So my S was telling me that he read on a Reddit.com sub-forum about a student who was actually accepted into STANFORD for CS but wait-listed from the University of Waterloo.
My S actually goes to Waterloo and is currently working as Software Engineering Intern at Google. He was telling me that many of his friends who put in the good work end up making a very good living at the big-name software companies (Google, Facebook, Amazon, and Microsoft, etc.).
I think that you should be telling your Ss and Ds to apply to Waterloo, especially for CS. From what my S tells me it’s a very good school that is rigorous in their teaching, and the students there are very down to earth (*unlike some elitism that occurs at other schools). Waterloo is a nice, quiet, student town. Not to mention that the tuition is cheap, even for Americans!
Best of luck to all future applicants, and if you don’t get in you’re in good company!
Waterloo has a longstanding and strong reputation in CS. WATFIV was their single pass FORTRAN compiler for IBM 360’s back in the day. That was a really big deal for colleges that wanted to teach FORTRAN but rented CPU time.
I am not completely sure what your post is trying to get to.
Yes, Waterloo is a very good university, and is known for having very strong Computer Science. There are quite a few very good universities in Canada, and for Computer Science Waterloo is one of the best. It sounds like your son is doing well.
Generally admission in Canada is based on grades (or grades plus SAT), while admission in the US is based on a relatively long list of items that I can’t fully predict. Thus it is not a shock to have someone admitted to Stanford but wait listed for Waterloo, but the other way around is probably far more common.
I’m just trying to point out that there’s a not so well-known university that students can apply to! I talked about my son and his friends to show that that level of success is not uncommon at the university.
Admittedly the framing was quite poor. In general, it is the other way around (got Waterloo, not Stanford), but the change in circumstance made me realize that it is actually quite a good school!
It is a well known school in Canada for CS, Math, Engineering. I am a Waterloo grad from the 1980’s. Interesting note: my cousin’s S (from Flagstaff, AZ) started at the University of Toronto 2 yrs ago in CS and Math - H wanted to know why he chose U of T over Waterloo (H is a Waterloo chem eng grad)- answer:he was looking for a stream that would lead to academia vs entrepreneurial pursuits (here in Canada Waterloo is well known for its co-operative program of alternating 4 months of school and work placement)
OP I think you may be underestimating the reputation that Waterloo already has for CS–it is very well known and respected by major U.S. employers. My D initially had an interest in CS and when she applied to college it was on her shortlist along with all the usual suspects here in the U.S. Her research indicated that employment prospects/salaries for CS grads out of Waterloo were not much different than grads coming of out Carnegie Mellon, Berkeley and other comparable schools here in the U.S. She ended up switching to finance but yes, Waterloo is a great school --best of luck to your son!
I would also say that the Kitchener/Waterloo/Cambridge(oldtimers can say Galt) has a population of close to 500,000, so calling it a town is misleading. While there is no doubt it is dwarfed by the GTA and it’s 6M people, it is not some tiny college town. UNiversity of Western Ontario, McMaster, University of Guelph, U of T, York University, Ryerson, etc. all can be reached in 90 minutes or less of driving, and I believe there is rapid transit from the GTA to Kitchener now.
Waterloo is extremely well known in the US by both grad school admissions folks and corporate recruiters.
Kind of like posting that “Georgia Tech is a hidden gem”. It may be a hidden gem to the guy at your dry cleaners in Boulder Colorado, but hardly “hidden” to anyone who knows about colleges.
Well, I for one had never heard of Waterloo and its reputation for CS, though we are not a STEM-y family. I think posters are being a little harsh on OP, who is just trying to be helpful to those who may not have even considered a Canadian school. And if being on CC for years has taught me nothing else, it’s that there’s a ton of information to be absorbed about applying to colleges, and no one knows all of it. Waterloo may be extremely well known by grad schools and employers, but OP’s post was directed to parents/students, and I’m sure it will be valuable to many.
I was affirming the OP’s kids choice, not being harsh. If the rationale for posting was a concern that employers and grad programs may not know of the university- rest assured, it has an excellent (and cross border) reputation.