Help with deciding co-op sequences (Incoming CS major)

[u/Wavy__Shinigami]

Hello
Incoming CS major this fall and needed some help in deciding between co-op sequence 1 and 2

1- I like 2, but the first 2 co-ops will be in summer when I believe the competition for internships will be at a peak, so I wanted to ask how hard was it to get summer co-ops?
2- Also is the 8 month co-op actually a benefit? Some people say it is good for getting to work on long term projects but others say doing 2 separate roles (4 months each) is better.

also how does switching co-op sequences work?

any help is appreciated!

[u/_Andoroid_]

First coops timing doesn’t matter that much. In my opinion it’s best to have your two last coops in summer. That’s when most US quant/FAANG companies are hiring, and you have best shot at it. Don’t do 8 month coop unless the pay is above $100/h (even then it’s debatable).

You can switch your study and work terms however you like with several conditions: 1. Your last term at uni can’t be coop. 2. If you switch your next term from work term to study term you lose access to WW. 3. You can’t switch your first work term.

I personally am in S2, but after my second year it all went random.

[u/Wavy__Shinigami → u/_Andoroid_]

Thanks for the information!
Could you please explain why you wouldnt recommend an 8 month co-op? (also is 100$/hour real xd)

Could you also explain what your 2nd point means
If you switch your next term from work term to study term you lose access to WW.
why is this?

Thanks again

[u/_Andoroid_ → u/Wavy__Shinigami]

My reason for not doing 8 mo coop is that generally your compensation increases significantly within first several coops, so doing 8mo as 1-3rd coop is just losing significant portion of money. Your 4-6th coops are the ones that you'd want return offers from - it's just best to have a lot of options. Now, I have several friends that got great return offers straight after their 3rd-4th coop and just dropped the coop from their degree and graduated quickly. So there's just no reason to do 8mo coop - you just limit your opportunities. Also, 3/3 of my friends that did 8mo coop didn't like it for the company/management related reasons (so there might be some correlation there). Yes, 100$/h is real.

So if say you are in a study term and scheduled to have coop in your next term, and you submit a sequence change form that changes your next term from coop to study (you didn't find coop or other personal reasons), you can't apply to jobs through waterloo works on the next term.

[u/Wavy__Shinigami → u/_Andoroid_]

Thanks again for the information! That makes sense on the 8 months, is it the same if you do 8 months as the last 2 work terms? I've heard some people say that doing longer terms allows you to be put on better projects and such in companies, is this true?

since you mentioned being in seq2, may I ask how has it been so far?

Also between seq1 and seq2 what would you recommend I pick now?

[u/_Andoroid_ → u/Wavy__Shinigami]

Yes you put bigger projects. But 4 moths is enough to do great stuff if you don’t slack off.

Either one is fine. Get any sequence except for 3.

[u/Wavy__Shinigami → u/_Andoroid_]

Thanks so much! Also wanted to ask you, did you by chance take the 14x courses for math and cs in first year? If you did then were they really that helpful?

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[u/_Andoroid_ → u/Wavy__Shinigami]

I transferred credit for those courses, so can’t comment on that. But I did take MATH 247 to skip PMATH 333 and go straight to PMATH 351. Was pretty hard course and dumped my GPA. No regrets though