Early in his second year of medical school, Jose Luiz Avilez realized he wanted something different than medical school could offer. In his heart, he knew he wanted to study mathematics. It was a difficult decision, but by 2016 he was applying to universities.
“A friend of mine who studied at Waterloo told me about its program in Mathematical Finance and that it has a co-op program,” remembered Avilez. “I was sold.”
Although Avilez enjoyed co-op terms, he also tried his hand at entrepreneurship. He and two friends in Toronto participated in a University of Toronto hackathon one weekend. While pitching the idea, they caught the attention of program directors from the Creative Destruction Labs and won the hackathon. The team successfully applied to the Creative Destruction Labs program, received funding and graduated from the program last year.
“The project is currently on hold,” reported Avilez. “My two co-founders chose be part of a bigger startup and I took the opportunity to extend my skillset at GWN Capital where I previously had a co-op term.”
Avilez has always hedged his bets with pragmatic decisions and makes sure that his skillset is as diverse as possible so that he can make it in industry. However, that won’t stop him from continuing his education once he accepts an offer from one of two graduate schools in Mathematical Finance.
He also plans on getting back to travel when it’s available.
“I truly want to take a VIA from Toronto to Vancouver,” said Avilez. “I suggest that all my fellow graduates make a list of everything you want to do as soon as things are back to normal.”