Umesh Khanna graduated from the University of Waterloo’s Systems Design Engineering program with distinction. He currently works for Hatch as a Product Manager and previously worked at Flexport, Toast, Clearbanc and Shopify in a mix of product and engineering roles. 

Umesh’s advice on how to get into Waterloo Engineering [5:05] 

Tomiwa: “So I mentioned in the beginning, Waterloo Engineering: very prestigious program, very competitive program to get into. Now whenever I ask this question, people always want to be modest, but if you had to look back on yourself, what do you think it is that helped you get into such a competitive program?” 

Umesh: “ Sure. I think the first thing is marks. Waterloo is a very, as you said, competitive program and the requirement to get in, increases. It’s insane how some students have 98 averages and they can’t get in.” 

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Tomiwa: “What did you have when you applied?”

Umesh: “In high school I had a 96 cumulative.”

Tomiwa: “Wow.”

Umesh: “So that was, I think at that point, ‘good enough’. I feel like right now if I were to reapply, it might not be? It has become so, so competitive. I feel like I got in during an easier period of time.

What I actually applied was for engineering, for electrical engineering. It’s what my dad was doing, and a lot of my friends and family were doing. For me, I wasn’t sure what entry program to go to, but to see what’s the most, I guess, reasonable choice or the most attractive at that point. And when I was applying, I remember writing the AIF (Admissions Information Form) and talking about exactly what I mentioned which was playing with things, trying to break things, actually just figure out how to build things from scratch. That might’ve not helped my case getting into Waterloo, but that’s what I wrote about and was passionate about at that time.” 

Tomiwa: “So I know with Ivey, they were always like, “It’s not just enough to have high grades, you also have to have extracurriculars and be well-rounded.” For Waterloo Engineering, is it like, mostly all grades, or do you need to do other stuff as well?”

Umesh: “I don't know... I think I remember reading about, for all those who did want to go to engineering, Professor Bill Anderson's famous blogs with Waterloo Engineering. He talks about how you need to have grades, but then the AIF could bump your score. So as far as I know, again, not a part of the recruiting for Waterloo, is that you apply with your grades and the AIF could bump you two marks or three marks, and that overall kind of accumulated value is what is compared against others. And the AIF talks about, as I mentioned, your passions, your interests, also your extracurriculars. The extracurriculars in high school... I was super involved with the Student Council, with DECA, VP of both, and I feel like those probably helped as well in terms of the AIF form.”

Tomiwa: “Do you need prior ‘engineering experience’? Like, does that help your application?”

Umesh: “I don't think so. I didn't have much in terms of real engineering experience. Like for me, it was just tinkering with things and just messing with it. I know a lot of friends who've come in— “

Tomiwa: "I've never coded before."

Umesh: “‘—I've never coded before,’ and even for me like grade 11, grade 12, very little coding, very marginal. Just y'know, the IES course in high school,  but even then it wasn't very engineering-heavy from my aspect.”

*Interview transcript is slightly edited for better clarification on text*

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