r/uwaterloo • u/Heavy_Reason9523 • Jun 10 '26
Question Why Did I Get Denied?
Hey everyone,
A couple of friends and I applied to Waterloo. I ended up getting denied, but virtually all of them got in. At this moment, I am on a call with one of them, and they encouraged me to ask the subreddit. Could anyone tell me why? I believe I am a strong student, as my resume is extensive.
Program: Mechanical Engineering
For reference (do note, it's cut short since I don't want to make it seem like I'm bragging):
- Average: 97%, between the top 6, it is 96%
- Volunteer hours: 505
- Completed a special program where I can take a university credit in high school, and achieved 99% in that course
- Valedictorian (I understand it doesn't mean much in Canada, but I felt it should be worth mentioning)
- Science Competitor at local university, awarded 2nd and 3rd
- Awarded busary by my high school (My commencement is in two days. I was not told what award it was, but I was informed that I did win, and that it will be revealed on the day of commencement)
- Various awards for character and academic achievement, some of these being in the sciences, others in music (it's a big passion of mine). Over my high school career, it is about 12-15.
- Achieved fourth quartile on my Casper Test
Again, I don't mean to come off as egoistic, but I do think my high school career has been strong, and that my admission was strong, too. Many of my friends agree.
I apologize if this is a weird post. This is my first post on Reddit lol.
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u/1000Ditto meme studiesđ Jun 10 '26
where are the extracurriculars? most applicants have a life, including a few of the following
- arts (music, theater)
- business (deca, jr achievement)
- sports (team sports and or individual)
- leadership (student council, community involvement)
- debate/politics (model un, debate club)
- science/tech/engineering/math clubs/cs clubs (broad bucket)
- helping to run as a leader, an initiative (club leader, setting up new initiatives)
- actual excellence in the extracurricular is good (not just " I attemded 1849482 clubs my school has and here are all my participation medals")
not to mention part time jobs and real work expereiences that show you are interested in mechanical eng (ie fixing bikes, 3d printing, helping someone fix a car)
not to be blunt but:
average is probably higher than average for a mech
nobody cares about volunteer hours much, they arent useful (sorry), unless you put meaningful effort into the cause
special program meaning what? is there a standard? like an AP course? AP courses are weighted the same as a regular course most of the time because there is no clear standardization to apply a meaningful bonus.
congrats on valedictorian !!
sorry I cant comment on the awards because there isnt enough information (technically if there are 3 people in the science competition and you scored 3rd, then it would be last. Im sure this isnt the case because you sound pretty gifted, but I am not sure the scope and geographical location of the school to say much.)
character awards are subjective based on how hard you are a teacher's pet, most of the time, but that's networking and grad studies in general :P
hope this helped!
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u/geesecitizenship Jun 10 '26
truth hurts but bro is right. extracurriculars are valued way more if most of the applicants have a high average
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u/1000Ditto meme studiesđ Jun 10 '26
unfortunately ai makes lots of coursework ai generatable and most folks are gifted enough to sail through high school with ease. not saying that op did that, but it does raise the applicant pool average and probably the cutoff :(
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u/Heavy_Reason9523 Jun 10 '26
I didn't mention most of the extracurriculars, but here are a few that have substance to them:
- Robotics Club, placed 6th in the province
- Did junior, senior, and jazz band, received an award regarding my commitment and excellence.
- Participated in youth ensemble run by our local university. Musicians across our city are picked. Placed first chair.
- Participated in a community band, fourth chair.
- Created a wind ensemble at my high school, intended for those who seek harder music
- Participated in my local university's symphonic band. Placed principal horn.
- Choir, received an award for being the strongest rookie
- Reach for the Top (trivia team), placed 2nd at district competitions
- Healthy Schools Committee (talking about mental health)
- Music council secretary, kept track of meetings and handled/processed data
- Head of AV lighting department
- Ran tech for our theatre shows
- Participated in cross country, swim team, badminton, ultimate frisbee, and track and field. Made it to provincials for ultimate frisbee.
- Was an anchor for morning announcements. For context, our morning announcements are similar to a news broadcast. I was an anchor.
To cut it short, these are some of the clubs. I think I have many music ec's and a few sport ec's. Most of the unmentioned clubs are social justice clubs, but those didn't have any award/noteworthy positions.
Regarding the special program: Given the close proximity to our university, four students per school in our city can take a university credit while still in high school. I ended up taking music, playing in their symphonic band.
Regarding the competition positions. Most, if not all, are against other schools in the district, city, or province. Unfortunately, I haven't made nationals for anything :/.
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u/thatonebckid Jun 10 '26
I think its because of how you wrote your aif. Why did you list your 505 unrelated volunteer hours over your robotics ec and music ecs?
