There is something special about Waterloo. We noticed it a couple years ago.
What's special about UW students/grads, and what do you attribute it to?
University of Waterloo: Silicon Valley's Canadian Feeder School
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Re: University of Waterloo: Silicon Valley's Canadian Feeder School
#22Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's roughly $6000/term (for engineering, cheaper for CS students though) not including paying for food + housing (an additional $1600-3000 depending on where you decide to live on or off-campus). I'm in the boat of Waterloo grads who graduated with no debt. But I would hazard a guess that the majority of engineering students have little to no debt. And the students who do co-op in the US most definitely earn more mo…
CS with coop is $6300 a term. I think engineering is a few hundred more.
When I started in 2000, it was around $3000 per term all in (tuition, co-op fee, and all the other misc. fees). When I graduated in 2005, it was $4200 per term. That's an increase of 7% per year on average.
From 2005 to now (@ $6300), it's gone up 8.5% per year on average.
Good to see that the university is keeping tuition affordable by keeping up with inflation. Not.
Re: University of Waterloo: Silicon Valley's Canadian Feeder School
#23There is something special about Waterloo. We noticed it a couple years ago.
What's special about UW students/grads, and what do you attribute it to?
It has a reputation for being the best engineering school in Canada, so lots of the best people self-select to go there. Now having said that, I think there is less variability in the quality of education you get between Canadian Universities as compared to US schools. This is mostly based wishy-washy conjecture though.
Re: University of Waterloo: Silicon Valley's Canadian Feeder School
#24Does anyone know if companies view soft-eng grads vs. compsci grads from uw differently? The school says it's the same, but I'm hoping to hear some first hand experience. Asking as a prospective undergrad next year :)
Re: University of Waterloo: Silicon Valley's Canadian Feeder School
#25Canada still has plenty of talent. U of T has strong CS/Engineering programs. Only a few of my buddies are in the valley.
My anecdotal experience is different - almost every software type I went to school with at Waterloo is now in the US somewhere. I know exactly 3 Canadians I went to school with who are still in Canada.
Re: University of Waterloo: Silicon Valley's Canadian Feeder School
#26Currently working with a Waterloo intern and I can personally attest that he is the bomb.
Re: University of Waterloo: Silicon Valley's Canadian Feeder School
#27There is something special about Waterloo. We noticed it a couple years ago.
Like all great schools what makes the students great is selection bias. Waterloo has a great reputation, so it gets the first pick of the best students. The great graduates give the school a great reputation.
Lather, rinse, repeat.
(Not that I'm complaining as I was part of the system and have benefited greatly from it. Co-op is a very, very big deal. But the professors and the school itself is not appreciably different from U of T or UBC or wherever)
Re: University of Waterloo: Silicon Valley's Canadian Feeder School
#28I'm very proud of my time at Waterloo. The school surrounded me great students and (some) great professors who were constantly challenging and rewarding. I wouldn't be the person I am now, and wouldn't have had the same great opportunities had I gone to another school.
As always, these stories about 'Canada's hidden talent pool' slide into a discussion about the 'brain drain'. Many of classmates from the class '07 ended up in the bay area, Seattle/Redmond, NYC or Boston. I'd estimate greater than 50%. In fact, I'm one of them. While I may not be living in Canada, I still stay connected to my home. I have many friends who have moved to the US after school only to return to Canada when they're ready to settle down and have a family. Canada remains a great place to live; I just wish we could decrease the cost of doing business between Canada & the US lower, and convince more Americans to move up north.
Re: University of Waterloo: Silicon Valley's Canadian Feeder School
#29is Waterloo the only university in canada with similar startup culture and recognition from tech companies? i was unfortunately denied admission recently to Waterloo, and I'm planning to try UBC and UToronto. UBC in particular has a special program for people like me - college graduates seeking a second degree in CS, which sounds really good but I keep hearing these things about Waterloo which makes me feel really sa…
U of T has been getting more attention from tech companies lately - Google, Microsoft, Yelp, Tesla, and Uber (among others) have been recruiting on campus this year. I would say Waterloo has a much stronger startup culture though. Kids at U of T are mostly busy trying to keep their GPAs afloat.
Re: University of Waterloo: Silicon Valley's Canadian Feeder School
#30There is something special about Waterloo. We noticed it a couple years ago.
Microsoft has been onto this for a very long time. Even back in the early 90's they'd hire huge numbers of co-ops and graduating students each year.