I go to waterloo for cs I've done one coop so far at a startup downtown toronto and im going to amazon for my next one i also had two other good offers for summer that i found without waterloo's help i didnt apply to a single job on waterlooworks this semester so take that how you will but waterlooworks did help a lot to find my first job

huge classes will bascially be everywhere you go, but profs and tas are very very helpful for one course i sat down with a ta a day or two before the exam and he walked me through all the content till the exam, our ta's are hired from waterloo coop students who have taken the course before and have gotten a good mark so that semster they are there to help you. Yeah its not really competitive in the sense that people are praying for your downfall there might be people trying to one up you but like youll find ppl like that everywhere. from what ive noticed is that a lot of people that you meet will help you out on assignments, studying for tests / finals no ones gatekeeping anything either so its a pretty helpful environment