Unpopular opinion: The program you got deferred to IS better for CS than CS program at other school.

Every year around this time we have people who unfortunately did not get into their top choice inevitable ask if they should go to UW for math, ce, cfm, geomatics etc or go to Y school for CS.

The consensus opinion is “it’s better to study CS at other Canadian school than not CS at Waterloo.

From my experience this is flat out untrue.

Disclaimer that you can succeed from anywhere and other Canadian top schools are amazing too.

But the discussion is usually centred around coop and employability for SWE. And if that’s all you care about, I believe Waterloo is better anyways.

1. I don’t know why people still pretend that courses you take matter for CS employment.

Maybe like ten years ago. Taking CS classes has zero effect on the quality of you as a CS candidate. At most, you’ll enjoy your degree more but I’m speaking from a pure employability standpoint.

Nearly everything that matters is external, Projects, Leetcode, networking, and university name.

2. The Waterloo name is not just a bit, but significantly better than any other Canadian school (Especially from the states)

We have way more alumni in the states. Most American tech have only heard of Waterloo and maybe some UofT. Our reputation is that Waterloo students are cracked.

And Americans don’t know that programs vary in competitiveness (seriously). I have a good hit rate on cold emails and I fully believe that’s only because I’m in Waterloo.

Waterloo also happens to be on most internal hiring docs as a top school. As CS gets more saturated and the skill gap decreases between candidates we’ll follow other industries like finance and law where prestige trumps skill since almost everyone can do the job.

3. Culture

People always say you can work hard from anywhere and make it. That’s true. But it’s way way easier when everyone around you is also working hard.

At 18 you are a very malleable human. Go to a place with X culture and you become X. Trust me, it’s a lot easier to get a CS job with math on your resume than to defy your environment and excel in a place where you will stand out.

Waterloo for better or worse has some of the strongest “get employed” culture in the world.

TLDR

If all you care is getting job, take Waterloo over any other Canadian uni.

Even if you’re in: Math, BME, MGNT, CFM, SYDE, CE. Anything else and it might be straying a little too far.

Still don’t expect to transfer though.