Do mid-tier public flagships offer any advantages over Canadian universities?

[Anonymous]

Canadian universities are much cheaper to attend. Also, if you are a Canadian citizen they are even more affordable than in state American universities, even if you are from the USA. They seem like a slam dunk.

However, some say American public universities are generally better but I can't seem to find the reasoning behind this claim.

Is there any reason why mid-tier public schools like U of Oregon, U of Colorado (Boulder), UC Santa Cruz, etc. would offer advantages over UBC, Toronto, etc.? I'm talking in terms of academics and classes, not sports.

I can't imagine they do. I know Canadian universities are very well funded. One difference would be size. Canadian universities are very big.

[Anonymous]

Maybe internships opportunities recruiting if they plan to get jobs in the US after graduation

[Anonymous]

Santa Cruz weather vs Canada?

[Anonymous]

Unlikely to ever say PRO-cess for process. Which alone is a solid reason why to avoid Canadian schools.

[Anonymous]

They don't have the same attention to student life that American universities do. They have clubs and sports, but there's a reason a lot of people flock to the US for college. If you haven't gone to school elsewhere you just don't realize how complete the US college experience is. So much programming and advising. It's just not like that everywhere else.

[Anonymous]

It's much easier to be admitted to Oregon or CU than UBC or Toronto, so there's that.

[Anonymous]

I looked at tuition and fees at UBC. I don't understand why an US citizen would choose it over their state flagship. It is not that cheap for int'l students.

[Anonymous]

Oregon looks like it has a decent foreign languages program for its size. It is about 1/3 the size of UBC, which also has a strong program.

It is more of a liberal arts and sciences university. UBC appears much more comprehensive with engineering and medicine.

Not sure about Colorado.

Santa Cruz is a bit like Oregon, but harder to get into. It lacks professional programs in business, law and architecture though

[Anonymous]

Canadian universities are no longer inexpensive for international students. They now run, with room and board, in the $35,000-40,000k range. They all raised rates a few years ago.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Canadian universities are no longer inexpensive for international students. They now run, with room and board, in the $35,000-40,000k range. They all raised rates a few years ago.

Arts at UBC would be about $30K USD.

For the sake of the argument lets say they cost the same

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They don't have the same attention to student life that American universities do. They have clubs and sports, but there's a reason a lot of people flock to the US for college. If you haven't gone to school elsewhere you just don't realize how complete the US college experience is. So much programming and advising. It's just not like that everywhere else.

So true. McGill represents higher-education as institutional minimalism. Despite that, its more marketable STEM majors turn out to be no bargain.

[Anonymous]

We looked at McGill and there are a few potential downsides I want to mention, and OP you should see if this is McGill-specific or if it applies to more CDN universities.

At McGill, you apply to either a BA or BS program (and there is also a BA&BS or something like that). They have different stats for entry and their website has the last class's cut off stats.

There are three issues with that. The first is, they are pretty unforgiving, I think my DD got a B in 9th grade science so she was out of the running for the BS application even though her SAT and other grades were way above the cut offs. And they don't care if it was an AP class or not. So it's a little arbitrary.

The second issue was that after you are in the school, it's hard to switch over from BA to BS or vice-versa. You are really tracked.

At the time, my high school senior was considering pre-med. Since she had that B in 9th grade science (or something like that, can't remember), I checked into an option that's sort of easy in American colleges, which is: Could she get a BA in history or something, and take the science classes so she'd satisfy the pre-med requirements? The answer was that this would be near impossible, because the BS tracked kids were given priority on the science classes and there would likely be no space for her.

Implied in that was also that it sounded like kids get shut out of classes.

In my kid's case, she went to an American university in pre-med, and became one of those infamous statistics of kids who realize it's not the road for them. So she's history now. I think, wow, what if she had not been shut out of McGill's BS program...and went there and got her clock cleaned in STEM...and couldn't transfer to a BA major? Yikes!!

So those are my only thoughts of downsides, OP. Otherwise, seems like a great option. Hope this helps.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We looked at McGill and there are a few potential downsides I want to mention, and OP you should see if this is McGill-specific or if it applies to more CDN universities.

At McGill, you apply to either a BA or BS program (and there is also a BA&BS or something like that). They have different stats for entry and their website has the last class's cut off stats.

There are three issues with that. The first is, they are pretty unforgiving, I think my DD got a B in 9th grade science so she was out of the running for the BS application even though her SAT and other grades were way above the cut offs. And they don't care if it was an AP class or not. So it's a little arbitrary.

The second issue was that after you are in the school, it's hard to switch over from BA to BS or vice-versa. You are really tracked.

At the time, my high school senior was considering pre-med. Since she had that B in 9th grade science (or something like that, can't remember), I checked into an option that's sort of easy in American colleges, which is: Could she get a BA in history or something, and take the science classes so she'd satisfy the pre-med requirements? The answer was that this would be near impossible, because the BS tracked kids were given priority on the science classes and there would likely be no space for her.

Implied in that was also that it sounded like kids get shut out of classes.

In my kid's case, she went to an American university in pre-med, and became one of those infamous statistics of kids who realize it's not the road for them. So she's history now. I think, wow, what if she had not been shut out of McGill's BS program...and went there and got her clock cleaned in STEM...and couldn't transfer to a BA major? Yikes!!

So those are my only thoughts of downsides, OP. Otherwise, seems like a great option. Hope this helps.

Canada is more about programs and tracks than the USA. The expression "liberal arts education" is rarely used. In the USA almost every university claims they provide such an education. The Canadian system is basically designed for smart middle class kids who have a track already in mind.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We looked at McGill and there are a few potential downsides I want to mention, and OP you should see if this is McGill-specific or if it applies to more CDN universities.

At McGill, you apply to either a BA or BS program (and there is also a BA&BS or something like that). They have different stats for entry and their website has the last class's cut off stats.

There are three issues with that. The first is, they are pretty unforgiving, I think my DD got a B in 9th grade science so she was out of the running for the BS application even though her SAT and other grades were way above the cut offs. And they don't care if it was an AP class or not. So it's a little arbitrary.

The second issue was that after you are in the school, it's hard to switch over from BA to BS or vice-versa. You are really tracked.

At the time, my high school senior was considering pre-med. Since she had that B in 9th grade science (or something like that, can't remember), I checked into an option that's sort of easy in American colleges, which is: Could she get a BA in history or something, and take the science classes so she'd satisfy the pre-med requirements? The answer was that this would be near impossible, because the BS tracked kids were given priority on the science classes and there would likely be no space for her.

Implied in that was also that it sounded like kids get shut out of classes.

In my kid's case, she went to an American university in pre-med, and became one of those infamous statistics of kids who realize it's not the road for them. So she's history now. I think, wow, what if she had not been shut out of McGill's BS program...and went there and got her clock cleaned in STEM...and couldn't transfer to a BA major? Yikes!!

So those are my only thoughts of downsides, OP. Otherwise, seems like a great option. Hope this helps.

McGill is way more reputable than U of Oregon but I think U of Oregon has a stronger undergraduate emphasis. I'm from the West Coast and am somewhat familiar with that school. They're on the Quarter System and they have commonalities with UCLA, UCSC, etc. when it comes to curriculum. Where they differ is the quality of the students and professors.

[Anonymous]

^

I guess my point is that a school like U of Oregon may have some things going for it but ultimately it loses to McGill, and presumably, UBC and Toronto, when it comes to the quality of its students and professors, as well as research opportunities.