University of Toronto vs. US colleges

College Search & Lists
1

Hiya there,

Is University of Toronto better than any of these following schools in engineering: University of Michigan, Johns Hopkins, Duke, Cornell, Vanderbilt, USC, Rice, Penn, Princeton

I kind of want to apply to some schools in the states but I want to know how they stand in relation to U of T so I can decide whether or not to apply, and if I do, which ones :stuck_out_tongue:

And how do they stand in relation to McGill or Waterloo, if anyone knows? Most ranks are either US only or doesn’t rank specifically for engineering programs so it’s hard to look at them altogether.

Program in consideration is either engineering science or electrical engineering.

Thank you :slight_smile:

2

Here’s a link to the QS rankings for engineering: https://www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings/university-subject-rankings/2018/engineering-technology

University of Toronto is at #43, Waterloo is at #70, as is UBC and McGill is at #76. Of the other schools on your list, only Princeton is ranked higher than U of T, at #38. UMichigan is at #56, Cornell is at #60 and the rest are ranked lower than McGill.

3

The top ranked US engineering programs:

1)MIT
2) Stanford
3) UCal-Berkeley

  1. Caltech

  2. Georgia Tech

  3. Univ. of Illinois

  4. Univ. of Michigan

8)Carnegie Mellon (CMU)
8) Purdue

  1. Cornell

  2. Princeton

  3. Texas-Austin

  4. Northwestern University

  5. Johns Hopkins (JHU)

  6. Texas A&M

  7. Univ. of Wisconsin

  8. Virginia Tech

  9. Columbia

  10. UCLA

  11. Duke

  12. Penn State University

  13. Rice

  14. UC-San Diego

  15. University of Washington

  16. Harvard

  17. Maryland

  18. Minnesota

  19. University of Pennsylvania

  20. USC–Univ. of Southern California

  21. Ohio State

  22. RPI

  23. UC-Davis

  24. Univ. of Colorado–Boulder

  25. North Carolina State

  26. UC-Santa Barbara

  27. Univ. of Florida

  28. Univ. of Virginia

  29. Vanderbilt University

  30. Yale

  31. Arizona State Univ. (ASU)

  32. Brown

  33. Case Western Reserve

  34. Iowa State

  35. UC-Irvine

  36. Notre Dame

  37. WashUStL

  38. Dartmouth College

  39. Lehigh University

  40. Boston University

  41. Colorado School of Mines

  42. Michigan State Univ.

  43. Northeastern University

  44. Rutgers–NB

  45. Univ. of Arizona

  46. Univ. of Pittsburgh

  47. Auburn University

  48. Clemson University

  49. Drexel Univ.

  50. Tufts University

  51. Univ. of Delaware

  52. Missouri Univ. of Science & Tech.

  53. NYU

  54. Rochester Institute of Tech.

  55. Univ. of Connecticut

  56. Univ. of Iowa

  57. Univ. of Massachusetts–Amherst

  58. Univ. of Tennessee

  59. Univ. of Utah

  60. WPI

According to US News last year.

4

This is some really helpful info! Do you know what these ranks are based on @Publisher?

5

There’s no doubt that Toronto is excellent across the board in almost every subject it offers. Rankings aren’t everything, though. As you probably know, Toronto is a sink-or-swim environment even by the standards of US public universities; grading is tough, and classes are almost uniformly large.

If you’re a go-getter who has no problems scrapping for research positions and other opportunities, Toronto may be a great fit. If you’d prefer more advising, more attention to undergrads, and smaller classes, a smaller and wealthier college like Rice may be a better fit.

6

@warblersrule has a good point. Rankings are a single dimensional number which attempts to approximate a complex multi-dimensional experience. As such rankings pretty much have to be inexact even if they could in theory be more accurate than they are.

Toronto and other top Canadian universities, when compared to similarly ranked American universities, tend to be easier to get into but harder to graduate from. Expect pretty much any university discussed on this thread to be academically very demanding particularly for engineering, and to be very good. A’s are going to be hard to come by at Toronto unless you are a very strong student.

Of course the cost of attendance can vary quite widely as well.

7

@geekgurl: The US News engineering rankings are based on the opinions of engineering deans & senior faculty at ABET accredited programs.
Engineering specialty rankings are broken down into twelve (12) areas of specialization:

  1. aerospace/aeronautical/astronautical–MIT, Georgia Tech, Univ. of Michigan, Stanford, Caltech

  2. biological/agricultural–Iowa State, Purdue, Texas A&M, Cornell, Illinois

  3. biomedical/biomed engineering–Georgia Tech, JHU, MIT, Duke, Stanford

  4. chemical–MIT, UC-Berkeley, Georgia Tech, Stanford, Wisconsin

  5. civil–UC-Berkeley, Georgia Tech, Illinois, Texas-Austin, MIT

  6. computer engineering–MIT, UCal-Berkeley, Stanford, CMU, Illinois

  7. electrical–MIT, Stanford, UC-Berkeley, Georgia Tech, Univ. of Michigan

  8. environmental–UC-Berkely, Georgia Tech, Stanford, Michigan, Illinois, Texas-Austin

  9. industrial/manufacturing–Georgia Tech, Univ. of Michigan, UC-Berkeley, Purdue, Stanford, Univ. of Wisconsin

  10. materials–MIT, UC-Berkeley, Illinois, Michigan, Georgia Tech

  11. mechanical–MIT, Stanford, Georgia Tech, Michigan, UC-Berkeley

  12. petroleum–top 6 are Texas A&M, Texas-Austin, Univ. of Oklahoma, Colorado School of Mines, Penn State & Texas Tech

8

Separate rankings for engineering schools which do NOT award Phds:

  1. Harvey Mudd

  2. Rose-Hulman

  3. Franklin W. Olin

  4. USMA–West Point

  5. USAFA-Colorado Springs

  6. USNA-Annapolis

  7. Bucknell Univ.

  8. Cal Poly

  9. Cooper Union

  10. Milwaukee Sch. of Engineering

  11. US Coast Guard Academy

  12. Lafayette College

  13. Univ. of San Diego

Continues on to rank the top 73 programs at which the highest degree awarded is a bachelors or masters.

9

U of T is excellent in Engineering, but so are many schools that you have listed. I would repeat what @warblersrule and @DadTwoGirls said. U of T can be a grind. They are not shy about weeding out students in the first two years. I’ve heard the same thing about Georgia Tech’s EE. BIL went there, but transferred to UIUC for E Engineering, He felt GT was unfairly tough . Also heard Cornell can be very tough.

If you’re up for the work and living in the middle of a big city, then Toronto can be an excellent choice, but I wouldn’t say that it’s much better or worse than the schools you have listed. I’m not a big believer in rankings, except for identifying schools in very wide swathes.

McGill is ranked a bit lower than U of T for Engineering, but you would still get a rigorous and respected education there. Waterloo…anything do do with Math and Computers is outstanding. I’m not too sure of the rest of the Engineering dept…EE and Computer Engineering is probably great.

I am a dual CAN/AM living in the Midwest, and get in state rates at Minnesota, Iowa, and Wisconsin, as well as CAN rates at the Canadian schools. I would be hard pressed to come up with a good reason to attend, say, Georgia Tech, Illinois or Michigan, good as they are, over the other schools where COA is often half, if not less. I just don’t think it is that important, especially for something like Engineering. If you are a brilliant young Engineering student, U of T is not going to hold you back. If you aren’t, then why bother going to a school where everyone else is smarter than you?

If you are immensely wealthy, and light your Davidoff cigars with $100 bills, then go wherever you want. Otherwise, save yourself some $$.