The University of Waterloo (Canada)

Date: Sep 26 2011
Major: Engineering Department (This Major's Salary over time)
I think coming to Waterloo was the worst decision I have ever made in my life.

Being an international student and coming from a country where a family of four can eat two meals for 1.5 dollars, I was seriously dissappointed at the quality of facilities they had to offer for the sh*tloads of money I am paying them.

First of all the overhyped coop program. They boast as being the largest program in Canada. That maybe true but they dont tell you about the ridculous $700 they charge for it. All international students HAVE TROUBLE FINDING COOPS. Its a know fact that canadian employers throw away applications with non-white sounding names and dont give a damn if the person doesnt have a canadian experience. The CECS doesnt have any help to give students in finding jobs. The system they as a job board called Jobmine is unresponsive, slow and hated by students and employers alike. And freakin admin wont even budge and change this freaking system.

The irony of UW is (after being called the MIT (of BS!)) of north is that they dont invest technologically in themselves in anyway. The buildings are old as hell and are left unpainted and unfinished for some reason. Believe me, im typing this in 2011 and even in this modern time, their labs are full of curved CRT monitors coupled with old CPUs and yellow decades old keyboards full of all kinds of sticky substances. Ive had times when the professor has had us go from groups of 3 to groups of 8-10 due to lack of equipment.

The social scene in Waterloo is warped and depressing. They may have many international looking students but sadly they are all asians and you somehow dont seem to fit in. For extracurriculars you'll have a Debate Club running in parrallel with a Chinese debate debate club, chess club with a Chinese chess club running alongside which is way to fucked up. similary browns will just stick around browns who are further divided due to religious differences. And whites just hang around white. The plaza called UW place has a growing number of asian restraunt and asian grocerry stores. Hell they even have newspapers in Chinese here. If the Federation of students arranges something, no one shows up. Thats the school spirit. If youre an engineer, either cut your dick or turn gay, its very likely you wont find any female around in your class

The athletics are non existent. Their UW Warriors recently got a lot of shit for using illegal performance drugs. Gyms are also old and uninviting.

For commenting on profs lets look at their research. Ever heard of this MIT of the North making any acheivements academically? The truth is all good profs go to UofT. UW mostly has a collection of reject researchers coming from crappy institutes from all around the world. Yes they cant speak english properly and are mostly underconfident.

I think waterloo is just thriving on the co-op system it has. I would discourage all international students from coming here and id tell them to look elsewhere. If you need work experience, find jobs in summers on your own. Atleast you wont get screwed fhaving to find a compulsory coop. The coop programme adds one extra year which you could use to do a real job. University is about growing up personally and finding yourself, making relationships having a good experience. Waterloo doesnt have any of that, it just has coop. Its only good for local students probably.