When I first read your post I thought it was because you didn't have a life outside of academics. I am aware now that you have a life, but it was only after someone prodded you for that information.
TL;DR you probably focused on the completely wrong things on your aif, making the AO's believe all you do is study when in reality you do so much more than that.
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u/No_Two4477 Jun 10 '26
imo in waterloo's AIF, you need to show them
1. ur ability to handle their program (not everyone can go studying then immediately working for 5 yrs straight with 6+ courses a term, even those with high avgs)
2. you have a life outside of school and can contribute to their communityfor example, i used piano and showed how my discipline, growth mindset, commitment for 11+ yrs was able to help me achieve my awards, rather than frontloading my awards/numbers. then in the next question i talked about how i was able to use my skills for the community by volunteer teaching, choir work, etc. (3+ yrs)
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u/1000Ditto meme studiesđ Jun 10 '26
I used piano and showed how I could peform for the school, teach as a teacher within the school, self employ myself, and talk about the focus and persistence to maintain these levels of time management (while working a second job (for less than min wage)), so the framing (breadth and depth) on topics is important
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u/Budget-Project803 smelliest CS grad student Jun 10 '26
This is some sagely wisdom. Especially the part about having a mech eng related or adjacent hobby.
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u/epicboy75 mech and potatoes Jun 10 '26
fuck me man looks like shits gotten harder since they let my dumbass in back in 2021 lol
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u/your_local_supplier Jun 10 '26
Nope I didnât even pass gr12 and took courses again and got accepted into everything including UofT right away wit 88avg 88 in Eng bs volunteering hours no extra circular and fuck all attendance. Granted Iâm going for law and legal studies so idk maybe stem different.
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u/Formal-Buy8234 ece Jun 10 '26 edited Jun 10 '26
i had a look at how this year's AIF was structured, and while waterloo (maybe?) doesn't want to say it, an important part of the AIF is connecting your experiences directly to engineering and the program you're applying to. i don't know why this year is so much different, but when i was applying, there was a section dedicated towards showcasing your engineering feats/skills. given that your ec's don't mention anything that involves iterative problem-solving, that might be the reason.
like, looking at the AIF prompts, i have a hard time seeing how you could have answered the prompts:
"Have you explored, been exposed to, or have experience in the field you plan to pursue and if so, how?" [...] "How will you apply this knowledge as a student at the University of Waterloo?"
but at the same time, idk if that's really the case. because in the same article they state:
We're not looking for [...] you to have engineering-related experience.
so, who knows. my best guess is that you lacked an experience that involved iterative problem solving
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u/Heavy_Reason9523 Jun 10 '26
I apologize for not mentioning more ec's, but some of them are listed under 1000Ditto's comment. If we're talking about only ec's that mention iterative problem-solving, I guess it makes sense, given that most of my ec's are music and sports. Thanks for the reply nonetheless : )
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u/Formal-Buy8234 ece Jun 10 '26 edited Jun 10 '26
you have a robotics ec... why was this not the first thing you mentioned? it doesn't really matter now, but robotics is the epitome of iterative problem solving. literally, you have worked on a electromechanical system in a team-based environment and achieved 6th in the province. to achieve this, you must have analyzed, designed, executed, tested and revised over and over again. how was this not your leading ec? again, not that it matters now. you seem like a smart guy, so i think you'll be okay regardless. but this should have been one the main ec's.
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u/talexbatreddit i was once uw / SD '82 Jun 10 '26
Agree with this point. I did the software for a robotics project '85 to '87, just a few years out of UW Engineering, and it was quite a stretch. That should definitely be the top thing in your list.
Then again, I imagine that anyone reviewing an AIF wouldn't care about the order -- they'd be more interested in the totality of your activities.
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u/Budget-Project803 smelliest CS grad student Jun 10 '26
Prefacing this by saying I'm not trying to be a jerk:
Because it's literally still a lottery. After 90+ avg, I'd consider undergrads all the same. Everybody has to go to school, that doesn't make you a competitive applicant. What have you actually built? You could have volunteered 200 hours and spent 305 hours on doing something different that other applicants arent doing. Why didn't you? Take the best offer you can get and apply yourself to big things.
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u/nimbus-dimbus Jun 10 '26
Hmm..Youâre achievements look great. Maybe mech eng in particular is more competitive this year compared to previous years
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u/Potential-Drag9761 Jun 10 '26
Could be, before ~2010 (the comp Sci boom), Electrical, Mechanical, and Civil were the most competitive. As the CS job market is starting to dwindle, the 3 âlegacyâ eng programs are starting to regain their competitiveness.
Source: Current Tron Student.
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u/wholetthedawgin Jun 10 '26 edited Jun 10 '26
I remember reading that there are a couple of alums here who got invited to volunteer reading & scoring applicantâs AIF. I wonder if they have any insights as to how the expectations changed over the years with the prompts.
