The first post with the “exchange” tag

Hello again!

This time around, we have a new tag, and it has to do with exchange! An exciting topic, and one that we will hopefully see more of in the future. There are many topics we could explore within “exchange”, so in this first post I wanted to outline what an exchange is, how one might go about participating in one, and also some information on my own planned exchange. In future posts we can explore more in depth about the application process (at least from my perspective), so this particular article will be more broad.

What is an exchange?

From Waterloo’s study abroad website: “Spend one or two terms exploring a different country and culture, and gain credits toward your degree at one of Waterloo’s partner schools. You pay your tuition to Waterloo while experiencing world-class teaching, training and facilities abroad.”

Should be relatively straightforward—you go to a partner university and study there, completing a study term abroad. You still pay tuition to Waterloo, rather than the host school. You cover your own living expenses (including housing), just as you would in Waterloo!

Beyond the classroom though (see that beyond ideas reference wow so funny), it is an opportunity to explore! Perhaps it is a completely new culture and environment, or maybe one that you have roots in but you have not had the chance to know more about. Could be that you have been learning a language and want to apply it in a real-life context. Or you have been dreaming of visiting X since you were young. Who knows? Could be all of the above too!

How does exchange work?

For the most up-to-date information, you should definitely check the Waterloo Study Abroad website, and also if you are in engineering then the Faculty of Engineering Exchange website (both are hyperlinked). I talk from my own experience, so some things might change in the future or be done differently depending on your program/year-by-year.

Typically, you will need to do a few things:

• attend a mandatory information session
• do some research (or a lot of research haha)
• actually apply through Waterloo Passport, rank the schools, etc.

I won’t go into the trenches for details, since they are all on the website. Although you cannot apply without attending the mandatory session, you can still access and view schools that you can exchange to on Waterloo Passport. Be sure to check that your faculty has an agreement with the school; some schools are only for certain faculties (for example, only Faculty of Math students can apply to ETH, one of the universities in Switzerland.)

I would also point out that certain schools are more “competitive” to get into—this is all explained on the website, but for application purposes it tells you the chance of getting in based on how you rank the schools (up to 4). Ranking a green school first pretty much guarantees you being matched to them; for red and yellow schools you would have to rank those as your top choice to have a chance, since those are almost all given out for people who picked it as their first choice. Pick the school that interests you! Do not pick the most “competitive” one just because it is “competitive”—if you don’t want to go there, then do not go! It will do you no good

Some engineering/ECE specific things

For engineering specifically (or at least I was told), you actually have to get your course equivalencies approved before you submit your application on Waterloo Passport. Reach out to the Engineering Exchange Office and ask them who in your department is responsible for checking course equivalencies. I’m not sure if each department does it differently, but for ECE, there were two documents to fill out, and they will be given to you by the course equivalency coordinator (? not sure if that is the proper name). In theory, you have to fill out a set of forms for each school you are interested in applying for, though you only need to send your top choice school for course equivalency approval.

For ECE (and probably other engineering departments as well), it can be hard to find course equivalencies for all your core courses. I will talk more about course equivalencies in another post if I remember to, but you will have to do your research, especially if you want to graduate on time!

Why go on an exchange?

If you are here, you probably are thinking about it. Just go for it, (and do your research!) no further explanation needed :)

(My explanation may come in a later post)

Where to?

Where to? Here:

I will be doing a full academic year exchange for 2022-2023, so two study terms abroad at EPFL. The French name (and the acronym) is École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, although I guess you can also use their English name: Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne. Much easier to use the acronym though. This means I would complete my 3A and 3B study terms not at the University of Waterloo. Fun fact: if the whole exchange is completed, that will mean I would have completed at least half of my degree not physically in Waterloo! 🤯 That is pretty crazy (1A and 1B were fully online and I was at home, then 3A and 3B are at EPFL.)

Why EPFL? Why Switzerland? Why exchange? Why two terms? Those are questions for another time, another post

Concluding Thoughts

This was a rambly post, but hopefully gave some insight into what an exchange is and some parts to be on the lookout for. As mentioned at the start, I do want to document and record some of the processes I went through, for my own future reference and maybe someone else who is considering going on exchange.

See you soon, maybe not from Waterloo!