. It always looks really daunting so it was a lot less daunting than I expected. In terms of chemical engineering, what surprised me was the amount of math I needed to do. I always get a lot of people saying “oh I want to do chemical engineering because I really like chemistry” and usually my first question back to them is “well do you like math because the two of them really go hand-in-hand with chemical engineering”. You need to know the chemistry in order to apply the math to solve the problem but you still need to know the math in order to solve the problem too.
Corbin: For me going into software, I think a lot of pieces of it were pretty much as advertised. There is sort of this dual focus. Sometimes you’re working on software stuff like computer science and sometimes you’re working on computer engineering stuff. You do get a pretty even split between those. On the computer science side you definitely have heavier math content and it’s on the more theoretical side of things. On the computer engineering side you have more of a focus on physics and applications with computers. I would say probably the most surprising thing to me was not really the academic program itself but more on co-op. The surprising part there is just how important and valuable the network of people around you is to navigating industry. What I mean by that is I had thought that a job would work in a similar way to university applications or applying for scholarships, for conferences, or whatever you wanted to do in high school. What I’ve come to learn is that even though that probably is going to be the case for the first one or two jobs (where it is more structured, there is a more formal application process, and you go through interviews) what becomes much more important is having a network of people around you that you can talk to who have worked at different companies. I think just the amount of knowledge and insight you gain from those interactions is great. I really didn’t know resources like that existed before I got here.
Michelle: I also agree with what Meggin said. The classes were very small. In my program (biomedical engineering) we have 70 people in my class. I was really surprised that all of our lecturers were actually in the same classroom. There was more group work than I thought there would be. Even our exams had a collaboration portion where we had to talk to other people. Another thing that surprised me was how productive we were. There were three projects where we had a tangible product and prototype so it surprised me how much we were able to get done in such a short amount of time.
Justin: Personally I would just say the diversity of interests in my class really stood out to me. Going in to mechanical engineering, I guess I didn’t really have a very broad idea of what it was. I just thought everyone was going to like cars or something. But the thing is, outside of cars, you have people interested in a multitude of other things. Sometimes you have some projects or some products that you wouldn’t really imagine there to be a lot of mechanical engineering. But mechanical engineering is actually very heavily embedded in a lot of concepts. That really stood out to me. It opened my eyes to how broad mechanical engineering is.
Q: Why is it so important for students interested in Waterloo Engineering to know what program they should apply to?
Corbin: Waterloo engineering is unique given it’s direct entry. All that means is that when you apply to the school you’re applying specifically for one kind of engineering. With a lot of other schools you will apply to the general engineering program. You’ll take one or two years of general courses and then you would be asked to specialize. However, with Waterloo, you apply directly to, for example chemical engineering, and then once you get to the school in your very first year you’re in chemical engineering. One of the definite pros is that a lot of courses you take right away in first year are highly relevant to your degree. For me and software engineering, as much as I love chemistry and it was fun in high school, it wasn’t something that I really wanted to pursue as much in university. I barely have to do any chemistry now because it’s not that related to software engineering. The downside is that it makes it more difficult to switch between programs. For example, if I wanted to go into chemical engineering, I don’t have a lot of the common base knowledge as someone who took first year chemical engineering. This is why it’s important to sort of do this research ahead of time for Waterloo specifically. It really makes things a lot easier on the student to try and figure out what program they want to get into ahead of time so that when they do come into first year they hit the ground running. With their specific interests, all the content that they’re learning is going to be relevant to what they’re doing.
Meggin: Yeah I definitely would echo what Corbin said. In addition to that, essentially you want to enjoy the program that you’re in so if you don’t do the research ahead of time, you might have a different idea as to what your program is like or what the co-op jobs might be like or what jobs would be like after you graduate with that degree. It is possible to switch — nothing’s ever set in stone. But that being said, it will take a lot longer and be a lot more expensive. You will have to go through a stage where you aren’t happy or aren’t enjoying what you’re studying and I feel like no one really wants to put themselves in that position so it’s better just to put the work in at the front. Talk to people.
Q: What factors do you think students should consider when researching and comparing different programs?
Justin: Sure. I would have to make sure that the program leads to a co-op job or even a career that that I would want to work in. For example, you might misunderstand what a program might be teaching and it might lead you down a different path. If that’s not a path that you want to follow then you ought to make sure that you learned the content that you want to learn and you work towards the job that you really want to get in the future. Also just make sure that you are applying to a program that you’re truly interested in and that the concepts truly apply to you. Like I said before you might misunderstand what an engineering program stands for and if by the time you actually get in and by the time you start classes you might realize “this isn’t actually what I want to be learning”. It leads to a whole lot of complications and you really don’t want to be going down that path all right.
