My D26 would like to add more Canadian universities to her list. She currently knows about UBC, UToronto, and McGill, since her big brother applied to those. We also have heard a bit about Waterloo, as it’s a common feeder school for tech in the bay area where we live.
Would it be possible for folks very familiar with Canada to help give a sense of the landscape of universities outside the big 3 + Waterloo? We don’t hear much about the other Canadian universities and what they have to offer. I thought this might be a good topic for its own thread, because I’m guessing my D is not the only student who is thinking more seriously about Canada right now.
My D would like to attend a largeish university in a city (or one that is well integrated with college town / small city), so she’s not considering the smaller, more LAC-like schools like Mount Allison. However, I know those can be great for the right student, and I’m hoping other students or parents will find this thread useful, so feel free to talk about any schools that you would like
D isn’t 100% sure yet what subject she’ll be applying for, but current best guess is bioengineering / biomedical engineering, some kind of interdisciplinary bio related major, or neuroscience. (She’s currently in a researchy bioengineering summer program where she’s getting more exposure to different subareas and doing a neuro related project, hopefully this will help her figure out what she wants.)
Have your Daugher look into the following schools. McMaster University , Queens University ,Western University, University of Guelph, Dalhousie and The University of Calgary. All solid choices in good college towns.
Concordia in Montreal, York a few light rail stops away from Toronto, UNew Brunswick and Queen’s for a pretty campus, UVictoria for a scenic setting and more residential than average…
Brock would make for an excellent safety.
How can we (or other parents and students) learn more about which universities are strong in particular areas? Also intangibles such as vibe and student life at each? My D isn’t looking for an American-style college experience with big sports etc., but still wonders what kind of vibe and atmosphere she can expect. How can we find out more than what we can learn on each university’s web site?
S23 and I had a good long visit at UBC, so I have a bit of a sense there (and I think D would like it there), but we won’t be able to visit anywhere in Canada before D applies. (She’s probably not doing any more college visits in the US either.)
Here is a link to a Facebook group you can join. I am assuming you’re not Canadian ( there is another I can link if you are)
Canadian Universities are more similar then not, there is not the vast differences you see in American Colleges.
Maclean university rankings publication - skip the broad rankings and look for specific lists such as faculty:ratio, size of 1st year courses, operating budget, budget for student services.. https://macleans.ca/education/university-rankings/
The comprehensive universities tend to be more commuter than the Doctoral/Medical and Primarily Undergraduate colleges - look into the student housing situation on their website. Concordia is in Montréal which is super for independent college students. UVic is on an island so mostly residential.
For someone with Canadian citizenship (and I expect Canadian permanent residence would work the same) universities in Canada tend to be consistently relatively reasonably priced by US standards. This is true even for a student who has never lived in Canada.
For international students, there appears to be a larger range in terms of what universities would cost. It might be worth comparing prices for different schools. Don’t forget to keep the exchange rate in mind.
Others above have mentioned some very good universities. Some others I might think about would be the University of Victoria, Simon Fraser, the University of Alberta, and Memorial University of Newfoundland. Victoria probably has the mildest winters in Canada. The U of Alberta will have cold winters.
We toured both Concordia (in Montreal) and Dalhousie (in Halifax, Nova Scotia) and quite liked both of them.
I agree with looking at the Maclean’s university rankings. Do note that a few of the schools on their lists teach in French. The University of Ottawa is officially bilingual. I think that you can get by only speaking English.
Housing costs may vary quite a bit depending upon where in Canada you are. Also, Canada is really, really large, so travel details may vary quite a bit depending upon where you live and where your daughter goes to university. Coming from California of course the schools in British Columbia will be closer for you. Calgary might not be all that long of a flight depending upon whether there are any direct flights.
Canadian universities have specific requirements for WHEN you take certain prerequisite classes. For example, if you took AP Bio in 10th grade they may not count it. Just something to look into. And you will need to look specifically at each degree program and their requirements, as this will all vary even in the same university.
There is a LOT less hand-holding at Canadian universities, at least in my experience. I went to Western and while it was the best 4 years of my life, I don’t think my son could cut it there. You need to be independent, a good self-advocate, and you need to seek out information.
Info that I’ve heard specifically about McGill from US parents in a group I’m in - it’s not IF your child fails a class, it’s WHEN. There is no grade inflation, and many US kids may not have the same background in whatever topic as the Canadian kids. Be prepared for the grades.
I think the schools that have been suggested are all great. Also as mentioned the universities in Canada tend to be more similar than different, so location might be your biggest consideration.
