Accounting and Financial Management at University of Waterloo

Anonymous (Year 2)

What did you wish you knew before going to your university? What made you choose this institution over all others? What are advantages and disadvantages of your institution or campus? List any advice for incoming first-year students about your university. 

I wish I knew how competitive the atmosphere in university would be. I also dislike how Waterloo doesn't really support their students, they care more about their reputation as a high ranking school. 

What did you wish you knew before choosing your specific program? What are the advantages and disadvantages of your program?  List any advice for incoming first-year students about your program of study.

I would do some research in other areas of business, as this program is specific to Accounting and Finance. There aren't many options to study other topics so you need to really enjoy it, coming into university. Some advantages are that it has coop so it gives you first hand experience and allows you to grow your network in preparation for joining the work field. 

What was your favourite university experience? 

My best experience was the welcome at the beginning of first year and the events that helped me make some friends. I would definitely recommend that you participate in orientation and join clubs.

What was your least favourite university experience?

My worst experience at university was my accounting 101 exam. The whole class went into the exam with really high marks (90-95%). In order to keep the class average lower, the professor deliberately made the exam extremely hard, close to impossible to finish, it having over 40 pages. It was a very stressful experience and I thought it was very unfair of the professor. 

What is the hardest part about your program and what were the steps that you took to overcome any difficulties?

The hardest part is keeping up with extracurriculars as you need them to get a good coop placement. The course workload is already very heavy so the expectation is very high for AFM students. 

If you were able to take electives, what was your favourite elective? If you were not able to take electives, what was your favourite course and why?

My favourite course was AFM 112 which is data analytics. I thought it was very straight forward and math oriented which is my strong suit.

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