Michelle: When I was researching different biomedical engineering programs I did look at the upper-year courses, mainly the specialization because I was always interested in neurology. I was really glad to see a neural engineering specialization so that really caught my eye and helped me. I would recommend looking at specializations as well into the programs.
Meggin: The other thing I kind of considered or would recommend considering is how hands-on you want your program to be. So that means you want to be actually making models or making something with your hands physically or are you okay with it being more on the conceptual side in terms of what problems you look at that’s not only in class. Also are there options for extracurriculars. For example, at Waterloo we have the student design teams that I know a lot of the people on the panel with me are involved in. That’s a great way to get really hands-on so it is not always program specific it can be sometimes school specific too. Also consider what kind of hands-on co-op jobs you like. For me my in-class stuff isn’t crazy hands-on but all the co-ops I’ve done have been very hands-on. For example I had one in a chocolate factory and there are definitely a few days I came home with chocolate up to my knees on the bus trying to get home. So stuff like that can be really hands-on or hands- off depending on where comfort level is so that is also something that I think is kind of hidden. I didn’t really think about it until after I was already in the program but it definitely could influence some decisions.
Corbin: I would highlight again that looking at the lives of the students who are in these co-op programs and the co-op jobs that they typically end up getting, what kind of careers they end up going to later on, where they’re working in the industry, can be very good ways to get a better idea of what the program really is and where you can expect to end up if you go into that program. That’s something that I tried to do in high school. I just sort of looked at where people end up to try and get an idea of where I could see myself going after I graduate.
Michelle: One thing to add on is to not get so focused on one little aspect. If you like 90% of the program I feel like there is not one single program anywhere that caters to a hundred percent of your wants and needs. For me, when I was looking at chemical engineering I saw I had to take two biology courses, which was a huge deal for me because I’d never taken biology in high school. I was really nervous about it but I didn’t let that stop me from applying to the program. There’s always going to be one or two courses that might not be exactly your thing but they’re in there for a reason to eventually make you a better engineer. You can focus on your interests later in your degree as well.
Q: Since Waterloo engineering is direct entry, what should students do if they don’t know which engineering program to choose?
Meggin: Number one, if you really don’t know where to start and we do actually have an engineering quiz online if you just look up “Waterloo engineering quiz” that basically asks questions about what type of problems would you want to solve, would you rather be on a desk or outside all day, and other similar questions. It was put together by some engineering students and it helps narrow down a few programs out of the 14 engineering programs now. It really helps narrow down where you might want to start looking. But really one of the most valuable things is talking to students. So here at the University of Waterloo, through the Ambassador Program, we actually do shadow days so if you are within commuting distance or you want to just come for a day you can actually sit in a full day of engineering courses. If you have a pretty sure idea or you’re trying to decide between two that can be pretty similar, you can just start talking to people or come for a tour. We also have our open house on November 2nd where we’ll have representatives from every single department. Both students and teachers will be able to talk in much more detail about very specific programs. I know my high school didn’t have too much of this. I would have gotten involved more if I could, but it was pretty difficult especially if you don’t have it readily available. Participating in engineering related activities in high school helps, so like robotics teams competitions, engineering or STEM camps, personal projects, just figuring out stuff on your own. It’s also okay to consider a different university with a general first year if you really truly don’t know. I know it could be a pretty daunting decision in high school. I never had anything from any course in high school remotely like engineering and so it’s okay to not know as well. But generally reaching up to people will be your best bet.
Corbin: Talking to students was the most useful thing that I ended up doing because they’re able to answer your questions very directly and give you a tailored overview correctly.
Q: What are some resources for students to better understand the differences between the programs?
Michelle: I was very lucky to know what I wanted to do but after coming to university I found out about a lot of things that Engineering Ambassadors had to offer like shadow days. I actually participated in it and the students had a lot of questions. We were in the same section and my shadow actually had really good questions and it was nice because I was able to bring her to two different professors. She was able to talk to them and we got to meet people from different departments as well. I’d say shadow days really helped. If I used shadow days when I was in high school, I feel that would have been really helpful.
