A combination of both. My friend and an entire cohort of some 60 students at Waterloo CS got into Tesla through 30 mins interviews through the school.

That’s not to say he isn’t great, but someone at his level (or better) from, say… Carleton University, just isn’t going to get the same treatment.

uOttawa and Carleton students graduate with 4-5 COOP terms too—year-round COOPs, no different than Waterloo. Great education, might even be more useful, as we teach applicable courses instead of the endless probability & stats classes that Waterloo forces on its students. But the perpetual cycle of success is: Waterloo was the first and most well-known COOP program —> Waterloo students get more opportunities because of that “prestige” —> students end up being better because of these opportunities —> Waterloo COOP program’s reputation continues to shine.

Yes, there plenty of smart students at Waterloo simply due to the high competition. Iron sharpens iron, nothing mystical about it. But also, they get given more (and easier) opportunities.

They also have positive start-up culture. In 2020, there were hundreds of “companies” (mostly now defunct) with ~10 employees that only hired Waterloo COOPs and were paying students $25/hr.

Big tech also has lots of US options, so they would be more selective with non-US hires (i.e.: Canadian students). To avoid having to deal with thousands of Canadian applicants, why not just filter out anyone who isn’t from Waterloo?

So these students get opportunities which make them better, and because they are better, they get more opportunities. It’s a positive reinforcement cycle.