Xinyi has had a range of interesting co-op terms, most of them dealing with working in the financial sector. Her first job was as a communications assistant for the Waterloo’s Department of Marketing and Undergraduate Recruitment. Then, Xinyi worked as a web developer for the Bank of Montreal, then as an application developer for Sunlife Financial for two work terms. During her latest work term, Xinyi was in New York City working as a project manager for Morgan Stanley, where she is still working for part-time remotely from Waterloo until she graduates. She hopes that this opportunity may lead to full-time employment.
Xinyi has also excelled in her extra-curricular activities. She is a mentor for Women in Math, where she teams with up a first-year math student and meets with her on a weekly basis to chat about absolutely anything. For the past three years, she was also a student ambassador and gave tours of Waterloo’s campus to prospective students.
As you can probably tell by now, Xinyi is quite the superstar. But, she is highly appreciative of all the support she receives within the Faculty. “We all support each other and try to make our campus a better place”, says Xinyi, “The best thing about Waterloo is the people you meet and interact with everyday… In my program we have around 200 people and the help that I get from my classmates, my Teaching Assistants (TAs), and my professors is tremendous. They’re all very, very supportive”.
As for Xinyi’s favourite things about Waterloo, the best places to study are Dana Porter Library, “it’s so quiet, it makes you want to study!” and the Tatham Centre for booking interview rooms for group study sessions. One of her favourite professors is Ian VanderBurgh who taught her first-year algebra, “it was an 8:30 in the morning course, but he was really interesting and the class was always full”.