YOU@WATERLOO DAY TOUR ROUTE

START HERE
(SPRING 2017)
END

-----OPTIONAL PATH; TIME PERMITTING

Preamble

SUGGESTED route is not the MANDATORY route. If there is a specific interest within your group,
highlight and focus on those parts of the tour and drop parts that would not be of interest.
Give personal experiences, stories and knowledge points about landmarks, or specific areas of campus to
give a more intimate and relatable tour to the student.
Try to get to know your tourees, so you can point out program specific points-of-interest, or things that
would directly catch their attention and interest them.
 Talking Points Along Suggested Route
Start: FEDS HALL
Welcome (name, year, program, anything youd like the group to know; etc)
Tour will be approximately an hour, and will bring them back to Feds Hall, they are free to leave whenever
Congratulate students for getting an offer to UW Engineering - Canadas largest engineering program with
> 8800 students
Introduction to Waterloo Engineering 101
- UW is ranked top 50 engineering schools worldwide
- Started as a coop only program (the first of its kind) and still continues today - 95 % co-op
employment rate
- Co-op gives you up to 2 years of co-op experience by time you graduate
Why did YOU choose UW Engineering? OR Why do you like UW Engineering?
Before you begin the rest of the tour, ask the group what engineering program they are interested in
and if they are interested in athletics or extra-curricular activities, or if they want to see anything in
particular

Quantum-Nano Center
- $160 million-dollar building - won 2014 Chicago Athenaeum International Architecture Award
- Home of the Institute for Quantum Computing, Waterloo Institute for Nanotechnology and
Nanotechnology Engineering Program
- Honeycomb exoskeleton protects the building from any vibrations
- Labs are strategically buried below grade to minimize interference from EMI and vibration
- A series of back-painted glass white boards reflect light - allow students and scientists to capture
spontaneous ideas

RCH (OPTIONAL)
Talk about program specific courses - if you know about them
If they are interested in your program, list the type of courses and labs that you take
Direct entry program
- Cohort system is great! Although the largest engineering school in Canada, between streams and
classes it doesnt feel overwhelming. If you benefit from the smaller classes and being with the
same people year after year, then mention that.
What has your co-op experience been like?
- If you havent had a co-op, talk about what your co-op experiences you hope to get, or what
youre looking forward to getting out of co-op
Co-op
- Largest co-operative education program in the world, largest building (Tatham centre) with
resources dedicated to co-op - interviews, resume critiques, career advisors.
- Explain the streams (4 stream, 8 stream)
- Engineering is 100% co-op
- First year is the hardest, but there is a lot of resources to help students find jobs
- Highest graduation success rate in the country at 91%; Ontario average is 82%
If you have switched programs, talk about your experience
- can mention that it is still possible to switch between streams (groups of first year courses i.e. Mech, Civil,
Chem and Management take the same group vs. Tron, ECE and Systems; relatively easy to switch between,
especially if the decision is made in first year)

DWE
14 different disciplines of engineering
$15-million expansion and renovation
Enviro, geotech, sediment, waste water, microbiology and soil remediation labs
CPH FOYER
CnD
- Engineering CnD sells the cheapest coffee on campus (only 60 cents for a full mug!)
POETs
Engineering lounge to hang out, have lunch (microwaves provided), watch some TV, or play some
foosball.
traditions => Purpling, coveralls, The Tool, Iron Rings, Leather jackets
Take them into POETS and show them the Tool Wall and Frosh Week

CONTINUING DOWN THE HALL IN CPH

The Orifice and Engineering Society **If possible, get an Exec to come out and talk
- 3 pillars of EngSoc => Services, Representation, and Events
- Offers tons of services => CnD, POETS, exam bank, resume critiques, school supplies, engineering
novelties,
- EngSoc represents the students to numerous bodies (Feds, the Faculty, external organizations)
- Events => dozens of social events to meet new people; show them the calendar outside
What EngSoc events/services have you attended/used?
- Examples: TalEng, semi-formals, coffee house, ski trips, LAN parties, GradComm (charity grilled
cheese), Coloring contest, Waterloo Engineering Competition,
International Exchange Board - Map
- Have you gone on an international co-op term or international exchange?
Offering the largest Engineering exchange program with 62 agreements in 25 countries around the world
WiE and Engineers without Borders Board
- Have you been involved with Women in Engineering or Engineers without Borders?

UNDERGRADUATE OFFICE
Student support => offers counsellors for personal and academic reasons
First year office => show them a typical schedule on the board
- Extensive support system for first year students (WEEF TAs, EngSoc first year mentoring program,
WiE mentoring)
- We want everyone to graduate and get jobs!

WEEF LAB (E2)

WEEF lab (Waterloo Engineering Endowment Fund)
- Recently renovated where first years take drafting, circuits and computer classes
The TAs (Office moved to PHYS, still talk about the service)
- Upper year students hired for co-op specifically to help first years
- Run numerous help sessions and are easy to approach

ENGINEERING 3
Heavy lab wing => place for students to work hands on with different processes and equipment related to
their field

ENGINEERING 5 In the Atrium

Engineering 5 is home to:
- 1st and 2nd floor: Student Design Center and Student space
- 3rd floor: Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering
- 4th and 5th: Electrical and Computer Engineering research facilities
- 6th: Systems Design Engineering
- Entrepreneurship is huge at Waterloo (Mention 4th Year Design Projects)
- Over 700 spin-off companies have been created by our grads; the most in the country big thanks to the
only inventor-owned intellectual property policy (very important because the university takes no stake from
the invention at all)
- Velocity residence and garage, entrepreneurship coops, capstone design projects
 - Engineering Ideas Clinic - A convertible space that will be available for use for all engineering programs
to do hands on practical work with their professors and classmates. Ex. will have a small pond and sandbox
for robotics testing. Nothing like it currently exists. Predicted to be finished in 2018.
- Additional classroom space will allow Biomedical Engineering to increase number of accepted students
per year
- Expansion of mechatronics program
Engineering 6 (if anyone is interested in chemical engineering)
- Designed for innovation - 48 state-of-the-art research labs for grad students and profs (areas include
plastics and polymer science, biochemical, advanced materials and process systems engineering)
In the Student Design Center
Student design shop
- Funded by WEEF
- Has full time staff to support the students and teach them the proper ways to use equipment
Home of the 26 student design teams that compete internationally
- Midnight Sun, Baja, Formula SAE, Hybrid, Robotics to name a few
Contains work bays, design studios, computer labs, meeting rooms, painting and sanding shop, 3D printer
and electrical assembly workspace

Davis Center (DC)

Home of Software Engineers and ECE
Software is part of both the Math and Engineering Faculties
Technical library (Engineers and Math)

Conclusion
Ask if they have any more questions and thank them for coming