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UWaterloo has the largest post-secondary cooperative education ("co-op") program in the world with nearly 20,000 undergraduate students. In 2017, 31% of the 69,300 co-op work terms in Canada were completed by UWaterloo students.

Requirements
It is the student's responsibility to secure a job for each of their co-op terms. This includes applying for positions and attending interviews during their study terms, which regularly requires that the student sacrifice attending some classes. Scheduling conflicts between interviews and exams are actively avoided but still possible, in which case one or the other are rescheduled on a case-by-case basis.

In order for the student to receive their co-op credit, their work term must meet a number of conditions. This includes being full-time, that it is related to the student's field of study, that it lasts for the full 16-week duration, and that it is compensated with at least the minimum wage in the location of work. Exceptions can be made for some of these conditions; for example, first work terms often do not have to be related to the student's field of study if the student has had difficulty securing a position.

At the end of the work term, the employer submits a performance evaluation for the student which is presented to the student's future employers during their next application stage.

Resources
The William M. Tatham Centre is the home of the Centre for Career Action office, where resources such as resume critiques, mock interviews, and networking advice are available. It is also where most interviews with prospective employers take place, be it in-person, by phone, or through video conference.

WaterlooWorks is the university's official job board, on which over 7000 employers post available positions. Most positions on WaterlooWorks are in Canada, although there are also many jobs every term in the United States, as well as some that take place in countries like Japan, Hong Kong, Korea, Germany, and France. In addition to using WaterlooWorks, students may pursue their own external job search to receive their co-op credit, or pursue an entrepreneurial co-op.

Co-op sequencing
At UWaterloo, the school year is divided into three four-month terms, Fall, Winter and Spring. For co-op students, each term acts as either a study term or a work term depending on their co-op sequencing, typically for the entire length of their degree. Co-op work terms are mandatory for all undergraduate Engineering programs, as well as some Math and Arts programs. Engineering students are required to complete five out their six scheduled work terms to graduate from their program, while students from other faculties typically need to complete four work terms. Engineering students alternate between school and work terms, completing a total of eight study terms and six work terms in the span of four and two third years. However, some programs have unique co-op streams where consecutive school and work terms are scheduled near the end of the program, giving the students the opportunity to apply for eight-month positions.

Enterprise co-op
Enterprise co-op (also known as entrepreneurial co-op, or E co-op), is where a student receives their co-op credit for running a company they have founded. The E co-op student works with a mentor from the Conrad School of Entrepreneurship and Business who submits the student's performance evaluation at the end of the term. The E co-op student also has the ability to apply for the Velocity program and benefit from its resources upon a successful pitch. If the company is established well enough, the E co-op student is also permitted to hire their peers as co-op students.

Co-op earnings
As of 2018, UWaterloo students earn an average of $12,100 CAD per work term when working Canada. Co-op earnings vary greatly depending on field of study, how many work terms the student has already completed, and where the work term takes place. For example, Mathematics undergraduates (including Computer Science and Computing & Financial Management) on their sixth work term made an average of US$28,600 ($38,000 CAD) when working in the United States in 2018.

Student Entrepreneurship
As of 2017, the University of Waterloo ties for 4th place for schools that have the greatest number of alumni who have founded unicorn startups. As of the same year, Waterloo students and alumni have raised a cumulative $3.662 billion USD in venture capital. The current six unicorn startups from Waterloo are ContextLogic (doing business as Wish), Pivotal Software, Kuadi Dache, Instacart, Storm8, and Kik Messenger (currently the only unicorn based in Canada).

The University of Waterloo has its own startup incubator for its students, faculty, and alumni called the Velocity program. With no fees or equity, it is the largest free startup incubator in the world. It offers office space for up to 120 startup companies, as well as a wet laboratory, assembly space, workshop, and prototyping lab. The program also provides business mentorship to its resident companies and to Waterloo students as well as partnerships with researchers at the university's main campus. Velocity provides some students and startups with grants, previously valued from $5000 to $25000 CAD. As of 2019, the $25000 grant was removed and companies in Velocity may now pitch their ideas to instead receive $50 000 CAD in funding, with equity stakes from investors. Companies that emerged from the Velocity program include Maluuba (acquired by Microsoft in 2017), and North.

In addition to the resources provided by Velocity, alumni regularly receive funding for their startups from United States accelerators. Companies that Waterloo alumni have founded with the aid of Silicon Valley accelerator Y Combinator include Pebble (acquired by Fitbit in 2016), and Bufferbox (acquired by Google in 2012). Y Combinator founder Paul Graham and president Sam Altman have both noted that the University of Waterloo has stood out to them more than any other school during Y Combinator applications.