The University of Waterloo is renowned for its engineering and computer science programs. For three decades, the school has earned the moniker “Canada’s Most Innovative University,” while building the country’s largest engineering school and producing some of the best talent in the Toronto-Waterloo Corridor.
We’ve already compared UWaterloo to top engineering schools in Germany, but how do they compare to the top tech schools in California?
In this article, we compare the University of Waterloo with all of the California universities that landed on the QS computer science rankings in terms of overall rank, student employability, computer science program size, research capabilities and entrepreneurship.
Here’s how the University of Waterloo compares to California’s top tech schools:
Matchup #1: Overall Computer Science Ranking
Source: QS University Subject Rankings, 2024
Well, California is pretty impressive, to tell the truth. Six universities in the top-60.
The University of Waterloo is in the middle of the pack – between UCLA and Caltech – in terms of overall computer science rank. As you may expect, Stanford University and UC Berkeley are right at the top of the list – globally renowned as great tech schools and a main source of talent for Silicon Valley.
Matchup #2: Computer Science Program Size
Sources: University of Waterloo, UCLA, UC Berkley, USC, UC San Diego, Stanford University, 2024. Caltech, 2016.
Among the world’s great tech universities, this is where the University of Waterloo absolutely shines. It’s huge.
In fact, it’s the biggest university – by enrollment – among the global top-25 computer science schools. You could add together USC, Stanford, Caltech and UCLA and you *still* wouldn’t have as many computer science students as the University of Waterloo has on its campus.
Matchup #3: Overall Graduate Employability Rankings
Source: QS University Rankings 2022. The rest of the findings in this article are from the 2024 rankings. Employability rankings, however, were not included in this year’s report, so the chart reflects the previous year’s data.
Producing work-ready graduates is at the core of the University of Waterloo with its renowned co-operative education program – students graduate with two years of on-the-job experience at companies like Google, Microsoft and Apple, as well as scale-ups and startups from around the world.
That helps explain why we’re once again in a strong position, but Stanford and UCLA take the win here. After the University of Waterloo at #24, it’s a precipitous drop to USC and Caltech, at #59 and #63, respectively.
Matchup #4: Research Capabilities (Citations Per Paper; 0-100)
Source: QS University Rankings, 2024
Research capabilities are exceptionally important for any post-secondary institution – it supports the innovation that drives new products and services. Caltech – of Big Bang Theory fame – is at the top of this ranking, but the University of Waterloo performs respectably with a score just above UCLA.
Earlier this year, the University of Waterloo was recognized as the top research university for the 16th year straight, so if you’re coming to Canada and need to do R&D, Waterloo is the place to do it. Oh, and our incredible research tax credit programs can help.
Matchup #5: Entrepreneurship
Source: Pitchbook, Top Schools for Founders, 2023
The University of Waterloo prides itself on the entrepreneurship of its students and faculty. About 18% of Canadian tech founders studied in Waterloo.
That puts it at the middle of the pack in this ranking, but again, we’re talking about the best California can offer.
University of Waterloo wins in global tech
In summary, if you’re looking for tech talent from one of the world’s great universities – employable, entrepreneurial talent – then the University of Waterloo is a great place to look.
It’s a top-25 school, with a larger enrollment than most of the California schools combined, and excellent grades across the board. There’s a reason CBRE named Waterloo the #1 small tech talent market and it starts with the University of Waterloo.
How can your company take advantage of the incredible talent coming out of the University of Waterloo?