Justin: I didn’t really know until I became a shadow day guide and then I realized it would have been a really good chance to have a first-hand look at the class schedule or just how university engineering life is. So I definitely recommend that but you have other initiatives run by engineering ambassadors as well. We have chats which allow students to just get in contact with an engineering ambassador. They don’t have to go anywhere it’s on Skype or Google Hangouts. There’s also the open house. Anything you can do to talk directly to an university student would be very helpful since they’re aware of the kind of questions that you might have. They are best equipped to answer them because they probably had the same questions. They’ve gone through the entire process and know exactly what answers you’re looking for. They can tell you exactly what you need to know. There’s also the individual department websites on the University website. Each engineering department has a dedicated website and it has its best specific information that you could use to start gathering information about any program that you’re interested in.
Corbin: To underline one other point, looking at the courses that you actually take in each program is a good strategy. If you just look up the Waterloo undergraduate course calendar and then for some programs like software engineering’s undergraduate calendar, it’ll give you the listing of all the courses that you end up taking in that program. Obviously there are electives as well but those core courses give you a pretty good idea / an overview of the content that’s covered. There’s a pretty heavy caveat there though which is just that sometimes it’s hard to get the whole idea of a course from just reading a description so talking to students is still probably the best option.
Q: How does student housing work? Did you live on campus at a student residence or rent nearby?
Meggin: So at Waterloo, like most universities, we do have student residences. It’s kinda cool too because there is a very wide mix of set ups. So you have your little room with a roommate, shared washrooms for the floor, and also the cafeteria. For me personally, I lived in a residence that was more of a townhouse style so it was me and three other girls in a townhouse with full kitchen. So doing all of our cooking and all of our cleaning but then we could also get a meal plan with two lunches and breakfast is a little easier on campus. In addition to residences, we also have university college residences. I know one of our colleges actually now houses (this wasn’t the case when I was in first year) the women in engineering living-learning community so it’s a whole bunch of women in engineering and you have mentors that actually come into their residence. If you want to look that up on the website I think it should be pretty searchable. After first year, I actually moved in with some friends that I met in residence into an apartment close to campus. It was actually on the closer side to campus to my classes than where my residence was. I could walk and it was beautiful especially because it was the summer term. The great thing about Waterloo is that we have Laurier and then also Conestoga College all right along one little strip, which means there is a ton of off-campus housing really close to university. I know just talking to some of my friends who went to other universities that it is not always the case. So that’s where Waterloo is really fortunate to have that student community close by.
Corbin: For me in my first year, I also lived in a Waterloo residence but I lived in one where it was just me as a single person in a single room. So there are of course options like that. As Meggin said there’s tons of them and I personally chose one where I would have a private room and then go to a cafeteria for all of my meals. One quick comment I have would that I was a little bit nervous about the private room and being too anti-social and not actually being able to meet anybody else, but at least in my experience they did a pretty good job of getting the floor to mix a lot. By the end of the term everyone on my floor would just have their doors open. We kind of walk around and ask each other questions. They try and group you with some people from your program so for me I was on the same floor with three other software engineers, so we would just walk back and forth ask questions. It turned out to be a really great community that I’m still connected with. After that, I moved on to off-campus housing and I don’t really have anything more to add there besides to say that there’s even more variety and even more availability. As Meggin said, there’s just such a variety here. I mean nowhere I’ve ever lived is more than a 15-minute walk from campus and it’s all super close by with lots of variety and lots of choices.
Michelle: So I lived in a suite style apartment building. We had our own kitchen, one bathroom for the three of us, but could also get a meal plan. Next door was CMH (Claudette Millar Hall), which is a dorm style and so it was really like convenient to just walk a few meters and you’d be in the cafeteria there. For off-campus, there’s a lot you could lease or sublet. There are Facebook groups that help people as well. People will post room availability for people to just come and take a look.
Justin: My experience was similar to Corbin’s although I had a two-person semi-private room. I lived there with one of my high school friends so I knew him already very well. It made it a lot easier knowing him beforehand. I had the meal plan and went downstairs a lot. Sometimes for like a late night snack they had nachos down there which were really good. They way they had that residence laid out was nice because they had a really open common room. It was a space that everyone was together, whether it was for a movie night or just to study. The majority of my friend group that I have right now comes from that floor. It just goes to show how important it is to live in a residence, especially in first year. Right now, I’m living in a group as a part of a group of five. So they’re all living on my floor for the first year in residence but they’re also all in my program so we all have the same schedule because of the cohort system. We all wake up at pretty much the same time. We all leave at pretty much the same time to walk to class or take the bus to go to class. We would come back as a group so it we’re all just a really close-knit group.
Q: What pieces of advice would you give grade 12 students who are about to begin looking into various programs and kick off their application process?
