Colleges in Canada - McGill, Toronto, Montreal

[Anonymous]

UofT is an Ivy League quality institution. It has no peers in Canada in terms of research. For undergrad, Queen's, McGill, Western and UBC are all excellent. Waterloo is great for computer science. Simon Fraser, McMaster and Guelph are not bad either. If you're not afraid of the cold, University of Manitoba and University of Saskatchewan are also big research schools and in some ways it's easier to focus, learn more and thrive there.

Maclean's magazine does a popular ranking each year you could look up. Try looking at a 5-year average of the results instead of any single year.

[Anonymous]

This is OP. I know the rankings (current year), McGill ranks highest then University of Toronto, and then University of Montreal.

[Anonymous]

Do any of you know if University College at Toronto is focused more on commuters?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:UofT is an Ivy League quality institution. It has no peers in Canada in terms of research. For undergrad, Queen's, McGill, Western and UBC are all excellent. Waterloo is great for computer science. Simon Fraser, McMaster and Guelph are not bad either. If you're not afraid of the cold, University of Manitoba and University of Saskatchewan are also big research schools and in some ways it's easier to focus, learn more and thrive there.

Maclean's magazine does a popular ranking each year you could look up. Try looking at a 5-year average of the results instead of any single year.

Spoken like a true UofT grad. Toronto is solid. However, I highly doubt it is on the same level as HYP. It is a big university. St George (main campus) enrolls over 40K undergrads. Believe me they are not all at the same level academically.

It is probably more comparable to UCLA than HYP

[Anonymous]

We ruled out the Canadian system because of the size of the institutions. UBC was just too big.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just to clarify, I know about the French language requirement and I'm specifically looking for info from people with EXPERIENCE of the following three colleges

McGill University
University of Toronto
University of Montreal

thanks

They aren't colleges. What do you want to know about them? I have experience with two of the three but your question is so vague and broad it is impossible to answer.

And one of these things is not like the other. There is no University of Montreal. The UdeM is a francophone institution. Are you wanting to study in English or in French?

You must not be Canadian, because you’re rude AF.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just to clarify, I know about the French language requirement and I'm specifically looking for info from people with EXPERIENCE of the following three colleges

McGill University
University of Toronto
University of Montreal

thanks

They aren't colleges. What do you want to know about them? I have experience with two of the three but your question is so vague and broad it is impossible to answer.

And one of these things is not like the other. There is no University of Montreal. The UdeM is a francophone institution. Are you wanting to study in English or in French?

You must not be Canadian, because you’re rude AF.

Nor you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just to clarify, I know about the French language requirement and I'm specifically looking for info from people with EXPERIENCE of the following three colleges

McGill University
University of Toronto
University of Montreal

thanks

They aren't colleges. What do you want to know about them? I have experience with two of the three but your question is so vague and broad it is impossible to answer.

And one of these things is not like the other. There is no University of Montreal. The UdeM is a francophone institution. Are you wanting to study in English or in French?

You must not be Canadian, because you’re rude AF.

Oh no - that is not true. My DH is Canadian. I’ve been going to Canada for 20 years. It’s an old cliche that Cdns are nice and not rude. Some of the rudest must small minded and provincial thinking I’ve ever experienced.

[Anonymous]

NP, and sorry OP for not asking a question directly on topic, but do any Canadians on this thread have opinions or experience with Dalhousie? My DD is interested in marine biology and fell in love with Halifax but we don’t know anyone who has attended.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'd always heard that McGill was the most prestigious university in Canada so I was surprised to learn that it has an admissions rate of 46%.

Different model. Have high/clear/objective standards for admission, no arbitrary cap on enrollment (often driven by dorm capacity in the US), and then use the whole grading scale (not just B- and above). So fewer lottery ticket applicants, everybody who has done the groundwork and can afford not to work FT post-HS gets a chance at a high quality education, and students get judged/sorted based on how they perform in college (HS achievements have little lingering impact). Seems like a pretty sensible approach to me. Would be similar to the top UCs if the system had kept pace with population growth.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'd always heard that McGill was the most prestigious university in Canada so I was surprised to learn that it has an admissions rate of 46%.

Different model. Have high/clear/objective standards for admission, no arbitrary cap on enrollment (often driven by dorm capacity in the US), and then use the whole grading scale (not just B- and above). So fewer lottery ticket applicants, everybody who has done the groundwork and can afford not to work FT post-HS gets a chance at a high quality education, and students get judged/sorted based on how they perform in college (HS achievements have little lingering impact). Seems like a pretty sensible approach to me. Would be similar to the top UCs if the system had kept pace with population growth.

Not sure where this myth of B- being the floor started. Just not true. I have four in college at a wide range of schools and we’ve seen grades below that. Not many, but they happen. We have one at an “unselective” school and the work he’s doing is definitely not as demanding, but they will happily hand him a C when he doesn’t study or submits a crap paper.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:NP, and sorry OP for not asking a question directly on topic, but do any Canadians on this thread have opinions or experience with Dalhousie? My DD is interested in marine biology and fell in love with Halifax but we don’t know anyone who has attended.

Dalhousie is a great school for marine biology. Hope she likes the cold.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is OP. I know the rankings (current year), McGill ranks highest then University of Toronto, and then University of Montreal.

McGill has a massive advertising budget geared to American students and it works. Americans think McGill is the best. Try again, University of Toronto and British Columbia is better.

[Anonymous]

My DD is applying to Toronto. It's top notch. Definitely higher rated than McGill.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'd always heard that McGill was the most prestigious university in Canada so I was surprised to learn that it has an admissions rate of 46%.

Different model. Have high/clear/objective standards for admission, no arbitrary cap on enrollment (often driven by dorm capacity in the US), and then use the whole grading scale (not just B- and above). So fewer lottery ticket applicants, everybody who has done the groundwork and can afford not to work FT post-HS gets a chance at a high quality education, and students get judged/sorted based on how they perform in college (HS achievements have little lingering impact). Seems like a pretty sensible approach to me. Would be similar to the top UCs if the system had kept pace with population growth.

Not sure where this myth of B- being the floor started. Just not true. I have four in college at a wide range of schools and we’ve seen grades below that. Not many, but they happen. We have one at an “unselective” school and the work he’s doing is definitely not as demanding, but they will happily hand him a C when he doesn’t study or submits a crap paper.

Elite privates in the US pretty much have this floor. Less selective schools (especially public) don’t. Again, a different model.