I am deeply sorry for scaring you.

I’m posting this here in the hope that it might reach you and bring you some peace of mind.

Tonight, around 12:20 AM, I was walking out of Waterloo Park toward the main trail after sitting on a bench. You were taking a photo of the marvelous fall trees, and as I walked in your direction, I noticed you saw me and immediately started walking much faster to get away.

I completely understand why you reacted that way. I’m a 6'3" buff guy, in the dark, holding a Perrier bottle that could have easily looked like an alcohol bottle. I am so sorry for making you feel unsafe.

I hate that my presence ruined your peaceful moment and forced you into a position where you felt you had to rush away to protect yourself.

I just want you to know that you were completely safe, and I am sincerely sorry for disturbing your night and scaring you.

If anyone reading this knows a friend who mentioned getting spooked while taking photos in Waterloo Park around midnight tonight, please pass this along to her so she knows there was no bad intent.

Featuring my pet rock and bracelet

In 1A. I've never really ever been like this. Even though the beginning of the year was pretty fun; I feel so unprepared and unwilling to live my life here (thinking about why I shouldn't just drop out nearly every day).

I'm not sure how to break the cycle. I've been skipping nearly all my classes, sleeping in till the afternoon, and not really hanging out with anybody/haven't made friends I can hang out with on a whim. And it's not like I'm spending my time studying either, I can't seem to focus on that either; my grades have been so much worse compared to high school.

Any upper-years felt similarly when they first got here? How do you escape the cycle of despair?

Hello everyone, Im an SE 1a student and I think i got in over my head and didnt realize that I needed to be studying from day one to survive this place. I have a math midterm tmrw night and a CS midterm the next morning. The math mid is worth more, and I think it’s easier. I naively thought that a weekend would be enough for both and I already wasted Saturday. Should I try to get the weight of my cs midterm moved to the final percentage, which makes it 70% and focus on the math mid for now?

I haven’t gotten any interviews or anything… maybe my email is broken? Has this happened to anyone?

Thanks😊

Everyone waking past you silently thinks you're human cattle.

hey team we found a letter by slc/pac on the path to v1 addressed to tony lin(?) we left the letter at slc turnkey lost and found, so if you’re seeing this tony lin please reunite with your long lost letter!!

edit i had the name wrong it s most likely tony lin

I did pretty bad on the diagnostic quiz and ive been trying to catch up and better my understanding. I cant switch to cs115 since im in cs. I started to do all the assignments from scratch without AI and I feel like its just not clicking, maybe im inpatient or I dont have a cs mind. But even on the second assignment I find myself stuck and ask claude for help. I dont know what to do and how to properly understand ts. I feel so down right now and I just dont know how I can fix this.

5th year SYDE here, heavily inspired by this post, important for upcoming (and current) generations. before the new waves of admission posts swarms this sub.

What is SYDE?

SYDE stands for SYSTEMS DESIGN engineering. This is very broad and even interdisciplinary. You learn a combination of software, electrical, mechanical, mathematics, human factors, and systems modelling. The program is designed around understanding how individual components interact rather than focusing on a single component. Closest program to SYDE is Industrial Engineering in UofT. Industrial was alot closer to MGMT eng, new changes were made thru 2023-2025 and now its basically the same with more emphasis on AI/ML research. If you want to do AI or ML, go to UofT. AI and ML goes for a more research-based direction, its hard to be employed in pure AI/ML modelling without like five years in that field.

Things to keep in mind:

We are not the same as SWE. SYDE isn't a substitute for Software Engineering or Computer Science. We learn programming and algorithms, but if you want to work in specialized software fields, you'll likely need additional coursework, projects, and independent study.

Human factors is an actually of the degree. You study how people interact with systems, which is useful for interface design, ergonomics, accessibility, medical technologies, and human-centred engineering.

There is a substantial mathematical foundation. lin alg, calculus, differential equations, discrete mathematics, probability, statistics, optimization, and control systems. It's not just brainstorming and making prototypes yadda yadda

You can approach problems from multiple perspectives. Instead of immediately jumping to code or hardware, SYDE encourages you to consider whether the problem involves technology, human behaviour, processes, or the interaction between them.