Meggin: I would say it would be to keep your options open. In the end I chose engineering and I’m very glad I did but it did give me that extra time to make that decision and know that it was the right decision for me. Also look beyond your degree but still make sure you’ll be happy in your degree so look at where you might be in ten years. Make sure you’ll be happy along the way.
Corbin: I think I would say to my former self choosing a university is a big deal, but I would actually tell my former self to chill out a little bit about it. I think one thing I’ve learned since coming to university is that there’s a big world out there and there’s really a ton of opportunities for you to explore. What you want to do is to meet new people, have new experiences, and while the choice of university is important because it’s the formative years and all that, the reality is that things are quite flexible if you just keep the mentality where you want to pursue what you love. I think that would be the number one thing to drive into my head back then. Don’t sweat it too much. Try to do what you think is best at that given time, but even if that doesn’t turn out to be the right choice there’s plenty of options out there and you won’t be any worse off for it.
Justin: I mean Corbin really kind of nailed it there. I remember the period during the application process, I was just always nervous and always stressed out. I was worrying about every percent of my high school average, how that would affect my overall average to get in, and I realize that it doesn’t really make much sense to stress too much over that because if you’re always stressed out about the littlest thing then you might lose sight of the big picture. I would just say to all the grade 12s out there to stay focused, always have your goal in sight (whether it’s getting into a certain university program), but also relax, take a break if you’re feeling overwhelmed. It doesn’t do anyone any good. Just take a walk or take a breather and go back to what you were doing with the fresh focus. I feel like that would really help especially when it gets down to the wire and really stressful.
Michelle: I agree with what everyone said. You’ll enjoy your time wherever you go. There’s a lot to consider but obviously it’s only one part of life so not necessarily the end of the world.
Q: What was your most favorite co-op experience?
Corbin: I’m kind of biased toward my last one I guess, which was at a startup. It was about 300 employees called Shape Security in Mountain View, California. I would say one of the reasons I enjoyed that so much is because of the technical difficult / challenges that I faced during it. One of the things that I didn’t like as much about some of my previous co-ops is that a lot of the stuff that they’re in had learning or theoretical challenges. Things were difficult not just because they’re being applied in the real world, but because they are difficult from an intellectual standpoint. The very short version of what I was doing at Shape was detecting bot traffic on websites which is something that hackers spend tons of time trying to do. It was up to us to try and defend that so it was a very clear-cut mission, but with tons of technical difficulty. I found that really fun to work with.
Meggin: So for me I actually liked it so much that I went back for a second co-op at the same place. This was the Cadbury factory in Toronto, so really fun and very hands-on. I was part of the engineering team there so I was actually using what I learned in school and actually applying it. I got the freedom to apply it myself and kind of learned by doing. You’re making mistakes, which is really fun. There was a sizeable Waterloo engineering crowd there so they know what I was going through and they could help out with my work term report that I had to write. They’re really good at giving advice and had a very large family atmosphere which was a lot of fun right.
Justin: I’d say for me my favorite co-op experience was my first one. I was at a forestry machinery company called Tiger Cat Industries. We make various machinery for the forestry industry (giant machines) and I enjoyed it mostly because they really treated me like I was an engineer there. I wasn’t talked down to and they really treated me with a lot of respect. As a first co-op term, that really meant a lot. I was also able to do so much work on the machines and design noticeable changes to various different kinds of forestry equipment. Since these machines get transported around North America, every so often in the place I would least expect, I could end up seeing a machine that I’ve worked on. I could probably point out like “hey I’ve actually worked on that part” or “I changed that” or “I redesigned that part”. It’s always special to see the things that you worked on during a co-op, even if it was far away. I cam across a machine that I had made changes to even when I was in New York state driving down the highway. I saw one of the machines get transported down and I recognized it immediately. It’s really special to see that the stuff that you’ve worked on out in the real world and really across North America.
Michelle: I have only had one co-op so far so I guess that’s my favorite. I was a quality engineer, but it was a very small office. There were like 30 or 40 people there so I really got to do anything I wanted. In quality engineering there’s a lot of testing and automating tests. I was able to also do development work as well as design work. It was really cool because I was always testing is the last stage so it was nice to go backwards. I got to work with developers too and I also got to work with the design team and it was really nice to be able to design something, develop it, and then test it. To be able to do the whole process was really nice. I liked being able to do a bit of everything.
Q: How much did your extracurricular activities in high school help with your university application?
