Hey everyone! I am going into my 2A Biomedical Engineering class, and I’m excited to meet all the new biomedical engineering students going to Waterloo and other engineering students! If you have any doubts or questions at all especially about coop interviews, resumes, etc because I know I had a lot of questions about that feel free to hit me up!
Waterloo Engineering in one word:
Change
I choose Waterloo Engineering because:
Coop, and the program’s distinction amongst others! Getting work experience is very valuable because it gives you a chance to find out what you like or don’t like, and getting money is a great benefit as well. Also I felt super burned out by the end of 1B, so coop is a great “break” to get away from school for a bit.
The best thing about my program is:
How amazing all the professors are! Most of them are very nice and approachable (one even gives us candy), and even the ones that are less approachable are very funny/interesting. I can honestly say they made many classes more bearable.
About my Co-op experience:
My first co-op was during spring term of 2020 at IBM doing RPA developer work. I’ll be honest when I was first applying to jobs I didn’t know what many job descriptions or titles meant, but that's what coop is all about! So far my work here has been a whole mix of things but most of the things I do involves me working with clients to deliver technical products for them. For example, I’ve been working with a bank to develop an automated insurance claim system so that people don’t need to come into the bank themselves and can do the application process online!
I wish I had known before I came:
That I would be spending pretty much all my classes in one building (E7/E5, it’s where you get those Loo bridge profile pictures btw)! There are couches everywhere and labs with a ton of computers that are super useful for us, and a really cool machine shop so it's not a bad place to be stuck in! There’s also a cafe on the first floor :)
Outside the classroom, I’m involved with:
Student design teams! Shameless plug: follow @uwnrg on instagram :) They are doing amazing things that you would never see in your typical classroom. I’m also involved in biomechatronics, where we print 3D pieces of a prosthetic hand. And of course engineering ambassadors!
One more thing about me:
I’m planning on going abroad to do an exchange in my third year! Talk to me if exchange programs are something you’d be interested in, because I’m still in the planning stage and I could offer some tips or advice.