Is Waterloo good for international students?

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The University of Waterloo is a comprehensive public university in the city of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. The school was founded in 1957 by Drs. Gerry Hagey and Ira G. Needles, and has since grown to an institution of more than 30,000 students, faculty, and staff. The school is notable for being the first university in North America to create a Faculty of Mathematics, and for having the largest co-operative education program in the world.

Maclean's Reputational University Rankings for Canadian universities has consistently ranked UW first in the "Most Innovative" and "Leaders of Tomorrow" sections, and second in the "Highest Quality" section. The school is also known for having more company spin-offs than any other Canadian university. As of Fall 2009, there were 26,451 full-time (1,628 part-time) undergraduate and 3,505 full-time (921 part-time) graduate students, with 1,047 full-time faculty members and 2,184 staff. The school has approximately 151,000 alumni in 143 countries.

Location & Facilities

The main campus is located along University Avenue in Waterloo, Ontario on what was, until the 1960s, farmland. Since its creation, a considerable level of commercial and residential development has built up around the Waterloo campus, notably with many offices of high-tech firms.

A new campus for the health sciences program has been built in Kitchener, Ontario and includes a satellite of McMaster University's Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine and the School of Pharmacy.

The University of Waterloo is a public institution that was founded in 1957. The Canadian university's main campus is in Waterloo, Ontario, not far from several of the Great Lakes and the U.S. border. The university also has satellite campuses in nearby Cambridge, Kitchener and Stratford. More than 30,000 students attend the university. Tuition is generally higher for international students, though a handful of graduate programs charge domestic and international students the same rate. University housing is available for both undergraduate and graduate students.

The university has six main academic divisions: applied health sciences, arts, engineering, environment, math and science. The main campus has four affiliated university colleges – Conrad Grebel University College, Renison University College, St. Jerome’s University and St. Paul's University College – where students can pursue a Waterloo degree in a smaller academic community. The language of instruction is English, and the university's academic calendar consists of three terms. Many of the university's students participate in a co-op program that allows them to alternate academic terms with terms spent in in the workforce. More than 120 of Waterloo's undergraduate programs offer a co-op option. The university also offers joint degree programs with global universities in several countries, including China's Tsinghua University, Taiwan's National Chiao Tung University and the U.K.'s University of Warwick. A sampling of the university's research institutions includes the Water Institute, the Waterloo Centre for Automotive Research and the Mike & Ophelia Lazaridis Quantum-Nano Centre.

University of Waterloo rankings for the year 2022 nationally are – the university ranks #1 in Canada as per Macleans for experiential learning. Macleans also ranks the University of Waterloo at #1 for the most innovative university. Globally, the University of Waterloo has been ranked by QS - World University Ranking at #149, US News & World Report - Global Universities at #199 and THE (Times Higher Education) - University Ranking placing the university between 201-250 for the year 2022. 

University of Waterloo courses are offered across six faculties of Arts, Engineering, Environment, Health, Mathematics and Science and 30+ Departments and Schools. Overall, level wise, the University of Waterloo offers over 100+ undergraduate majors and 190 postgraduate programs to its students. Popular courses offered at the University of Waterloo are - Computer Science ranked #1 as per Macleans for 2022, Engineering, Business and Public Health courses.  

As per the University of Waterloo admission stats of Fall 2021, the university admitted 42,500 students. There were 21% of undergraduate and 40% of the graduates who were international students admitted at the University of Waterloo in 2021. Overall, there were 8,953 international students out of 42,500 enrolled in Fall 2021. Also, the total number of undergraduates enrolled at the University of Waterloo in Fall 2021 was 6,715. For admission related details check out: University of Waterloo Admissions  

Students studying at the University of Waterloo can apply for on-campus accommodation. There are seven options to choose from namely - Village 1 (V1), Ron Eydt Village (REV), Claudette Millar Hall (CMH), Mackenzie King Village (MKV), UW Place (UWP), Columbia Lake Village South (CLV-South), Columbia Lake Village North (CLV-North) and Minota Hagey (MH). Undergraduates can choose for their choice of accommodation from V1, REV and CLV-South. 

Around 96% of the co-operative education program graduates of 2019-20 of University of Waterloo, were employed within 06 months of graduation working in their corresponding areas of skill and expertise. These students earned between CAD 8,400 to CAD 18,000 while working in accordance with the Canadian terms, earning an average salary of CAD 12,700 per week. Over 7,100+ co-operative employers have hired 25,000+ graduates of the University of Waterloo till date.  

More than 250,000 graduates make up the alumni network of the University of Waterloo. The University boasts of its 1 Nobel laureate, 5 Killam Prize winners and 2 Canada 150 Research Chairs. Notable alumni of the University of Waterloo are - Mike Lazaridis who is the co-founder of BlackBerry, Kevin O'Leary who was the former dragon on CBC’s Dragon’s Den, Martha Lenio – she is the first woman to lead a Mars mission, John Baker the president and founder of Desire2Learn, David Cheriton a computer science professor at the Stanford University, Steven Woods – senior Engineering Director at Google Canada, Heather Moyse is a multisport athlete and many others.

Is University of Waterloo good for international students?

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