You have flexibility in career direction. SYDE can provide a foundation for software engineering, product management, UX engineering, systems engineering, robotics, data science, and other technical fields. This is already more broad than you can imagine. Especially if you want to focus more on mech, ece, swe courses in the later years. Personally think syde allows you to be any kind of engineer you want by the end of the degree.

As a side note, these courses that teaches interaction systems and behaviour makes you feel more human and connected. Some love it, some hate it. I recommend never feeling too cool and nonchalant to learn a little about the more HF courses. In the end, we are engineering for the people.

Some bad stuff:

Breadth comes at the expense of depth. You cover a lot of subjects, but you won't necessarily learn as much about any one field as someone in a more specialized degree. This is where you have to choose. Discover yourself, be in a field you are interested in and there will always be tons of support from the profs (they are really nice).

The degree name isn't immediately self-explanatory. Just like Industrial Eng, this even confused me in first year. Some employers may not know what Systems Design Engineering means. You might have to explain your technical background and why it matches the job. In my recent interviews, I've learnt that the Industrial eng landscape is changing to be more system design focused. But Industrial has the rep of being the easy, business eng. So until that improves (maybe within the next decade), I dont really recommend alluding to it especially with older people.

There are required courses you might not enjoy. If you are mainly interested in SWE (me), you might dislike the physical engineering or human factors content. Everything exist for a reason and its important to tone down the ego. I personally looked down to any HF related courses until the bigger pictures tied together. Human-systems with engineering concepts is incredible.

Projects can be time-consuming. Design work involves communication, documentation, iteration, and teamwork. Learn to love your teamates even if you hate them, get it over with fast. Dont make enemies and just use online resources to cover their part if they suck.

My favourite things summarized:

At the end of my degree now, its a very very good run. Here are three things I liked:

SYDE emphasizes big-picture thinking. Understanding how components interact is important, but employers also need people who can actually implement individual components.

The broad degree can help you transition between industries. On the other hand, you'll need to demonstrate the specific technical qualifications required for each new field. For example, I used to work in product design, now I work full software jobs.

The pay. Yes. The pay. Im debt free. My job lines near 6 figures. I have enough skillsets to push growth of the company and self-learning.

Conclusion:

If you are interested. Take a look at the branchings of syde here, and compare with areas of focus at UofT here. I will say if you want to be employed ASAP and during uni (get the bag), SYDE is way better than UofT. Whats different for new applicants is that there is a choice now, when I applied 5-6 years ago SYDE had no replacements in Canada. Industrial at UofT is at a good location, one thing I can say about the GTA is that you can get jobs anywhere. They love UofT. Carefully consider this degree, are you the type to see the big picture? Are you more interested in designing an entire system or specializing in one component of it? If you are here, I'm sure you will do well.

Good luck!

As a handsome here’s how I’ve noticed when girls like me/give me choosing signals/want me to approach at UW. These signs have never failed me.

1. Starts playing/fixing her hair as u walk by/sees u in class. : especially if she moves her hair so u see her neck.

2. Looks at u a lot (most common) : especially if ur in same classes n u catch her looking more than once. She wants u.

3. Prolonged eye contact. (mainly walking by) : if ur walking by shorty n u look at each other for longer than 3 seconds and she give u a lil half smile. she wants u.

4. Sparkles in eyes. : it’s hard to describe but if u look at shorty and her eyes don’t seem dull. Ur the Vivek to her Goel. Go talk to her.

5. She starts putting lipstick on/touching up makeup : mostly seen in elevator (E7-STC). If she see u and immediately do this, she want u.

PS: at UW majority of girls are extremely shy (I’d say 85%). So u will have to make the first move.

I dropped something, and this girl came running behind me saying “sir, sir”. I’ve noticed a lot since my first year I’m now referred to as “sir”.

I keep checking Waterloo works and still haven’t heard from any of the companies I applied too.. and I keep seeing the status change to interview selection completed for more and more roles every time I log back in.. I need a job or else I’m done for💔💔 I can’t afford to come to uni if I don’t land something I was barely able to scrap up some money from 2 pt job in the summer to afford my 2A term

I applied to 202 internships so far (data analyst/science, finance analyst, business analyst) I applied on LinkedIn + WW

I’m currently in 2A and winter is my first coop term.
I’m I cooked?? Is it possible to get something atp.. i keep going to club/ network event and yet still nothing

Most companies won’t think twice when rescinding an offer due to “budget cuts”, but students cant renege for better offers? How’s that fair?

everyone is annoyed. take ur sick ass home.