Meggin: I was heavily involved with sports. I played a lot of basketball and I also had a part-time job throughout the summer leading up to it. I was also heavily involved with student council at school and then a bunch of clubs on top of that too. For me it kind of helps because I was able to talk to things and I had valuable experience. I think we have another panel later on talking more specifically about admissions, but essentially most university applications are looking for something similar to what a job would be looking for because I know at Waterloo we are a mandatory co-op program within engineering. Something that you’re passionate about and something that is an employable skill would be really good. That can be anything that you’re passionate about or anything that you’ve worked towards. For me I just found the quantity and the variety of stuff I did in high school really beneficial not only to when I’m applying but also once I was at university. Because I was doing so much in high school it made it a lot easier to transition. I found the transition to university to be okay and I was doing an equal amount of work so I didn’t have to figure out how to do a sheer amount of work at a higher level. It was just going to the higher level that I really had to worry about.
Corbin: I think you know the standard things that they always recommend about getting involved in a lot of extracurriculars. Seeking those leadership opportunities is really good. Another thing that I was highly involved with in high school was the startup scene. So I worked with a couple of startups and started my own company in grade 11 grade 12. I think all those kinds of things that you can show to sort of demonstrate not only your technical ability but also, for Waterloo it has been said before, the entrepreneurial component is a big part of it. To be able to demonstrate that is, I would imagine, very good for applications. But beyond applications it’s just very good for personal growth. I’m a big believer in learning by doing and I think that there’s a lot of leadership experience that you end up getting, whether it’s working as an executive on a student council or as the founder of a start-up. They’re very different beasts but all of them show you how to work with people which is fundamentally a very powerful skill to have and one that is a lot more difficult to teach. The startup was called Relief. Quick summary of what that did was it was a platform to help connect supply chains in Africa and the reason for that is just because there’s a lot of infrastructure in the US and in Canada around connecting various parts of the supply chain to allow one person or one business to focus in on one very narrow specialty. That kind of infrastructure doesn’t really exist in less mature economies and it often leads to inefficiencies. People going out of business not because they’re bad at what they do but just because they don’t know the right people or they’re not situated in the right locations. We set out to change that by harnessing technology as you might have guessed and trying to connect people to build these larger more mature supply chains.
Michelle: For me, I didn’t do a lot of technical extracurriculars. I know a lot of people would do robotics or they would volunteer at like an auto body shop. For me I did a lot of volunteering for a seniors home. I was able to be a part of the team organizing events and taking care of the residents,
making sure that everyone was properly cared for. Everyone had their needs met and it’s pretty challenging because there are so many people and each one needs a different set of accommodations. To deliver the best care really is a challenge in and of itself. It isn’t necessarily technical but the skills that you learn definitely get used in an engineering. So what I’d say is as for extracurriculars really choose things that would round you out as a person. What I would assume admissions looks for in people are qualities that would make good employees when it comes to co-op or later on so anything outside of the school or the academic environment would be incredibly helpful.
Q: What is the one thing you didn’t like about your program?
Meggin: For me, on thing that I found was that I had to seek out more hands-on aspect on co-op, specifically that hands-on aspect of being able to actually make something and see it come to life. A lot of that is kind of the nature of my program. You can’t exactly make a bioreactor in your backyard super easily. It’s a little bit more difficult so it’s much larger scale than some other programs. So for me it was more the hands-on aspect, but I was able to compensate for that through my co-ops and I actually got to design a system and actually see it come to life in my last co-op.
Corbin: For me I think my one thing that I disliked about software engineering is probably a pretty common thing that’s shared among a lot of my classmates. It’s just that there’s less flexibility in engineering programs than what you might get on other faculties. I think it’s a double-edged sword for sure. There’s some pros to this as well but the con is that as they mentioned before if there’s some courses in your program that you don’t like, you might not have the flexibility to switch out at the end of the day. Having said that, a couple of years down the road, you end up looking back at a lot of those and thinking “okay now that makes a lot more sense why they forced us through that”. But at the time, it can be sort of frustrating to not have the same flexibility that you see a lot of your peers have.
Michelle: The program I’m in is still a little bit experimental. We’re still switching things around deciding what they should be. We’re getting some new profs as well. But it’s also nice because we have a large say.
Justin: For mechanical engineering specifically, I’d say the program could be updated a bit to match what the industry is going towards. It seems like it’s a little behind on what you know what we see in the world right now. For example, we don’t really touch programming or just computers design. I know that’s more mechatronics but it’d be nice to have more of that. Sometimes we don’t really learn the job skills that would be very important on co-op. We tend to lean more towards the theoretical aspects in class and we don’t really get the chance to see how they’re applied on the job or on co-op. So if there was a way to better bridge that gap then I feel like it’d be a much better program to study.
