The vast majority of respondents moved back home during the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, which makes sense given the situation.
Proof of vaccination used to be a requirement for entering campus, barring special circumstances. Here, we can see that everyone except for 2 people had 2 or more doses. The large majority had 3+ doses.
Although most of our respondents were never religious, most religious students continued to stay religious throughout their undergraduate years.
Only 12 people indicated that they have not learned to cook. As for the rest, more of them stated that they learned to cook during university as opposed to before. This may be because going to university is the first time that many students move out from their parents’/guardians’ home and live on their own.
Contrary to stereotypes, most UW students are active at least a few days a week! CS is an especially sedentary major so it’s important to stay active and take care of your body.
84 people have either never pulled an all-nighter or do so only once every few months. With decent time management skills, work is definitely doable and sleep does not have to be sacrificed.
52 respondents agree or strongly agree with this statement, contrasted to the 33 who disagree or strongly disagree. Based on our data, It seems like many people did not find enough time for their hobbies. Workload can often pile up.
A lot of students attend social events to relieve some stress and build relationships. Many UW students are no exception. Although we are not known for our parties, they can still frequently be found in residential areas around campus.
Looks like we have a lot of night owls!
Although many of our respondents sleep late, most people are getting 7+ hours every night. Our class schedules are typically somewhat flexible and morning classes are usually not super popular among students.
Waterloo students have a wide variety of options when it comes to food. We have a plaza filled with restaurants that serve all sorts of food such as Mexican, East Asian, Persian, Indian, etc. Although most students have learned to cook, we still enjoy eating out every so often.
With all the diverse restaurants around campus, it seems like the most popular food choices are sushi, noodles, and shawarma.
Most respondents can consistently solve medium LeetCode questions, which are often asked by large tech companies during interviews. Some people also responded with being able to solve hard level questions on LeetCode, going above and beyond.
Students invest time into side projects to show companies their software experiences and skills. Building side projects is a great way to compensate for a lack of relevant work experience. Many of our respondents have completed a few side projects. However, a large number of them have indicated that they have not done any at all during university. This could be explained by the time-consuming academic obligations that take away time to do projects. Furthermore, this also demonstrates that recent side projects are not the only factor to landing a job.
Similar to side projects, hackathons allow students to show companies their software skills and passion in technology. Despite this, hackathons are definitely not a necessity for graduating students. In fact, we see that the vast majority of our respondents never or very rarely attend hackathons currently.
Many of our respondents are involved with one or more extracurricular activities during university. These include sports, programming, council positions, and many more!
The most popular study locations according to our respondents are the Mathematics & Computer Building (MC) and the William G. Davis Computer Research Centre (DC), having 23 and 22 votes respectively. Other popular places include on residence, QNC, and E7.
URAs are great for students interested in gaining research experience. Students work under a professor of their choice and also get paid! Almost a quarter of the respondents had completed a URA.