When my son applied to McGill, UBC, and U of T for fall 2023, they were all happy with his AP Chem being taken in 10th grade, it counted for the chemistry all of them required for engineering admission (and he was awarded merit from UBC and U of T). He did check with the admissions offices before applying. I don’t know if other universities have different requirements though.
Hi - restarting this thread for people applying to Canadian Universities this year.
We know a lot of people in our area applying to University of British Columbia. It seems to be one of the most popular schools among those who like the outdoors. D27 not applying there, but I figure there are many in CC who are.
D27 is applying to University of Victoria. We visited it and she fell in love. Great size for a “state” school (about 19,000 undergrads), beautiful campus, beautiful city, amazing weather. Wasn’t on our radar at all last application cycle, but very excited about it now.
McGill - from a friend who visited and seriously considered for her D27, there was concern about the French language issue. Unless you are fluent in French, getting internships is really difficult, and although instruction is all in English, a lot of social interaction is in French. Montreal would be an amazing city to be a college student in though!
Anyone else with Canadian schools on their lists this year?
My kid applied to the University of Toronto. The application fee was $195 US, which seems like a lot. We have also found it to be more difficult to find information on the school website.
One thing that I did not notice earlier in this thread: There are also some very good small “primarily undergraduate” universities in Canada, which are similar to what we in the US would call a liberal arts college. We looked at several in the east (one in Quebec, the rest in the Atlantic provinces): Acadia, Bishop’s, Mount Allison, UPEI, and St Francis Xavier (I am missing some others of course). We liked all of them quite a bit, and one daughter had some trouble deciding where to go after being accepted to several. There are also some good ones further west, such as UNBC in British Columbia, Lethbridge in Alberta, and several in Ontario.
The plus side is that these are very good schools where you can get a very good education, and they tend to be relatively reasonably priced for international students.
One downside is that they tend to be not known much at all in the US. When one daughter was headed to a small university in Canada her friends were asking “Where?” and “Why?”. This did not however stop her after graduating from first finding an appropriate job in the US, and then getting accepted to a very good graduate program in the US.
One difference that I have seen between Canadian versus US universities is that there seem to be in many cases more general education requirements in the US, whereas if you want to it appears that you can focus more on your major and related courses in the US. This may however differ between schools in both countries, and might depend upon your major.
The other obvious difference is that admissions to the top ranked schools seems to be more predictable in the US. One might note that the top ranked universities in Canada have more spots for incoming students (compared to American schools) if expressed as a percentage of the population of the country that they are in.
We toured UBC Vancouver with D26 and D28 last year. Everyone in the tour group was American, lol. It is massive, and while Vancouver is gorgeous, the campus itself wasn’t particularly pretty. D26 decided not to apply and I don’t think D28 will pursue it either.
I get a LOT of ads for UVic in my feed but we didn’t tour due to the difficulty of getting there from our home region, the SF Bay Area.
Yes, the application fees were a bit of a shock. As was the requirement at UVic to fill out a housing application (with its own $50 charge) right away, before being accepted.
But the tuition and housing costs, especially after accounting for the exchange rate, makes the schools very affordable, so I didn’t mind the high application fee too much. (I hope they can waive it for some, though I guess that is unlikely for international students)
We almost didn’t visit because of the logistical travel challenges, but we are **so glad ** we did. We chose to drive to Port Angeles (about 2 hours from Seattle) and take the ferry (1.5 hours) from there. The ferry was only $18 and very comfortable and scenic. There is also a 3-hour smaller (and more expensive) ferry direct from Seattle.
We expected to like UVic but it went way above our expectations. (I have a review of it in the long thread of campus tours). The buildings are nothing special but the campus itself is incredibly beautiful. (UVic may get slightly more attention this year due to Nathan Fielding’s fame. He did, after all “graduate from one of Canada’s top business schools with really good grades.”
UBC is definitely becoming a bit of a darling in our area (lots of kids who like to hike and ski, have too much money for scholarships but unwilling to pay full pay US prices, and want to stay in the West). But for us UVic checked a lot more boxes (smaller, prettier, better weather).
This will depend a bit on where in the campus you are and what you are looking for. There are a number of interesting and/or attractive things on the UBC campus. For example there are walking paths through the woods, a botanical garden, a beach, and the Nitobe Memorial Garden. There is also a very good native people’s museum (with totem poles, of course). I can remember walking on campus in the winter with the normal rain and clouds, and then having the clouds part, a bit, and seeing mountains in the distance.
Winter weather can be dreary at UBC.
Because U.Victoria is tucked just to the east of some coastal mountains, it has significantly better weather in the winter, and it has the mildest winters in Canada.