Q: What types of mental health support is there? How have you personally been able to try and maintain your mental health throughout your program?
Meggin: Like any other university, there are definitely plenty of options if you are going through mental health troubles or even just having general trouble coping with the move to university. I know for a lot of people it is definitely a jump. You’re away from home for the first time. You have all these new classes. For me I was the only person from my high school to go to Waterloo so I felt like I had to always be making new friends all the time, especially in the first couple weeks. But for me personally eventually I just kind of found my rhythm a little bit more. I then figured out what percentage school vs. hanging out with friends vs. working out makes me the happiest. In terms of actual services on campus though there are health services on campus, which offer general counseling services. There are also engineering-specific counselors who can help with engineering specific issues. I know a lot of people take comfort in the fact that everyone’s kind of going through the same thing. There also are initiatives from our engineering society like for example I think this week they’re bringing therapy dogs on campus since we’re starting midterms and stuff like that. Just having that sense of community around was really helpful as well.
Michelle: There’s also peer mentoring so first year students get matched with an upper year student that’s also someone to talk to. I do peer mentoring and it’s really helpful.
Justin: I would just say just surround yourself with as many friends as possible. If you just have a small group of close friends that’s very good just to help you take off the stress. If you want to vent you can vent. For my closest friends, I can go to them for help. I also wouldn’t forget to talk to your parents. They would have an idea of how to help you manage any difficulty since they know you the best as well.
Corbin: I would just echo what’s been said before. I think one thing that’s really helped me personally is nothing that’s been too formal but just having that group of friends around you right from first year, which I would personally attribute the cohort system. Just being in the same room going through the same experience with people who are largely the same age as you, it just helps to build up that network of people you can go to when you are vulnerable. I think just the overall mentality, at least within my program or group of friends, is that mental health is something that you work on constantly. It’s like how you go for check-ups with a doctor. It doesn’t have to be just in crisis but it’s something that you can take advantage of all the time just to make sure that you’re always in peak condition.
Q: What are some scholarship opportunities that you had when applying to Waterloo?
Justin: So there’s the base scholarships available and I don’t have the most up-to-date information but I think it’s a couple thousand dollars if you have an average between the certain range. If you have a higher average there’s also a lot of external scholarships. So I know a lot of societies, a lot of organizations have their own scholarship set up for post-secondary students. You know it’s a reality that a lot of them do go unclaimed so try to find some that are out there. If you apply to them you might get them and it just helps you lessen the financial burden when you start school. In Waterloo there are a few faculty scholarships available for applicants who demonstrate high performance on the application process, the AIF, or other academic subjects. I’m sure other might have more to weigh in on this but that’s just my experience for now great.
Meggin: I can chime in here and so for me it was a pretty big mix all around. Like a lot of my classmates I also applied to a bunch of both internal and external scholarships in my first year. For my first term that actually worked out pretty well for me mainly on the outside of Waterloo. Waterloo to be honest is not really known for their entrance scholarships just because we do get a lot of really great applicants so what really turned the tables for me was the fact that co-op is paid. So in order for it to count as a co-op you are getting paid. So for me I actually did a little cost estimate on how much my degree would cost and because of that co-op even if you’re getting paid minimum wage you’re still working full-time for four months straight. That really outweighed any scholarship I really had a chance of getting. On top of that, there are also a number of scholarships even up until your fourth year that you can automatically be considered for and apply to. I know I applied to one in the second year and not many people think to apply once you’re already in university. So I’ve applied to one in second year. I ended up getting it which really does help. Every little bit helps so there are those options as well, both ones that you have to actively seek and apply to but also ones that you automatically get considered for based on your professors’ recommendations or also purely grades based.
Corbin: I think for me my experience was just a whole lot of googling when I was in high school to try and find scholarships that I would be eligible for. I mean as soon as you google it there’s entire websites that are dedicated to trying to allow you to find scholarships and I met mixed success with that but you can find some. The only other thing I’ll add is that the scholarships once you’re in university are very underutilized. I don’t hear people talking about them as much and Waterloo has a fairly comprehensive list on the Student Financial Services website that gives a huge listing of scholarships that you can filter by program year and that tells you exactly how to apply to them. I’ve also used that in the past to apply for scholarships once I’m here. I’m not sure if you can use that same website if you’re a high school student applying in but it’s definitely a good resource once you’re here.
