EXPERIENCE REPORT UNIVERSITY OF WATERLOO
Name: Marlot Nugteren
E-mail: marlot_95@hotmail.com
Study Program: Psychology
Exchange semester: Winter
Academic year: 2015
Host University: University of Waterloo
Country: Canada
I GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT THE SCHOOL
The University of Waterloo is located in the city of Waterloo, an hour west
from Toronto. Waterloo is as big as the city of Delft, having a population of
about 100.000. The University of Waterloo has 30,600 undergraduates and
5,300 graduate students. 13 % of the undergraduates are international
students. The university has the #1 psychology department in Canada, by
citations, and is known as Canada’s largest engineering school.
II PRACTICAL INFORMATION
I received my pre-arrival information from the international office about a
month and a half before I started my semester at the University of Waterloo.
This information included the courses I could take, information about housing,
health insurance, study permits (visa) and other important stuff. Because I
would stay in Canada for less than 6 months, I didn’t need a study permit. I
had some difficulties with finding enough courses to take, because I was on a
waiting list for several courses. However, the people at the university were
very helpful and a couple of weeks later I had found 4 courses to take that
semester.
I arrived in Canada at the 1st of January. My uncle and aunt live near
Waterloo, so they could pick me up from the airport. I spent the first couple of
days at their place, and then moved in to my room near campus.
The university organized an orientation day for exchange students and
international students. This orientation day was the day before the semester
started. We received a lot of information about the University of Waterloo, for
example about clubs you could join, student jobs and sports facilities. I met
many other exchange students during this day, with whom I spent a lot of time
during the rest of the semester. There was also a campus tour on the first day
of the semester, which I would recommend because the campus is really big
compared to the Tilburg University campus.
My first classes were on January 5th and my last exam was on April 25th. We
also had a reading week in February.
During my stay in Waterloo I spent a lot of time with other exchange students.
I went on several trips with the International & Canadian Student Network.
ICSN organizes a lot of trips and events for both Canadian and international
students, so for example I went to Niagara Falls and the Elmira Maple Syrup
Festival. I also went on a trip to Toronto with some exchange students I met at
the orientation day. Besides spending time with exchange students, I also
spent time with local students. For example, we went to some typical
Canadian parties (keggers), where we met a lot of other Canadian students.
I did not experience any cultural shock during my exchange. I had been in
Canada before and I have family living there, so I kind of knew what to expect.
In my opinion, the Canadian culture is quite similar to the Dutch culture. The
language is different, of course, but I did not experience any problems with
speaking English. Another difference is that Canadians are more laid back
than Dutch people and maybe a bit more friendly. This is something I really
liked about Canada. During my exchange, I did not really experience anything
I didn’t like, except for the cold weather (-30!) ;)
I arranged my accommodation about a month before I went to Canada. I
chose to live at WCRI, a student residence near campus. Officially it’s called
off-campus housing, but it’s as close to campus as the on-campus
residences. WCRI has furnished double rooms and single rooms; I chose to
live in a single room. I lived on a floor with about 20 other students, most of
them were exchange students. The bathroom and shower were shared with 4
other girls. I really enjoyed my time at WCRI; they organize a lot of activities
(pizza nights, parties, sushi dinners etc.), it’s really easy to meet other people
and I lived on a floor with great people.
During my exchange period I received the student grant from DUO, a
compensation for public transport and a grant from Tilburg University. This
was not enough to finance the whole exchange period, so I paid the rest with
money I saved before I went on exchange. During my exchange I spent more
money than in the Netherlands, mainly because of the trips I went on.
My monthly budget was as follows:
- Housing: 300 euro
- Food: 175 euro
- Transport: 10 euro
- Books: 180 euro total
- Miscellaneous: 150 euro
III ACADEMIC INFORMATION
The courses at University of Waterloo are all offered in English. During my
exchange, I took four psychology courses: Psychosexual organization,
Psychology of Evil, Training and Development & Evolutionary psychology. I
really enjoyed taking these courses; they were very different from the courses
I took at Tilburg University. I would especially recommend the Psychosexual
Organization course, a course about gender and identity. The professor
knows a lot about the subject and I learned a lot of new things.
I think the academic level at University of Waterloo was similar to the
academic level at Tilburg University. However, the workload for most courses
was higher. Most courses at Tilburg University only have a final exam, while
at University of Waterloo it’s normal to have a quiz every week. The teaching
style at University of Waterloo is primarily theoretical; for all courses I had to
attend lectures and for one course there were group assignments as well.
An overview of the courses I took can be found in the table below.
Course
PSYCH 232
Psychology of Evil
PSYCH 318
Psychosexual
Organization
Prerequisites Exam
ECTS
Comments
Mid-terms, no final
exam
PSYCH 101
Written
6
PSYCH 101
Written
6
Mid-term, papers
PSYCH 340 Training
and Development
PSYCH 101
Written
6
Weekly assignment
PSYCH 361
Evolutionary
Psychology
PSYCH 101
Written
6
Mid-terms, no final
exam
Overall, I can say I learned a lot during my exchange and I truly had a great
time. I met many people and made a lot of friends from all over the world. I
especially loved spending time with the girls on my floor; I really miss the
movie nights, eating ice cream and the WCRI parties :) My exchange has had
a great influence on my future career; I am already planning on going back to
North America for my master’s internship. I would really recommend an
exchange period at the University of Waterloo, because I’m absolutely sure
that you will have a great time!