Never think less of yourself: advice from a BASE graduate

Monday, May 11, 2020

By Roger Qi, BASE 2015-2016 Graduate and Honours Physics alumnus

Jane, Roger, Christine
Congratulations and welcome to all students receiving offer to BASE program. I am glad that you have chosen BASE to start your adventure in university life.

My name is Roger and I was from Beijing, China. Going back to 2015, just like all of you guys, I received my offer to BASE. I do understand that there are probably more disappointments than excitements when you first receive the BASE offer, and I felt the same way as the majority of people do, considering we have to spend more time improving our English. But think of it this way: working for 40 years or 39 years, does it really make a difference? 

"Although the BASE program takes you more time before you graduate, you will find yourself benefiting from all of the English courses in the future, especially with building experience writing professional email communications with your professors."

Roger at Earth Sciences Museum
Although the BASE program takes you more time before you graduate, you will find yourself benefiting from all of the English courses in the future, especially with building experience writing professional email communications with your professors.

For me, BASE gave me more time to get use to the university life on campus. At Waterloo, there are more than 30 sport clubs and several sport facilities, and over 200 other clubs you can also join. You will have a lot of free time during BASE so make use of these during the program! Once you start your original program at Waterloo, the amount of course work will increase dramatically so you want to get used to the campus environment by getting involved early. 

Roger at End-of-term Celebration
There are number of resources around the campus that provide support, academically and personally, such as the Writing Centre and the Health Services clinic. During your studies in BASE, you will be guided on how to use these resources to assist you. By comparison, if you directly start your program at Waterloo, you will not be guided in such detail to the supports that are available, and there is the advantage of BASE.

Afterall, starting with BASE does not mean you are lacking intelligence. I started in BASE and I have just graduated with distinction from Waterloo and am graduating on the Dean’s Honour List. 

Never think less of yourself! Good luck to everyone, and I wish you all a bright future.

What is BASE?

BASE is one of UWaterloo’s English language foundation programs offered through Renison’s English Language Institute. Eligible students complete one or two terms in the program to meet the requirements of their conditional acceptance into their respective Faculty at UWaterloo. Learn more at uwaterloo.ca/base.