Any Canada-bound?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We were also disappointed by McGill’s tuition increase, which is explicitly designed to discourage applications outside of the Province. Another thing is that your kid won’t be able to get a part time job or internship in Montreal unless they are certified fluent in French.

I can't find any evidence of this. I found evidence that international students won't be able to get a work permit AFTER they graduate or else they speak basic French, but they can work while they are enrolled.

Yeah, everyone in Montreal speaks English fluently anyway.

Not true. Maybe for young people but when we there in the summer there were older folks that I wanted to speak with that didn’t speak English, only French. I was surprised!

haha. they probably just didn't want to talk to YOU

It was just striking that people older than me said they couldn’t speak English and yet younger people were ok to. It seemed generational.

For example, I wanted to buy a book in a store and they had to find a younger person to speak English with me. This was in a neighborhood 5 miles from McGill.

And all the signs and directions are in French. I just expected it to be more bilingual and was a bit caught off guard that French truly is the primary language in Montréal.

You sound really ignorant and very American.

You sound really ignorant throwing around baseless insults-- I was born in Canada. (West Coast.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS got into McGill and a UK uni and ended getting cold feet and staying closer to home

Is your son waiting on other news? Toronto is an excellent university, and is better-known worldwide than UMich, which might be a consideration if he wants to work for a multinational corporation or work abroad. Canadian universities don't hand-hold as much as US ones, so that's also something to consider. You also need to consider major compatibility. Is one of them stronger for his major?

Toronto is not better known than Michigan worldwide. I think you’re conflating Michigan with UVA.

I’m from Michigan, went to U if Toronto, & ended up in the UK for grad school. Some people in the UK seemed a bit confused by University of Michigan & Michigan State University both being state schools.

They would also sometimes ask, “Which one (UofM or MSU) is the good one?” Everybody there seemed to know of & respect U of Toronto.

There are at least 7 universities in the state of Michigan with the word “Michigan” in their name. I wasn’t surprised when somebody in a foreign country didn’t know exactly which one of them was the “good” one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS got into McGill and a UK uni and ended getting cold feet and staying closer to home

Is your son waiting on other news? Toronto is an excellent university, and is better-known worldwide than UMich, which might be a consideration if he wants to work for a multinational corporation or work abroad. Canadian universities don't hand-hold as much as US ones, so that's also something to consider. You also need to consider major compatibility. Is one of them stronger for his major?

Toronto is not better known than Michigan worldwide. I think you’re conflating Michigan with UVA.

Interestingly enough in a study done by American Cadwell about international name recognition…Toronto is #5 and Michigan is #6.

So, let’s call it a tie.

OP again, lots of great insights in this thread! My main concern is the employability with a Canadian degree from Toronto compared to Michigan. I would assume it is easier to get a job in the United States with a US college degree. But how significant is that difference? Also housing does not seem to be guaranteed all 4 years at either school, so that is another concern.

In every discussion of foreign universities somebody wonders if the kid will be hirable in the US with a degree from a top foreign university. I don’t know where this comes from. It’s bizarre.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My son is planning to study CS. He was accepted into his major directly at Toronto, but cannot do CS at Michigan (he would do data science there instead). Not sure if the differences are significant enough to pick one over the other for the major. But it sounds like Toronto has good employability in the United States too... we may have to visit for him to make up his mind.

US Tech companies routinely hire UT, UBC, and UWaterloo CS/ECE graduates for positions in silicon valley, in other US locations, and in Canada. It is not a new phenomenon. Microsoft has been doing this since the late 1980s, for example. Those degrees all are widely recognized.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My son is planning to study CS. He was accepted into his major directly at Toronto, but cannot do CS at Michigan (he would do data science there instead). Not sure if the differences are significant enough to pick one over the other for the major. But it sounds like Toronto has good employability in the United States too... we may have to visit for him to make up his mind.

US Tech companies routinely hire UT, UBC, and UWaterloo CS/ECE graduates for positions in silicon valley, in other US locations, and in Canada. It is not a new phenomenon. Microsoft has been doing this since the late 1980s, for example. Those degrees all are widely recognized.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS got into McGill and a UK uni and ended getting cold feet and staying closer to home

Is your son waiting on other news? Toronto is an excellent university, and is better-known worldwide than UMich, which might be a consideration if he wants to work for a multinational corporation or work abroad. Canadian universities don't hand-hold as much as US ones, so that's also something to consider. You also need to consider major compatibility. Is one of them stronger for his major?

Toronto is not better known than Michigan worldwide. I think you’re conflating Michigan with UVA.

Interestingly enough in a study done by American Cadwell about international name recognition…Toronto is #5 and Michigan is #6.

So, let’s call it a tie.

OP again, lots of great insights in this thread! My main concern is the employability with a Canadian degree from Toronto compared to Michigan. I would assume it is easier to get a job in the United States with a US college degree. But how significant is that difference? Also housing does not seem to be guaranteed all 4 years at either school, so that is another concern.

In every discussion of foreign universities somebody wonders if the kid will be hirable in the US with a degree from a top foreign university. I don’t know where this comes from. It’s bizarre.

Well, outside of major companies and specific industries where those schools are know …I can understand some hesitancy.

At least people know about the city of Toronto…but I bet the random hiring person at a mid market or small company might scratch their head if they see Magill or Waterloo. They probably have little to no experience with grads from those schools.

Oxford and Cambridge…no problems.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We were also disappointed by McGill’s tuition increase, which is explicitly designed to discourage applications outside of the Province. Another thing is that your kid won’t be able to get a part time job or internship in Montreal unless they are certified fluent in French.

I can't find any evidence of this. I found evidence that international students won't be able to get a work permit AFTER they graduate or else they speak basic French, but they can work while they are enrolled.

Yeah, everyone in Montreal speaks English fluently anyway.

Not true. Maybe for young people but when we there in the summer there were older folks that I wanted to speak with that didn’t speak English, only French. I was surprised!

haha. they probably just didn't want to talk to YOU

It was just striking that people older than me said they couldn’t speak English and yet younger people were ok to. It seemed generational.

For example, I wanted to buy a book in a store and they had to find a younger person to speak English with me. This was in a neighborhood 5 miles from McGill.

And all the signs and directions are in French. I just expected it to be more bilingual and was a bit caught off guard that French truly is the primary language in Montréal.

You sound really ignorant and very American.

You sound dumb. The pp is spot on. It is weird in Quebec to even see stop signs in French. In France and all of Europe, stop signs are in English. Quebec is weirdly French obsessed. I have a friend in Montreal who wanted to send her kids to an English-speaking k-12 school but she was not allowed to. Her husband is French Quebec and if that is your heritage, the government forces you to send your kids to a French school to preserve the French heritage

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes you would have to pay for health insurance in Canada if your child is not a citizen. In terms of jobs, I think they can help a person become a citizen if they want to hire you. I do not think you can just show up for college and say Hi...I would like to be Canadian! Is there a form?

At Ontario universities, UHIP is a mandatory private plan that provides coverage for international students that is meant to be comparable to OHIP, the public provincial health plan. UHIP is currently around $750/year. I assume there is something similar in Quebec.

[Anonymous]

MY DD is a freshman at McGill and LOVES it. She iwas also accepted at Toronto and BC. Her plan is to go to Toronto for grad school. At McGill you will work hard, but she has time for activities with friends. There are sports teams, but nothing like the US. Good luck in the decision process.