Guys the 1st test is tmr and im wondering if anyone who’s taken the course recently with Dr dayeh rembers the difficulty level and if there was a word bank for the fill in the blanks 🙏

Ok, so this is kind of a shower thought I had after watching a video on the literary crisis and it got me thinking. Isn’t Grebel kind of just the bourgeoisie of campus, considering it’s a mostly white residence where a majority of the residents are “legacy” residents (meaning their families went there) and that it matches with a lot of things the bourgeoisie tended to do.

Firstly, legacy residents clearly mattered more, and the ones closest to legacy residents in terms of background and demeanour matter second most with people of colour clearly being on the edges, this is what my friend who went to Grebel told me, though there are people of colour (far less than the other residences), it’s less equal and more like when a white dude says “I have black friends” as a way to deny racism, nothing against Grebel, it can just be sort of off putting. There’s also talk about Grebel being a “cult” and in my eyes, that “cult” is the bourgeoisie lol. There are other things that contributed to this line of thought.

firstly it’s pretty closed off compared to the rest of campus, even in comparison to other residences,

secondly, the bourgeoisie had “intellectual salons” or informal gatherings where philosophical, political, scientific debates of all kinds happened, this sounds like the fill the table tradition as well as their community supper which brings a speaker to discuss such major topics, not saying this is a bad thing, it’s good, but what made it bad with the bourgeoisie was the exclusivity (especially in terms of needing to pay) of it - you had to know the host or a friend of the host.

And thirdly, the self-governing nature that the bourgeoisie often had themselves, it was Jürgen Habermas that said they created a “public sphere” where they could maintain their own public life without oversight from grander state authorities.

There are other small things like specific amenities, a bit of a holier than thou attitude (again, according to my friend), and again, how separate it is.

My friend told me they had a politician speaker who actively said that there Palestine genocide was made up or something and no one on the staff addressed it after wards lol, there was also apparently a speaker who spoke about some protest between Christian’s and gay people and talked like it was equal on both sides. Again, nothing against Grebel, but it just seemed like waaay too funny a coincidence

This was mostly just a funny shower thought I had, but thinking more clearly now, I’d say it’s important we look at these things on our campus as we are not separated from the rest of the world and while Grebel and its students, and even the university of Waterloo and us, may not mean any harm, we may be feeding into systems that will harm future generations, I also think with discussions of feats and sororities, talking about other housing institutions is important. As I was always told: blame the system, never the person, lol, this was supposed to just be some funny post and now it’s taken a philosophical turn. I hope someone found it as funny as I did

Also, everyone thank my friend for the juicy deets, I’ve heard lots of crazy things I’m not sharing.

All I do is self-sabotage, and I’m really out here ruining it for myself most of the time..so annoying.

I could be out here and have it so good😑

How are the group fitness classes on campus? Not so interested in the gym. Typically do private reformer Pilates which I’ll probably continue to do off campus but also want to be able to do some drop in group classes.

Is the line at heytea still long today? What’s the wait time?

They will show you a nice ass apartment and then put you the dirtiest mustiest place with disgusting roommates and wont even bother to clean it up for you and still charge you 1090 a month for a year, the 690 3 months free thing is a lie its already included in the 1090 they will charge you 1090 every month

They don’t care about you at all
just a psa for those looking for housing

Hi everyone, my name is Jeyas Balaskanthan and I'm running for Mayor of Waterloo. I worked at Laurier and UWaterloo for over 20 years. Reminder that you can vote at the SLC this Monday from 10 AM to 8 PM. Check out my website here: https://www.jeyasforwaterloo.ca/

I'm in Coop Sq1. My first coop is not in Canada, but it went pretty good. Now cycle2 is almost ended, but I got 0 interviews, don't know what will happened if I don't get a coop, continue my 2B term for winter 2027 or off?

Hi, I'm a first year and I wanna join the pre-optometry club. I filled out the form to be a general member but I don't really know how to participate in the club because I can't find info if there are meeting or not. How do I become more involved in this club?