While working through our application and admission data, we see quite a few applicants who have done a required course at summer school, especially among Ontario residents. (It doesn’t seem to be so common in other provinces. I wonder why?) We know that the theory/rumour is that you can get higher grades at summer school and thereby boost your admission average and chances of acceptance into the more competitive programs. We also hear concerns from other applicants and parents that this is an unfair advantage, because some are unable to attend summer school for various reasons. Currently we don’t penalize applicants taking summer school courses (unless it is to repeat a required course), but maybe we should? Since we like evidence-based decision-making, let’s use some data to see if summer school does give a significant advantage. Continue reading
Waterloo Engineering in the New York Times
Recently there was a nice article about Waterloo (the university and city) in the New York Times, that you can read here. Overall, it’s quite complimentary and here is a sample of some notable quotes:
“The University of Waterloo…is one of the world’s best technology schools”. “It’s got this amazing university which has long been one of our top three recruiting universities for Google as a whole, worldwide,…”. “Different approaches, rather than money, have instead enabled it to attract prominent faculty members from around the world as well as Canada’s top engineering and computer science students.”
So some nice comments about the quality of Waterloo’s engineering students and faculty. My main concern with the article is that it goes on a bit too much about RIM/Blackberry, perhaps giving the impression that a single company has been behind Waterloo’s growth and success. RIM has certainly been an important supporter for the university, but there are literally thousands of other companies that have hired our co-op students and graduates for many years, and have also been important partners in teaching and research programs. The article says that RIM hired 400 students in 2007, which seems like a lot, but to put it in perspective that is a small fraction of the thousands of students who took co-op jobs in one year.
The article also focuses on IT/communications technology, and ignores the many other areas where students and graduates have had significant impacts, like energy, pharmaceuticals, biomedical, aerospace, automotive, financial, and many more. That’s typical though. The media seems to find it easier to write stories about IT for their audience, maybe because it doesn’t require them to explain concepts in chemistry and physics. But I think that after they have a look, most people realize there is more to Waterloo Engineering than just IT.
Engineering, Business, and Finance
Some university engineering programs have minors or specializations in Business or Finance, or similar areas. Our Management Science Option (like a minor) is available for any engineering student and covers some business and finance topics, but is not quite the same thing. Does this mean that Waterloo engineering students lack business skills and opportunities? No, not at all because the co-operative education model provides lots of hands-on learning opportunities for students interested in the business-side of things. Why take a bunch of courses, when you can learn on the job with business mentors? As I noted in a previous post, there are lots of examples of students starting successful businesses, even before graduation, so it clearly seems to be working.
Then there is a recent story about a Systems Design Engineering student working with Manulife Financial, and her experience as a project manager in a large complex finanical company. It reminds me that I’ve been told quite a few Systems Design Engineering students get co-op jobs in the financial industry. I guess their problem solving and analytical skills dealing with complex systems serve them well in those jobs. Just another example of how an engineering education can be a solid basis for careers in all sorts of unexpected places.
An example of news about Waterloo student-created spin-off companies. At one time I thought it would be a good idea to create a list of such ventures, but I suspect it would be a huge undertaking and I’ve got other stuff to work on.
Computer Engineering or Software Engineering?
Another common question we get from prospective applicants deals with the differences between computer and software engineering (and computer science too). Since it’s not my area of expertise, I generally try to get one of my colleagues to discuss this in more detail with applicants. They have also put together a webpage with some helpful information that compares and contrasts these 3 programs. This is a good starting point, but there are several other things to consider. I’m going to focus on comparing just the two engineering programs. Continue reading
Looking for Aerospace Engineering
A common question we get from prospective applicants is “do you have an aerospace engineering program?”. The short answer is no, we don’t have a degree with that name. But it is also an incomplete answer. Often, students don’t realize the broader implications behind that question, so we try to provide some context for their question along the following lines. Continue reading
Employment After Graduation?
The universities in Ontario contribute data to the “Common University Data Ontario” (CUDO) database, and this can be interesting to look at when considering applications and offers. You can select several universities and a specific piece of data, and do some side-by-side comparisons. One of the questions we often get from applicants and parents is about employment prospects after graduation from Engineering. Everyone worries about graduating and not being able to find a job, so let’s look at that specific piece of information for several universities. Continue reading
Communicating With E-Mail
Another great set of suggestions. I would add that poor communication skills may be noted in an applicant’s file and have negative consequences.
Dear Readers,
Effective communication via electronic mail is crucial to the admissions process. There are times when a personal telephone call is not convenient, (see Miss Admissions post: Phone Impressions Have Lasting Impact), perhaps you are contacting a University in a different time zone, or you have just one or two burning admissions questions.
Let us take a moment to review e-mail etiquette, to insure that the admissions office sees you, the potential applicant, in the best possible light.
1. Do not use text-speak. While Miss Admissions acknowledges our day-to-day informal communications may include clever abbreviations and acronyms that save our text-weary thumbs from overuse- Admissions representatives will not be impressed! Rather they will be LOL-(ing) and thinking “R U siris?” Keep in mind that some text-speak is regional, like all slang, and you may be insulting the reader rather than astounding them with your language skills.
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How to Get an Early Offer
Lots of applicants are keen on getting an “early offer”, which for Waterloo Engineering is typically in the early March to early April timeframe (the final offer round is in early May). There is no particular benefit to getting an early offer, other than relief from the stress of uncertainty. Actually, there is a downside: a few people with early offers relax too much and lose out on scholarships (which are decided in May) or sometimes even lose their offer when their final grades come out. But most are OK, so how to get one of these early offers? Following is a list of things to do: Continue reading
Phone Impressions Have Lasting Impact
Very wise advice here!
Dear Readers,
I am often asked when, exactly, does the admissions process begin. There is one correct answer to this question.
The college admission process begins with your very first contact with a college or university. This may happen in several ways- you may visit a college website, meet a recruiter at an event or counseling session, perhaps you made a phone call or sent an email to an admissions officer. These first impressions are more important than you may think, and may indeed have an impact on your application.
It is extremely unfortunate that with the advent of the age of information, many of us have lost valuable social skills. Miss Admissions and her recruitment and admissions colleagues have noticed an alarming trend in terrible telephone and electronic mail communications. What is even worse, is that applicants have no idea that they are missing a valuable opportunity to make…
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A Professor in Waterloo Engineering 