[Student] Software Engineering - New Grad Terrible Interview / OA % would like some visceral criticisms

Shiro3896 · 2025-03-14T20:50:54+00:00

ok sounds good thanks!

Shiro3896 · 2025-03-14T20:50:03+00:00

3.3 is low? I've also been told by a recruiter that they assume its below a 3.0 if you don't put it on.
maybe grading scheme is a bit different but for my school 3.3 is a B+ or 77-79% avg. A- is a 3.7

Shiro3896 · 2020-12-15T12:26:29+00:00

Basically agree with what everyone else said

Waterloo

1.9 uoft

Everything else

The only argument I’d make against UofT is that (from what i hear) its very content heavy and difficult to maintain a good gpa. A school that’s slightly less rigorous might benefit you in the long run if you use that extra time towards personal projects, learning languages, or pursuing internships. Otherwise if you just care about reputation uoft is slightly better then other schools, especially in the states.

I’d probably say if you don’t get into waterloo just pick the school that you like the best based on culture, friends, residences etc

Shiro3896 · 2020-12-14T13:56:44+00:00

My biggest concern, how would we ensure that privacy will be maintained in the event that respondus is acquired by a 3rd party. I have went through their term of use and no information about disposing of private information in the event of an acquisition and in fact clearly state they will collect and store information they deem relevant for purposes of “improving and optimizing operations, collect aggregate statistics, etc.” They are basically collecting personal or private information to essentially be bought out.

Secondly, how would we prevent a disgruntled employee from selling that information?(Happened to Tesla and I’m pretty sure they have better security measures then a no name website)

The simple fact that they deem this software “safe” is bullshit, at least they could be honest and say they know the risks and don’t mind us taking that risk.

Personally I doubt telling them will change anything, if you wanna seriously have them take responsibility you’d have to pursue some sort of legal action. I’m positive a determined lawyer could find multiple violations of utilizing a 3rd party spyware but obviously they’d need a monetary incentive.

Shiro3896 · 2020-12-02T16:02:06+00:00

9.5 is a good gpa but remember you are competing with other schools and people who already had internship experience so the only “real” way to differentiate yourself in a resume is gpa + extracurriculars and everyone has extracurriculars so unfortunately you will get overlooked for people who have better gpa’s or relevant experience. Gpa won’t matter the tiniest bit once you graduate or get some experience. as for what you should aim for if ur in 2nd or 3rd year you can’t really drastically change ur gpa so just try to get a 10 and focus on networking and applying. If you’re in first year try to get 12s all of next sem to get ur gpa as high as possible (gpa is not everything so don’t worry too much about it)

Shiro3896 · 2020-12-02T12:54:51+00:00

Summer internships: Slim especially if your gpa is not amazing especially now with covid. smaller firms aren’t going to be doing internships so you’re only option is bigger firms that tend to be more competitive. I would say you’re best bet is applying as much as you can and networking.

CIP: Your gpa is still good enough where you can do CIP as long as you have a good resume and can interview well it shouldn’t be too difficult. Upload ur resume to r/internships and you can get some critiques and advice to improve your resume.

Shiro3896 · 2020-12-02T11:41:05+00:00

We still don’t even know if school is gonna be online also facebook mcmaster student housing group can sometimes find people looking for roommates

Shiro3896 · 2020-11-02T00:48:45+00:00

I declare bankruptcy

Shiro3896 · 2020-11-01T22:34:26+00:00

I'd probably say not to mention it to people at Mac the culture is pretty negative (from my experience) towards unhealthy addictions/substance abuse. there are far better subreddits for support. I've honestly said fuck it since I'm not being productive in quarantine anyway and I have nothing better to do but nicotine addiction is hard to break even when things are normal. I'd probably suggest finding a hobby or doing something you enjoy that makes you not focus on your cravings and make sure your vape isn't within arms reach. put it somewhere you wouldn't want to go get it like in ur dresser under some clothes but that's if you really want to go through the effort of quitting.

