Future Students

The right pathway for me

Before looking into the Accounting and Financial Management (AFM) program, I had no idea what an accreditation pathway was and how it worked. University of Waterloo’s School of Accounting and Finance (SAF) has received the highest level of accreditation from the CPA (Chartered Professional Accountant) Canada and the CFA (Chartered Financial Analyst) Institute, providing students with a direct pathway to the CPA and/or CFA designation.

The competition is on!

One thing that I had not quite considered while looking into programs was, what if I want to apply for a competitive program? When I hear about people applying for competitive programs I tend to think of the stereotypes: universities only letting in people with a 98% GPA (grade point average) or higher, or you have to have 90’s in every math course you could ever take even if they don’t offer it at your school.

Be prepared

Something that surprised me about the requirements for the Accounting and Financial Management (AFM) program was that you do not need any previous knowledge of accounting or finance. The requirements to get into AFM are a minimum of 75% in grade 12 U level English, advanced functions, and calculus and vectors.

Learning something new.

At the beginning of my research on university programs, I did not know what the Accounting and Financial Management (AFM) program was, but I was intrigued and wanted to know more.

How do I choose?

Have no idea what the difference is between a double major, minor, or elective courses? I didn’t either until I started doing research on university.

So many choices … so many opportunities to be unique!        

When I began looking into university programs, I realized that I was unfamiliar with what a major or minor was, or even the process of declaring a major.

Programs, courses, majors, oh my!

When I first started looking into university and university applications, I did not know the difference between programs and courses. I thought they were the same thing or similar to school subjects.

They expect me to pick just one?

When I first began thinking about university, I thought I knew exactly which programs I wanted to apply for. Turns out I was wrong. Even though I did a lot of research, there are so many programs and so much information.

What am I doing?

Do you know where to go when you’re ready to start researching university programs? No?

As someone who is just going into grade 11 I’ve been told by quite a few people that it’s too soon for me to look into university, but is it? Looking into the university of your interest isn’t something you have to wait until grade 12 to do or until you’re about to apply. Waiting until you’re in grade 12 might be too late.