UBC or UWaterloo for Mechatronics Engineering

International Students
1

I am currently in grade 12 and I have narrowed down my university choices to UBC and Waterloo for Mechatronics Engineering. I am struggling between picking between the two. I am leaning towards Waterloo, but I am unsure if that is the correct decision.

I have talked to students attending both schools, yet I am still unsure about which to attend. Below are my pros and cons for each school.

UBC
Pros:

  • Close to home (about 1 hours drive away)
  • Better scenery and weather
  • Cheaper
  • Reputable school
  • I get to keep my car
  • A lot of my friends will be attending UBC
  • A surplus of activities
  • Best university campus in Canada (in my opinion)

Cons:

  • Mechatronics is not accredited (you finish with a Mechanical Engineering degree with mechatronics knowledge)
  • Fewer co-op opportunities
  • Really big school

Neutral:

  • General first year

UWaterloo
Pros:

  • Reputable school
  • Direct entry into Mechatronics Engineering
  • Accredited Mechatronics Engineering program
  • High post-undergraduate employment rate
  • Smaller school
  • Mandatory co-op

Cons:

  • Weather
  • Far from family
  • scenery
  • Little activities
  • Cost of airfare to BC to visit family

There are some additional factors that may affect my decision:

  1. I know Waterloo is renowned for the intensity and amount of school work there is to do compared to other universities (I know it is still a lot of work at UBC but not as "Harcore"). Is this true and is it really that crazy?
  2. I am considering pursuing a graduate degree after my undergraduate at a high ranking US school. Will the reputation of the university make a difference?
  3. Although I am confident I want to pursue Mechatronics, there is always the possibility of discovering a different field I never considered during the first general engineering year at UBC.
  4. Regardless of the school, I will be joining a student engineering team. Will I have enough time to do so? Is there any free time at either of these schools to relax?
  5. I know UWaterloo's co-ops are usually 4 months and UBC's are less frequent and generally for a longer period of time. I am worried that with UBC's longer co-op period I might get stuck for a much longer time doing work that I don't enjoy. I know a UBC engineering graduate who spent 8 months working at a company for his co-op where he had to work his way up the ladder before he could do any engineering related work. He hated it. Should I be worried about the long co-ops at UBC compared to UWaterloo's 4-month co-op?
  6. How are the professors at these schools? Do they actually care about the students?
  7. Should I pay attention to university rankings?

Finances do not play a major role in my decision.

2

D16 is a first year at Waterloo, although not in engineering. I’ve visited the UBC campus and it is indeed beautiful. Waterloo, not so much.

  1. Dunno. Have a look at UWaterloo's reddit. It's very active.
  2. Both universities have excellent reputations. You should be OK either way, but my gut says Waterloo might give you an edge. But, do more research, my opinion isn't that well-informed.
  3. You can transfer programs within Waterloo engineering, but it might take you longer to graduate. https://uwaterloo.ca/engineering/current-undergraduate-students/academic-support/program-transfers
  4. You should have time to join an engineering team. Extracurriculars that are related to your field of study will help you get a co-op job.
  5. Students at Waterloo get crummy co-ops too. Because they get multiple co-ops, there's always an opportunity to get a better co-op the next time.
  6. D16 compared class sizes between U of T and Waterloo. Waterloo's class sizes were surprisingly smaller. They also have a lot of drop-in tutoring sessions. D16 was struggling with one class early in the term and her prof was very helpful, even though he could have just told her to see her TA.
  7. Certainly.

IMO, go with your gut. The schools are comparable, but have some differences. YOU are the one going to the school. Your success will in large part depend on how happy YOU are.

3

Thank you very much.

4

Sorry, I’m new to this website. What is D16?

5

D16 means my daughter who graduated high school in 2016. It’s common lingo on this website.

6

I’m a little confused. So the degree you’d get at UBC is not accredited at all?

7

@philbegas UBC engineering is definitely accredited. They just don’t have mechatronics engineering. They have twelve other varieties of engineering.

8

Engineering programs in Canada are accredited by Engineers Canada. ABET and EC accept each others accreditation as equivalent to their own.