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u/Complex-Effect-7442 Jun 10 '26
Is your high school known to inflate grades? Perhaps when compared across the province you're really only an 80% student.
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u/Disastrous-Zombie-30 Jun 10 '26
Why do you want to be an engineer? Itâs a bit strange you list all your âaccomplishmentsâ but donât lead with how disappointed you are because you really want to be an engineer. Thatâs probably what stood out to the AIF cmte. Itâs hard to fake real interest when youâre competing with people who have built cool stuff, started businesses, etc.
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u/No_Marsupial_8574 Math Phys Jun 10 '26
I get it. I would be dumbfounded too, and at least a bit frustrated. My high school results were honestly trash when I applied. I don't mean that in the humble sense either, in the same way you don't mean to brag. I can't offer any speculation as it's not my program, but I hope you can get some closure from this thread at least.
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u/Ready-Government9774 Jun 10 '26
For admissions for eng at least I read from an admissions officer blog of how they compare you with other people in a group and choose a few, and then move onto the next group. Could be the other members had stronger applications for that group
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u/Electrofile1 Jun 10 '26
I'm not sure exactly how Waterloo decides who gets in but there are a certain factors I'm sure of. Every school in Ontario has an adjustment factor and each province gets one too. I think what the university looks for is someone who challenges themselves. I was personally told that they would rather have someone who took a hard AP course or IB program and got a lower grade than a person who took the easiest courses and got a 97. Even here, I see many who averaged 99 in high school completely crumble here. For reference my average was about 88 but I got into an eng program here but I did make sure to take all AP courses. I think they also look for a certain passion and personality during application. Too many people get serious and start sounding like a robot when they list off their accomplishments. The truth is there are thousands of grads every year who average high grades and dip their hands in half a dozen extracurriculars and score in the top quartile of what could be dozens of possible tests. They're looking for who you are, not for who you think they want.
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u/TheTigersCradle Jun 10 '26
Im not from ontario but when did unis in canada require extracur. đ
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u/geesecitizenship Jun 10 '26
UWaterloo's AIF specifically requests for extracurriculars, not sure about other unis
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u/Chemroo Jun 10 '26
Crazy reading these when I got into engineering with an 87 average over 10+ years ago!!
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u/IGo_Meow Jun 10 '26
Hey, if there is one thing I've learnt about the admissions process, it's that it's a game of luck, there r millions of applications like urs, and unfortunately urs didn't make the cut! Nevertheless, it's ok! It's a part of life, I can assure you just because your path is diverging from your friends doesn't mean it's going to be less interesting or cool (even if u got to a diff uni than 'loo) Jus take this rejection as a redirection and do your best shot at the uni u go to!
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u/CommissionRecent886 Jun 11 '26
Itâs all luck at a certain point. Really the only thing that could make you stand out is good internships in highschool, publications, national or international awards. Other than that itâs a lottery
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u/DrewElias Jun 11 '26
Have you reached out in person to anyone at the admissions department at uwaterloo?
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u/Dependent_Middle_521 Jun 11 '26
You might've already seen this response or similar but whatever. The adjustment factor shouldn't matter too much if your friends from the same school got in so it's probably not that.
The main thing I've noticed about Waterloo is they care a lot about who you are on your AIF. For example, if you said you maintained a strong average in high school on the form, it's not any new information since they will already check for that. However, if you mention that you like to paint/knit/play badminton in your free time it could give you a leg up. I and some of my friends got into computer science, math, and software engineering just from showing some personality on the form.
This is mostly as a tip for people applying next year I suppose. Of course, there's no way to truly find out, but one thing I've noticed common among people who didn't get in this year is the lack of talking about hobbies and non academic stuff, and instead prioritizing their grades and school merit. (This year was also much harder to get in, from what I've seen, the bar was raised quite a bit, so don't blame yourself too much for it.) Either way, I wish you luck in your future endeavors.
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u/Every_Emotion_857 Jun 11 '26
What was ur second choice? Did u get into that? Thatâs year I applied to mech with a lower avg. (similar ecs etc) but I instead got into my second choice chem Eng (which I am very happy in to be clear lol) my friend with around the same avg as u but less ecs got into mech tho so idk.
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u/FrozenShootr_xD ECE Jun 15 '26
Bro icl, u have a lot of ecs and ur grades r good(prolly above avg for mech) but ur ecs donât rlly mean much cause they seem âvagueâ and if thatâs how u write ur AIF, ur cooked
Also why would u put Casper q4 on it, like put anything else, it seems like u rlly had nothing better to put on it.
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u/smieltheperson Jun 10 '26
High school achievements seem pretty good. Maybe the AIF or online interview could have gone better, or your high school's adjustment factor (but this is unlikely if your friends got in).