Since I’ve left the Admissions role I’m not going to post my traditional graphic of chances for the upcoming cycle, BUT let me introduce you to a new Waterloo engineering admissions-focused blog where you can find it: The Road to Engineering
Follow that blog for updates on current Waterloo Engineering admissions news, suggestions and updates, including some information about the upcoming Ontario Universities Fair.
Our applications continue to flow in at this time of year. I haven’t seen any detailed information yet, but there are indications that our applicant numbers from outside Ontario are up significantly. We’ll probably know more in a few weeks, but it seems likely that this year certainly won’t be any less competitive than last. With competition for limited spaces, it pays to be strategic about your applications. Continue reading
To start the new academic year and next admission cycle, the 2018 Admissions brochures for Engineering and other programs have recently been uploaded on the Waterloo website. We continue to include a table showing admission probabilities (“chances”) for different programs and grade ranges (at the end of the brochure, and another online version is available here). Many people find it useful for assessing their chances at admission, and then they can plan accordingly and have realistic expectations. This is based on the 2017 results and as usual we caution that 2018 may be different, since it all depends on the number of applicants (which is unknown in advance and can fluctuate).
For convenience and readability in a table, we lump the grades into ranges. Some people find the big jumps in probability between the different grade ranges to be difficult to understand or interpret, so I have been generating graphs that provide interpolations between the various grades in finer detail (see the end of the post for methodology, if interested). As usual, the grades shown below are the raw, unadjusted averages of the Grade 12 required courses (or equivalents), not including any other factors such as scores for extracurriculars, work experience, or awards. Continue reading
Updated version of a past post for the 2017 admission cycle, as there have been a few small changes.
The Admission Information Form, or AIF, is the primary vehicle for applicants to tell us about themselves. Our admission decisions are mainly based on grades, but the AIF information can help us distinguish between people who have similar grades, and we award up to 5 points onto the admission average for outstanding applicants. Let’s go through the various parts of the AIF and see what is involved. Continue reading
The 2017 Admissions brochures for Engineering and other programs have recently been uploaded. We have continued to include a table showing admission probabilities (“chances”) for different programs and grade ranges. Many people find it useful for getting a realistic impression of their chances at admission, and then they can plan accordingly. The online version of this table can be found here. This is based on the 2016 results and as usual we caution that 2017 may be different, since it all depends on the competition level (which is unknown in advance).
One difference this year: I’m going to break the chances data up into two categories, “Visa” (or study permit) applicants, and “Canadians and Permanent Residents” applicants. The tables mentioned above lump everyone together, but looking back at the last year or two it seems like it may be too pessimistic for Canadians and overly-optimistic for Visa applicants, as we’ll see below. Continue reading
For applicants whose first language is not English we have a set of proficiency requirements. Details are on this website (English Language Requirements), but in summary we are looking for TOEFL scores of 90 and higher (with at least 25 Writing and Speaking), or IELTS scores of at least 6.5 overall (with 6.5 Writing and Speaking and 6.0 in other bands) (see that website for other test system requirements). For Engineering admissions, we’ve been pretty strict about the scores and regularly reject people who don’t meet them (no matter what their other grades are like). This is because our co-op work experience starts right away in first year, so we need students to be as fluent as possible so that they can have interviews, get jobs and have a successful work term with the employer. There is no time to try to learn better English as you start our program.
Some universities have programs that you can sign up for to improve English proficiency. We don’t, but in the last couple of years we have been testing a couple of special programs, called BASE and iBASE . You can’t actually apply directly for these programs, they are by invitation only, and are for applicants to our engineering programs who have excellent academic credentials but come up short on the English proficiency tests. So for these applicants, if they successfully complete the BASE or iBASE program they will be automatically enrolled in the engineering program they were aiming for. Let’s look at these programs in a bit more detail. Continue reading
There are always a few myths and misunderstandings we encounter when talking to applicants. Here are a few of the most common ones. As usual, these items are specific to Waterloo Engineering, and other programs or universities may be different.
As frequently requested, here is an updated version of a popular post.
The 2016 Admissions brochures for Engineering and other programs have recently been uploaded. We have continued to include a table showing admission probabilities (“chances”) for different programs and grade ranges. It seems that many people find it useful for getting a realistic impression of their chances at admission, so that they can plan accordingly. The online version of this table can be found here. This is based on the 2015 results and as usual we caution that 2016 may be different, since it all depends on the competition level (which is unknown in advance). In 2015 the level of competition continued to increase, but maybe it will go down in 2016, since we know that’s the general direction of the demographics in Ontario. Continue reading
After finishing the offers for the current cycle, we start to review the statistics to prepare material for the next (2016) cycle, including an update to the “probabilities table” like the one shown in a previous post and in our applicant information. We have compiled the preliminary results from the 2015 cycle and these are shown below, where “Probability” is the percent of applicants with an admission average in the given grade range who received an offer to their first choice program. These are raw admission averages, without any other bonus or factors. The results show some surprising changes from what we have seen in the past and expected. Continue reading
Here is an update on past years’ very popular post, with some revisions and clarification for the upcoming September 2015 admissions cycle.
Here is an overview on how the process is going to work and the approximate timelines. As usual, this is specific to Waterloo Engineering admissions; other programs and universities will have their own unique variations. Also, make sure you look through our admissions webpages for exact deadlines and official requirements since this is just an unofficial, quick overview and I can’t cover every detail for every variety of applicant and situation. Continue reading
A Professor in Waterloo Engineering 