Getting involved at university

Clubs and societies

At Waterloo, there are over 200 clubs for you to join, as well as a variety of other societies and communities. Offered by the Waterloo Undergraduate Student Association (WUSA), which represents the Waterloo student body and facilitates much of the student life here, every student is welcome to explore any and all interests they may have.

WUSA hosts events, supports students, and is overall dedicated to representing you and making sure you get the most out of your university experience.

At Waterloo, there’s something for everyone. Clubs wildly differ in terms of size, level of commitment, and purpose. So, whether you’re interested in cooking, politics, dance, or anime, there’s a huge variety of clubs and communities that you can choose from. Or if you’re interested in sports, you can join a varsity or intramural team! Waterloo has over 30 sports teams that range from basketball to football to Nordic skiing.

There are also faculty societies, like the Arts Student Union (ASU), and program societies such as the Biology Undergraduate Student Society (BUGS), if you’d like to connect with those from your faculty or program.

If none of our clubs interest you, you’re welcome to start your own! Here at Waterloo, you’re always encouraged to share your interests with others and find your people.

The inclusive nature of Waterloo allows you to connect with other students on all sorts of levels. Joining a community on campus can go beyond your interests — perhaps you’d like to join a community with a religious focus, or one that resonates with your cultural background and experiences.

There are a number of clubs that promote equality and inclusion, as well as general safe spaces for individuals that identify with 2SLGBTQ+ and/or racialized (Black, Indigenous, POC) identities. For example, there are Indigenous spaces on campus as well as Black-led clubs and communities that students are welcome to look into.

Waterloo also welcomes students that come from all over the world! We are pleased to provide spaces and resources to help students through the process of attending university in Canada, so that Waterloo feels like their home away from home.

As well, if you’re interested in living with others who share similar interests with you, all we have Living Learning Communities within each of our residences. When you apply to live in residence, you can also apply to be in a Living Learning Community.

Clubs and societies usually look for volunteers to help at events, which is great for not only getting a feel for what they’re about, but also potentially gaining some valuable skills and experience. If you’re interested in event planning and marketing, advocacy, and the needs of students, then student societies might be the right fit for you! Or you might opt for being a team captain or executive member of a club if you’d like to develop or sharpen your leadership skills.

Most of them offer positions specifically for first-year students so you don’t have to wait until your upper years to participate.

It’s all up to you to craft the experience you want upon coming to Waterloo.

If you’d like to explore your passions and connect with others outside of clubs, as well as develop employable skills, volunteering is the perfect solution.

In Waterloo, there are always groups both on and off campus looking for support. Off campus, there are nursing homes, animal shelters, and food banks that are always in need of a helping hand (meaning they’ll typically work around your schedule)!

On campus, volunteers are always needed for special events like open houses and tours and for student groups, like the International Peer Community. Some of these commitments might just be for a day or two and others might be for the whole term, giving you a chance to decide how much time you want to give.

Sydney, a student in the French Teaching Specialization program, teaches at a local high school and gives tours of the Faculty of Arts. She shares her experience:

No matter where or how you volunteer, it's sure to be a rewarding experience for yourself and others!

Workshops are also a great stepping-stone for getting involved. They can help build your leadership skills as well as help manage your time so that you can fit involvement into your schedule.

You might even be able to get trained as a paid workshop facilitator. Plus, they all look great on your résumé! The Student Success Office (SSO) and Campus Wellness at Waterloo all offer a selection of workshops each term.

Some workshops are a series, meaning you can complete them all to receive recognition that you’ve accumulated a set of skills (extra certification for your résumé!). Other workshops are offered online so you can do them according to your schedule.

While these opportunities might sound interesting to you, it’s important to not overdo it. You’re a student first, so maybe choose just one or two things to try out at a time until you find what’s right for you.

Working on campus is a fun way to make some money. There are tons of options that will be a natural transition from past experiences, like working as a lifeguard at the campus pool, refereeing an intramural sport game, or getting a job at the same fast-food restaurant where you worked in high school.

Campus jobs are accessible, meaning you don’t have to commute to work, and can even run home on your lunch break.

One of the unique things about on campus jobs is how accommodating they are of class schedules and exams. University is about more than academics, so make sure you spend some of your time beyond the four walls of a classroom.

Whatever your interests, there are endless ways that you can make the most out of your time at Waterloo — whether that be discovering your passions, building your skills, connecting with new people, or all the above. It doesn't matter how you are involved; it only matters that you are involved!

Check out WUSA’s event page, where there’s a huge variety of fun activities, sessions, events, workshops, and even competitions that you can take part in! Not only does it include all events run by WUSA, but there’s also Waterloo’s own TEDx event as well as Canada’s largest hackathon.

There’s no shortage of opportunities for you here at Waterloo!