One chapter ends and another begins

For Xipeng Huang, completing an undergraduate degree in the Faculty of Mathematics at the University of Waterloo was the culmination of years of hard work. He made sacrifices, faced challenges and struggled along the way.

But the hard work paid off, as Huang graduated with a 94 per cent overall average, putting him at the pinnacle of excellence in the Faculty of Mathematics. He majored in mathematical finance and statistics and minored in pure mathematics. 

“What I love about statistics is the study of randomness,” Huang said. “It’s about trying to understand randomness and trying to summarize its rules. I think that’s part of why I liked both statistics and pure mathematics, because pure math is like theory and statistics is putting the theory into practice.”

There was nothing random about Huang’s success in his courses and his outstanding GPA. He attributes his exceptional grades to dedication, hard work and many late nights studying. But along with individual effort, Huang says he had lots of help from his professors, classmates, friends and family.

“So many people supported me all the way through,” he said. “My instructors were amazing and always had time to work with me if I had any problems. And my family and friends were a huge source of motivation. My parents were always there for me and they pushed me to succeed. I’m so grateful, and there are so many people I need to thank.”

Asked about challenges he faced as an undergraduate, Huang said that his co-op work placements were initially something of a stumbling block. He did end up getting top-notch reviews and referrals from his co-op supervisors and learned about the work-world in the process. But starting out, the co-op placements pushed him out of his comfort zone.

Graduating student Xipeng Huang standing in front of Davis Computer Research Centre at Waterloo's main campus.

“You need to have a very different mindset from being a student in a co-op,” he said. “There’s no one that’s going to teach you everything, so you have to get acquainted with the job and with the staff at the workplace. It was definitely challenging at first. But when you overcome this challenge and start to find your place, it’s an amazing way to improve your professional skills and time management.”

As for next steps, Huang said he has already accepted an offer to continue with a master’s degree in statistics at Waterloo. Part of his goal is to keep up his family’s academic tradition, as his father holds a PhD and his mother a master’s degree.

“After the master’s degree, I plan to do a PhD. That’s about as far as I have things figured out. I’m not sure if I’ll end up wanting to be a professor because I’m also interested in the business world and in finance. I feel like there are many options open to me, but I want to focus on graduate school for now. It’s an exciting time for me, and even in the first few weeks, I’ve learned so much.”

Huang also said he is sure that his experience is shared by many of the students convocating with the Faculty of Mathematics this fall, and he has a message for them.

“We’ve worked so hard to get to this point. But this end is just another beginning, and there’s always more to accomplish. Let’s rise to the challenge and become who we’re meant to be.”