How to Ace Your Waterloo Engineering Video Interview in 2025
The University of Waterloo is one of the best schools for engineering, not just in Ontario, but in all of Canada. In my opinion, it is the best engineering school in Canada. If you clicked on this article, you’re probably interested in applying.
For context, I applied to the University of Waterloo this year (2024), and I am currently waiting for an offer. There are definitely some mistakes I made and some things that I would keep in mind if I was to go back in time and apply again.
When applying to an engineering program at the University of Waterloo, four main variables impact your chances of receiving an offer.
These are:
- Your grades in the last year of high school (usually grade 12)
- The adjustment factor of your school (only relevant if you are based in Ontario)
- The AIF (Admission Information Form)
- The online video interview
These are all very important aspects of your application, but for right now, I will be describing the video interview specifically.
Do I Need To Do The Interview?
The video interview is completely optional; however, there is no reason not to do it and many reasons why you should. After you complete the interview, it is given a score out of 3. If you did poorly you get a 1/3, and if you were spectacular, a 3/3. However, even if you completely bomb this interview, it can only improve your chances of getting in.
Whatever score you receive out of 3 is added to your original score. Let’s say that your grade 12 average is 90. Even if you only achieve a 1/3 on the video interview, your mark will essentially become 91. This is why I believe that the video interview component of your application is necessary.
Pre-Interview Preparation
To prepare for this interview, I would recommend that you keep your career goals, skills, aspirations, interests, and previous cooperative experiences in mind. Be able to speak about these things fluently and without too much thinking. Try to get friends and family members to ask you questions based on these important concepts.
The UWaterloo engineering interview must be done on a platform called Kira Talent. On this software, you will first register with your name and email address and then set up your microphone and webcam. After that, you will be given the chance to do practice questions.
This is the best part, every time you re-initiate the practice interview, the software gives you new relevant questions. This is a HUGE resource that you really can’t get enough of. For context, I did the practice interview at least 10–15 times, but I still regret not doing it at least 5 more times!
The Format Of The Interview
When you are finally confident to do the real thing, do the practice questions one last time, and get ready for the interview.
The interview is very short. A little too short.
It consists of 2 questions. For the first question, you will be given approximately 40 seconds of preparation time and 1 minute of speaking time. For the second question, you will be given 1 minute to prepare and 1.5 minutes to speak. This was a big problem for me, which I will get to later.
The first question usually involves your unique qualities that are relevant to the university. The second one usually asks you to describe an experience in which you dealt with an issue or a hypothetical event where you need to deal with some issue.
Key Concepts To Focus On (And What I Messed Up)
The first question is almost always personal. It asks you about your life, your habits, your role models, and your skills. The next one is usually trying to gauge your problem-solving capabilities. That’s why I would recommend speaking about a time when you solved a problem.
While the questions I was given weren’t too bad (a little harder than the practice ones), I had a major issue. The time. While I could think of answers for both of the questions, I could not communicate them properly in the given time.
Both of my answers felt rushed, and, while I was answering the second question, the software cut me off and stopped the video in the middle of my thought.
This is why I found the Waterloo interview to be incredibly frustrating. Other universities have similar interviews on the same software. However, I found that for other interviews, the time you were given to respond usually ranged from 2–3 minutes.
That is why my greatest piece of advice is to be concise, precise, and direct. There isn’t enough time to take your time. I encourage you to introduce your main point and then proceed to elaborate on it briefly. Getting cut off in the middle of a thought is one of the worst feelings, so if you notice the timer approaching <10 seconds, I would recommend that you begin to wrap up.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the ‘optional’ video interview is completely worth attempting. While it may seem scary to be interviewed, it is important to remember that it is not a real interview. Waterloo just wants to see how you can communicate your thoughts, and if you can think quickly.
Remember to drill the practice interviews many times and don’t forget to keep an eye on the timer. Waterloo doesn’t give as much time as other universities, so use your speaking time wisely.
