How I Got Into Software Engineering at Waterloo

I was born into an engineering family: my dad is a civil engineer and works in wastewater management in Burton, New Brunswick, where I grew up. I was interested in building and creating things from a young age. In middle school, I spent many hours in my school’s makerspace, where students could experiment with tools, arts and craft supplies, and tech materials like wires and computers. We had a bunch of little robots with LED displays. I zip-tied them to a display and coded them to light up intermittently; they looked like fireflies lighting up the sky. I presented my creation at the Brilliant Labs Makerspace Fair in Fredericton, where students from across the province share what they’ve built. It was inspiring to be around other students my age who were using their creativity to construct things. 

The makerspace really opened my eyes to the world of coding, and when I started high school, I took all the computer science courses my school offered. In one course, I used the programming language Python to code a game for eight-to-10-year-olds where a bumblebee collects pollen from flowers to use as currency to purchase upgrades and expand the universe. In Grade 12 I got involved in student government and organized a COVID-friendly haunted house and monthly bingo in the cafeteria.

Outside of school, I enjoy curling, which I started playing when I was nine.  In 2022, I played for New Brunswick’s provincial junior curling team. We won several championships in the under-18 and under-21 leagues. Learning how to navigate team dynamics was really valuable. I also coached nine-to-12-year-olds on weekends. Forging relationships with aspiring curling players was really meaningful.

I knew I wanted to study software engineering after high school because I enjoyed everything I’d done with coding. I met with my school’s academic adviser, who suggested I apply for the University of Waterloo’s software engineering program because of its highly regarded co-op program and rigorous academics. The program was tough to get into, but she thought I had a chance because of my extracurricular involvement and my 99.2 per cent average. I had expected to study closer to home, but with my adviser’s encouragement and some advice from friends and family who had gone to school in Ontario, I applied. I also applied to software engineering programs at Dalhousie University in Halifax and the University of New Brunswick as backups. 

Waterloo’s engineering programs have a rigorous application process. Once I submitted my OUAC application, the standard application for all Ontario universities, the program sent me the required supplemental application. I had to fill out the admission information form, or AIF, and do an online video interview where you talk into your camera without a person on the other side. The AIF asks questions about leadership experience, community involvement and your interests. I wrote about navigating favouritism and politics in curling, what I learned from coaching young kids, and my work as vice-president of my school’s student government. I also had to write a short essay talking about my coding experience. I wrote about the games I coded for school projects and a Discord bot I made. 

The video interview component is intimidating, and it felt weird having a conversation with a computer instead of a person. I focused on sitting tall, making eye contact with the camera and speaking clearly and confidently. I was asked to talk about a funny experience I had and what I learned from it. I talked about a moment from a curling tournament, when someone missed their shot, but then came back and made an even better shot, after which a teammate said “Jesus really took the wheel on that one!” The whole team burst out into laughter. I talked about how important it was to think of the team as a community, and how, even though we’re there to win,  we should all support each other no matter how well or poorly each teammate is performing on the day. 

In November, I got my acceptance to Dalhousie’s software engineering program, and in December I was accepted into UNB. Then it was a long wait until I heard back from Waterloo. In January, as I was waiting, I watched YouTube videos of Waterloo students sharing how they got in. In one video, a student shared that none of the students at their school got in the previous year. I started wondering if I should be accepting my UNB or Dalhousie offers. I ultimately decided to wait, because Waterloo’s program is so highly respected—it was worth the risk to me. 

I found out I got in when I was in Stratford, Ontario, for a curling championship. We’d just finished our team meeting, and I was back in my hotel room when I saw the email. I immediately told my twin sister, who had gotten into biomedical engineering at Waterloo. I didn’t accept the offer right away. Waterloo had offered me a $4,000 entrance scholarship, while Dalhousie had offered a $60,000 entrance scholarship, and I was awarded the Schulich Leader scholarship—worth $100,000—to attend UNB. I mulled over my decision for a month, and in the end, with the encouragement of my academic adviser, I decided to accept Waterloo’s offer and prioritize getting a prestigious education that came with hands-on experience through co-ops, which would also help me offset the costs since they’re paid work terms.

I’m now in my fourth year of the five-year program. The courseload is challenging, but I enjoy it. I’ve gained a lot of experience through the four co-ops I’ve completed: I’ve worked on quality assurance, where I ensured that final products met users’ needs, and in software development, where I got to work directly on building digital products. I’m the vice-president of communications of the software engineering society and I play on the varsity curling team. I have one more year left, and I’m hoping to continue to build more connections at my upcoming co-ops in software development so I can find a coding job after graduation.