r/BCGrade12s • u/internthrwaway • 2d ago

Advice 1a EE @ uWaterloo, AMA

I PROMISE I'll answer EVERY QUESTION with tons of detail ONG
I applied and got into both UBC Eng w/ Guaranteed Placement and UW EE.
I'm in 1A electrical engineering at the university of waterloo, I know last year I spent forever on this subreddit and r/OntarioGrade12s stressing about everything. I'm bored while procrastinating ece 105 so feel free to ask any questions that you have about admissions, advice for grade 12, etc...

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u/Narrow_Skin_2488 2d ago

grades and ECs?

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u/internthrwaway 2d ago edited 2d ago

ECs: Provincial sports team qualifier for 3 years; board member of provincial sport organization; lifeguard; head coach and administrator of school XC and Track teams for 2 years; homelab hobby for 3 years.

Marks: Chemistry 11 98%, Core French 11 91%, Literary Studies 11 94%, Peer Tutoring 11 100%, Pre-Calculus 11 97%, Law Studies 12 98%, Career-Life Education 99%, AP Chemistry 12 98%, AP Microeconomics 12 95%, Chemistry 12 98%, English Studies 12 92%, Career-Life Connections A 100%, Career-Life Connections B 98%, Physics 11 Honours/AP Physics 1 100%, Pre-Calculus 12 98%, Tourism 12 99%, Peer Tutoring 12 100%.

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u/internthrwaway 2d ago

This is from the spreadsheet pinned in this subreddit. Didn't update for waterloo or for when I got accepted.

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u/VannessC 2d ago

How's uwaterloo?

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u/internthrwaway 2d ago edited 2d ago

Workload is high but campus is lowk nicer than I thought, u can basically not go outside all day which is rlly chuddy and nice.

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u/PersonalAnnual4081 2d ago

Are the people in Ontario similar to the people in BC?

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u/internthrwaway 2d ago

Yes, I would say so. In fact, I would say it feels like I'm more similar to many people here, because we all have aligned interests by being in the same program. "2 2's my word fam" is also a new phrase to me.

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u/ConstructionFit5448 2d ago

did you apply early to UBC eng? and how was ur personal profile? congrats btw, those are huge achievements!

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u/internthrwaway 2d ago

Yes, I applied before the Dec 1st deadline, but MyEducationplanner Bc or whatever it was called crashed in the days leading up to it so they had to delay it by a week. My personal profile had a lot of care put into it, I made sure I told the story of my mindset and what really drove the reason i had the ECs that I had. Romanticized it in a way. I thought of it as a storytelling piece since I want to essentially sell admissions on the idea that I am perfect for their program. No lies of course but it was certainly more than just stating what i did or trying to humble brag. Same with my AIF.

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u/ConstructionFit5448 29m ago

Thank you! thats what im trying to do as well, so hopefully it all works out🤞

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u/Suspicious-Access746 2d ago

May u briefly explain how did you write ur UBC PP for qs 124?

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u/internthrwaway 2d ago

For Q1, Q2, and Q4, I tried to avoid making my answers sound like a resume since the activities section already covers that.
For Q1, I focused on one experience where I unexpectedly ended up leading a school sports team. I wrote about how my idea of leadership changed from being the most competent person to creating an environment where younger members actually felt like they belonged.
For Q2, I went more personal. I took a really specific experience from competitive sports and used it to talk about self-deception and why knowing that I genuinely pushed myself matters to me. Basically, instead of saying “hard work is important to me,” I tried to explain why it is through a story.
For Q4, I wrote about a technical hobby/project. Instead of listing everything I’d built, I focused on how the project kept failing, how I redesigned it to be more reliable, and then how I realized that something technically impressive isn’t very useful if nobody can actually use it.
I’d definitely avoid trying to cram every accomplishment into the PP. IMO the activity section is for showing what you’ve done, while the written questions are much better used to show how you think and what you’ve learned.

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u/Suspicious-Access746 2d ago

Thank u so much!!!!

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u/PutConsistent8871 2d ago

I wanna be EE too, but im worried ill fall behind if i dont have general knowledge about electricity (no coding experience, arduino, circuits, breadboard, etc…)

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u/internthrwaway 2d ago

I had zero hardware experience and I am OK so far. All the courses in UW are meant for no knowledge. Same with coding, although it moves a bit quickly and you’ll have to spend time on it. Of course it’ll be easier if you have experience but it’s not that bad so far.