Picking a university was probably the hardest thing I ever had to do last year, even when compared to whatever was going on in Organic Chemistry. It really did feel like a huge decision, with the course of my life being altered forever, however, in hindsight I’m coming to see that your undergrad and moreover your university plays a very small role in the success you achieve in your life. Getting into a good university doesn’t ensure being successful, and going to any other university does not mean not you won’t be successful. Realistically, more so than your program you need to be dedicated and hardworking, something which in the wise words of Robert Kiyosaki means that all you really need to do is “MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS”!

Either way, my pea brain almost blew up trying to pick between my top 2 choices, which as you could probably guess were UofT’s EngSci and Waterloo’s CS. If I’m being totally honest I did not think I would get either, so I was willing to go wherever I was accepted. I have no idea how/why they both accepted me but yikes. While I was still picking I would often flip between both choices, with me at one point being a click away from going to UofT. In hindsight, I think I made the right choice for me, but my reasons will definitely be different from yours, so I wanted to create a list of factors that mattered to me and ultimately lead me to choose Waterloo CS. Now although I have a friend at EngSci I do not have much beyond his anecdotes and a bunch of obscure Reddit Posts, so please don’t get too angry at me if I get anything wrong, and instead feel free to reach out to me so I can fix any issues :).

Graduate School vs Job

It really is not a big secret that a large portion of EngSci’s just run into grad school (~50%) (source). I think this is probably the biggest difference between these 2 schools because at its heart both of these programs serve a different overall purpose. To me, EngSci is THE program to go to if you know you want grad school without a shred of doubt, as since it is very theory-based, and since you cover ALOT of topics from a variety of Engineering and Scientific fields, it seems like it would be a very good program for preparing oneself for grad school. Whereas, Waterloo CS for a lot of people really is just a co-op grind. I really am not afraid to say that I only came to Waterloo for the sole prospect of getting a really nice job, just as many others in my year have also done.

Now UofT does have PEY which is a 12-16 month co-op, however, from what I know you can only do this with 1 company, so you don’t get the diverse experience of Waterloo’s 4+ co-op terms. If I were to compare the job prospects of an EngSci and a Waterloo CS kid, I think the CS kid would get better opportunities. I think this is one part, Waterloo having a bigger international brand, and another part of the CS kid having 4+ co-op experiences, with overall more cumulative experience. Sure the jobs may not be the exact same, but (and this is very handwavey) I think as an EngSci undergrad you’re very likely to get a similar job to the CS kid, so a SWE job, with the main difference being in the pay and location of the job.

I initially wanted to go to grad school for Physics, but I think this was mainly because I was conflating liking a subject and being good at it. I was good at IB Physics, does that mean that I had the mental strength and enough appreciation of the subject to endure grad school? maybe or maybe not. I felt that by choosing EngSci I lock myself into grad school as if I didn’t pick grad school I would honestly just be worse off than the Waterloo CS kids for a job. However, at Waterloo, the CS program is very flexible (mentioned later on), which means that if I want to, I can still pursue Physics without committing as much.

TLDR: EngSci is good for graduate school, but if you have any doubt in your pursuit of graduate school I would suggest Waterloo CS.

Flexibility and Time:

EngSci is a hard program, CS from what I have seen really is not as bad, as you can just take all the standard level courses, and pick easy electives and coast for 5 years. With that being said, if you want a challenge it is available in the form of advanced courses (14x courses or enriched courses) and a large selection of electives. In engineering programs, you do not get this flexibility, as engineering students don’t really get any choice in their courses until their second year or even further. Moreover, in CS I have a lot of free time, which I am starting to use productively, in the form of this website and other side projects, which can really help in securing a good job. I don’t think you would get as much time in an engineering program as you have to take 6 courses, whereas Math/Cs only take 5.

Cohort:

You get a cohort in EngSci and for most Engineering programs, whereas in CS it really just feels like a large group of people. You don’t really get that overall connection as you would in an Engineering Program, as there are a lot of different co-op sequences to pick from, and a lot of electives, so you don’t really have that shared experience between everyone, whereas in engineering because the courses are so static, you all get the same experience, which to me feels like it could make a community. Also, not having a solid cohort during online school is probably the worst thing I have ever gone through, and I really wish that I had a proper cohort in CS, though you may not care as much.

Content:

Let’s be honest Engineering and CS/Math are very different fields, so the content in each program will be very different. In my case, I really enjoyed Physics, and Science, but also coding and some aspects of theoretical CS such as optimization, so for me the content was not too big of a deal, however, I can see how it can matter for others.

This has been a very biased blog post, but overall both programs have their positives, and to me on a fundamental level serve different purposes. I hope this has been of some use to someone, as I really wish I had someone to tell me these things when I personally was choosing my program.