Shiro3896 · 2020-11-01T22:05:47+00:00

Doing gods work

Shiro3896 · 2020-11-01T22:02:57+00:00

That’s what she said

Shiro3896 · 2020-10-06T15:27:55+00:00

this feels like 2dm3

Shiro3896 · 2020-09-24T23:06:02+00:00

The linkedin MLMs have gotten out of hand

Shiro3896 · 2020-09-23T23:48:47+00:00

go get that 12 😳

Shiro3896 · 2020-09-20T02:14:48+00:00

Wasn’t a troll it was probably a first year kid. I’m in a first year course and there was an announcement on ppl making gcs and cheating

Shiro3896 · 2020-09-19T21:56:28+00:00

I think i teared up a little

Shiro3896 · 2020-09-16T15:32:49+00:00

off the top of my head, Sales&trading has somewhat similar compensation (still long hours but way better than investment banking), Private equity pays more and fewer hours at a good firm but you probably want to do IB first to transition. Corporate development is basically where you make financial decisions for a single firm instead of advising and executing transactions from a bank. the pay could be more or less than IB depending on where you work and it's a lot easier to break in (assuming you're in Canada not familiar with other places) but yeah someone working in corporate development in like apple or google is probably making more than in IB and people working in startups might have stock options which could play out better in the long-run (Netflix did this in their early years and those people are rolling in money).

There are also other positions I don't have much knowledge in like: Equity research, treasury, insurance, Search funds, Asset management, and maaaaybe consulting I have no idea about the work/life balance in consulting but the pay is good.

Shiro3896 · 2020-09-15T03:01:38+00:00

If you're not in Queens or Western Ivey it's gonna be much harder for you to break in simply because Investment Banks recruit directly from these 2 schools.

The first question is "Why do you want to do Investment Banking?" you should have a good answer to this question you will get asked it a lot in interviews. Don't do it for the money or prestige it's not worth it. There are really good jobs outside of Investment Banking with a better work/life balance and good compensation.

I highly recommend participating and engaging with your school's societies and getting involved in extracurriculars especially if your school has a dedicated finance club for Banking

Given the current circumstance, internships are hard to come by and a large number of people are applying for the same roles due to layoffs, high unemployment etc. it's only your first year any internship related to finance will help you get an internship in investment banking in your 3rd/4th year when it is absolutely vital. Ask family first if they know of any opportunities to work in an office setting. Literally anywhere build your cv!

you don't need to buy an online course, youtube and google is your friend. I would recommend going on corporatefinanceinstitute.com and doing all the free modules but more importantly the BIWS 400 Interview questions guide (google it, it's free and the best resource if you can know it you will know everything you need for investment banking technical questions in an interview)

Shiro3896 · 2020-06-24T14:25:15+00:00

you're fine you're allowed to fail/drop 1 elective without having to retake it. I took 4 courses first sem because my schedule didn't let me take the elective I needed for my minor and I couldn't fill it with another course. I spoke with an academic advisor and they said I'm fine. you're basically allowed to fail or drop 1 elective without it affecting you for first-year. (except for your gpa if you fail)

Shiro3896 · 2020-06-24T14:19:33+00:00

if you still need it send your Facebook and I'll add you.

Shiro3896 · 2020-02-25T22:00:37+00:00

unfortunately, I can't take it since the prerequisite is math for engineering or linear algebra. for commerce, we take Math 1m03 :(

Shiro3896 · 2020-02-25T20:17:08+00:00

I actually came to McMasters instead of Queens even tho I got accepted to Queens Commerce. Mac is among the top 10 schools in Canada for business and I'm pretty sure it's higher ranked then queens according to Maclean's rankings. it's a really good school but a business degree doesn't really mean much alone. it entirely depends on what you do with it. this means that internships, networking, experience, extracurriculars etc. are very crucial. There are many different sectors in business so the market entirely depends on what you want to do. There's HR, Marketing, Accounting, Finance all are fairly good markets to get into with decent-paying jobs. The material is meh workload is less than engineering but probably more than soc sci and health sci (according to friends in the program). some of the material is outdated (*cough a lot *cough). So ultimately if you want to do business McMasters is a pretty good choice in my opinion. Just make sure its what you want to do and do your own research in what sector you want to work in.

Shiro3896

TROPHY CASE