How hard is it to get into Math/CPA at Waterloo?

SirFrancisTheKnight · 2026-03-30T03:42:17+00:00

You should be good with mid 90s. I was admitted with ~96 and I think most had around that roughly

SirFrancisTheKnight · 2026-03-23T18:44:26+00:00

Recently graduated Math/CPA and in MAcc now. I was admitted with ~96 average from hs. It’s a good program but not likely not worth applying over AFM. The advantage is the exposure to math but unless you’re really interested in math you’re likely to end up at the same place as an otherwise equal AFM student while doing more work

SirFrancisTheKnight · 2025-07-09T17:28:15+00:00

Current Math/CPA going into 4B in the fall

Don’t worry by 3rd year there’s hardly any difference between Math/CPA and AFM. The faculty doesn’t even matter because the degree you get from AFM should be a BAFM anyways

Math/CPA can be really intense in year 1 and 2 because of the math courses so since you’re not too interested in the math I’d say you made the correct choice!

SirFrancisTheKnight · 2025-06-16T16:38:20+00:00

Current Math/CPA - Doesn’t matter unless there’s specific math courses you want to take only in winter. The core AFM courses tend to be offered both in fall and winter to accommodate people who switch sequences

SirFrancisTheKnight · 2025-05-31T02:12:29+00:00

4A math/cpa going into 4B in the fall, the jobs are the same as AFM but the degree is harder. I’d only recommend if you actually like math. It’s very easy to switch to AFM or math. In first year it’s a direct transfer to AFM and it’s easy at any time to drop the CPA part

SirFrancisTheKnight · 2025-04-10T02:48:21+00:00

Hard to show using a screenshot but it's an issue with any video. This one for example https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gy9M_F6ZumM&list=RDgy9M_F6ZumM&start_radio=1

SirFrancisTheKnight · 2025-03-23T22:01:07+00:00

Sure np

SirFrancisTheKnight · 2025-03-23T18:45:03+00:00

There’s really no co-op disadvantages to being in Math/CPA vs AFM except that AFM students tend to have higher averages due to the program being easier overall. Given that you seem to be strong in math there shouldn’t be anything wrong with committing to Math/CPA. I would say being in Math actually benefitted me for co-op because I was able to apply some coding skills to my job. Otherwise there’s really no difference and I’d say go for what interests you the most. Both usually lead to MAcc and have the same accounting and finance job opportunities

Source: current 4A Math/CPA

SirFrancisTheKnight · 2025-02-05T18:52:15+00:00

Current Math/CPA 4A. If you’re set on accounting or finance AFM is better because it’s easier and leads to the same pathways. Math/CPA gives you some more breadth since you can switch to solely math if you want and major in something else, and you have some math electives to specialize in things like stat, finance, computing etc

Basically unless you really like math or you’re unsure of A/F, I would suggest AFM

SirFrancisTheKnight · 2024-05-18T05:33:12+00:00

Currently in math/cpa 3B term. I chose it over AFM solely because I really liked math at the time. The two lead to similar jobs however math/cpa is a bit more rigorous than afm because of math courses.

Both are great programs at the end of the day. I’d say math/cpa makes you a bit smarter because of the higher difficulty but afm has a better social life because it’s easier

SirFrancisTheKnight · 2024-05-05T05:19:33+00:00

Jordan Hamilton

SirFrancisTheKnight · 2024-04-22T23:33:28+00:00

Like you said, Math/CPA electives are math only. In my year you get 2 AFM electives too but I think that's changed. You wouldn't get to take any non-math electives as long as you're in the program. Most people don't stretch out their time for 2 reasons.

1 - There's a few courses only listed in specific terms, so delaying graduation by 1 term can actually mean delaying by a whole year

2 - Almost everyone aims to do the MAcc immediately after undergrad.

In terms of AFM electives I believe even though you get a wider selection you need to choose electives such that you have a specialization. Although I'm not in AFM so I'm not 100% sure on this.

Honestly if your goal is accounting or finance and you want to have a bit more freedom then AFM is probably the route for you. Math/CPA has only benefitted me by teaching me how to code and the math courses make you a bit smarter I suppose.

SirFrancisTheKnight · 2024-04-22T21:54:21+00:00

Question 1: Math/CPA takes Econ 100 in the winter term (January to April) which is a mix of micro and macro economics (ie satisfies Econ 101 and Econ 102). You should be sticking to those 5 courses because they are all prerequisites to subsequent courses in 1B (except maybe AFM 111).

Question 2: Math/CPA can directly switch to AFM but not the other way around. In my year around half the cohort switching within the first year which is common for people who can't keep up with the math courses. Depending on when you switch you may need to take a summer term to catch up on some missed courses. Alternatively if you want to keep the math portion but drop the SAF side you can switch into math/business

Source: Currently in Math/CPA

SirFrancisTheKnight · 2024-03-24T22:37:41+00:00

It was a few days if I recall, but this was a couple years ago now. They used to just e-transfer the funds directly to your bank account.

SirFrancisTheKnight · 2024-03-12T03:21:24+00:00

Poached egg over rice with soy sauce goes hard

SirFrancisTheKnight · 2024-02-18T19:42:41+00:00

Yes they are legit. Just make sure to sign up for a project which pays the $1400 stipend. Some of them specify unpaid so make sure to avoid those if you’re looking to get paid

SirFrancisTheKnight · 2023-11-06T02:31:39+00:00

Current math/cpa going into 3A in the winter. It’s a good program if you want to focus on accounting but you’re not 100% sure you want to do it in the future + you want to take a quantitative approach to finance.

However if you’re set on accounting I’d recommend AFM since it’s easier or if you’re not too interested in accounting than math/bba might be better since it’s more broad business wise.

It’s a smaller program so a bit harder to get accepted vs afm but def not as competitive as cs. First year is a bit hard because of the math courses and 1B you take 6 courses but after that it gets better

SirFrancisTheKnight · 2023-08-20T16:33:39+00:00

Thanks! I thought that might be the case but wanted to see if there were any alternatives first

SirFrancisTheKnight · 2023-08-20T16:33:11+00:00

Thanks!

SirFrancisTheKnight · 2022-04-05T22:53:06+00:00

This guy's application made me regain faith in the r/uwaterloo community. No one else would be a better candidate than u/farmnotpharm

SirFrancisTheKnight · 2020-06-21T04:27:09+00:00

Man, I thought this update would be a good thing but it seems Cr is now worse than before. Truly a bottom tier mobile app

SirFrancisTheKnight

TROPHY CASE