<p>I have heard of a few programs in Canada that are sort of liberal artsy (you get to choose any class you want in the first year or first and second year), but they are all engineering ones where you have to go into engineering in the second or third year. (I’m not entirely sure if that’s what they are, and I can’t remember their names but that’s what a friend of mine told me - -)</p>
<p>Are there any programs for sciences like these? </p>
<p>I hear that the mandatory courses for U of T life sci are very few, so you get to choose stuff you want for the first year, but then the courseload gets super heavy by the the second year, so if you want to learn other things, you’re going to have to switch major…</p>
<p>Well, McMaster ArtSci (i believe its called that) gives a person kind of a liberal arts education. i dont know how many electives you get, but i know for sure that you take some history, a couple humanities courses and stuff like that. It tries to incorporate the sciences with other fields. it’s interesting and new program.</p>
<p>Liberal arts isn’t very common in Canada. Canadian schools tend to be more oriented towards single majors (with several double degree programs too). The closest thing I personally know of that lets you take a wide variety of classes from several different disciplines is McMaster University’s Arts and Science program whereby you end up with 6 or 7 electives in the field of your choice in addition to several core courses from art, science and interdisciplinary fields. In addition, you do an undergrad thesis in this program too to allow you to get some serious research experience. I know my biology teacher this year was a McMaster graduate (not for ArtSci, but for normal biology) and she discovered something new about the effect of a herbal remedy (don’t quite remember which one) on the body. ArtSci graduates often go on to graduate schools: [What</a> Grads Say](<a href=“http://www.mcmaster.ca/artsci/about_the_program/what_our_graduates_say.html]What”>http://www.mcmaster.ca/artsci/about_the_program/what_our_graduates_say.html) has a few examples.</p>
<p>UBC has (or at least used to have) a program called Science One that was basically a unified first-year science program. I believe Dalhousie offers something similar.</p>
<p>This isn’t your question, but if anyone else reading this thread is interested in American-style LACs I’ve heard that Mt. Allison and Acadia are both worth a look.</p>
<p>my brother goes to mac, and i can def say it isnt a bunch of premeds in the middle of nowhere… from what i know (and what he tells me) its a really good school with a good mix of everything.</p>
<p>not too sure on how “liberal arts” it is, but i know that one of his good friends in in ArtSci and it is pretty much a liberal arts program (seems to be filled with a lot of people whoo dont really know what they want, so theyre taking a lot of interest classes to find out – their chant is “Art Sci, what is your profession? AR AR AR… Art Sci, what is your real profession? We dont know” (kind of a twist on the chant from the movie 300)</p>
<p>"Just like LACs vs research U’s in the States, there are pros and cons. Your priorities will work that out one way or another. "</p>
<p>But the LACs in the States get a lot more recognition and so attracts more “better” students. How comparable would you say mt.allison and co would be to some of the top LACs in the states?</p>
<p>I’m the wrong person to ask, since LACs don’t interest me and I haven’t really researched them.</p>
<p>I will say that Mt. Allison has produced more Rhodes Scholars than any other LAC anywhere, although the regional quotas for Rhodes selection make that statistic a bit less objective than it might appear.</p>
<p>Most Canadian universities have very strong breadth requirements, and most also offer creative degrees, such as ones that combine arts and science. It is not at all the case that if you say major in a science you can’t take a lot of arts courses (and vice versa).</p>
<p>Re: LACs in Canada. If you look at the stats for Mt. Allison, compared to other top canadian universities, it attracts about the same calibre of student (e.g. entering average grade of say 86% vs. 87% at Queens, 86% at UBC). If you look at graduate school placement, about the same. If you look at NSSE data, the smaller schools are actually stronger.</p>