Canadian universities?

[celestialsquirrels]

Hi everyone. My DD1 is in the lower sixth in the UK and thinking about university. She is UK born and bred but has dual Canadian nationality and has family/friends in Vancouver and Toronto.

She is thinking about going to Uni in Canada (and can pay local fees, not international ones, which are about 1/3-1/2 of UK fees).

I am planning a trip with her in April to look around a few campuses. We have barely a week so I'm thinking of a whistlestop tour of Queen's, Western and UBC. She seems less interested in McGill because of the French aspect/weather/knowing nobody in Montreal. I have heard less than good things about the U of T undergrad experience.

I would be really interested in anyone's thoughts about these unis, what the student experience is like, things we should think about/ask about, etcetera. Anything really, trying to marshall my thoughts. She is interested in social sciences/arts (A levels are geography English lit and history of art and likely to be predicted AAA).

Many thanks!

I had friends at UofT and McGill. Both went not knowing anyone, they made lifelong friends.

McGill is an English speaking school, more my real is easy enough to get by without speaking French.

U of T has different colleges (like Oxford for example), so not as daunting as it might seem. There is also a campus in Mississauga (about 15/20 min outside of Toronto), that has a more university campus feel, but it's not a university town, it's a city itself

Western is more of a university town type of place. People I know that went enjoyed it. Used to have a reputation of being a party university in the early 90s, but think it's lost that rep. Very good school regardless.

Hth

Thanks scissors
I must say I think mcgill sounds fab but she is very anti Montreal and I don't want to push her. Also I think Montreal Toronto Kingston London and Vancouver in a week would be almost impossible!

I've heard a lot about Western's party reputation - difficult to reconcile with its reputation as a very good university - I wonder what it actually means in practice? Do you know anyone who has been there recently?

Bump for any Canadians who may be around!

I went to Queen's many years ago and my younger daughter much more recently. Both Queen's and Western are in small university cities (Kingston much smaller than London, Ontario) and the experiences there are different than at either U of T or UBC, both of which are very much larger. In the case of U of T you are in the middle of a large city and there are a lot of commuter students (although of course there are residences and lots of student housing in the vicinity). UBC has the most spectacular campus in the country, on the edge of the Pacific, but it is quite a distance from the city centre, which can seem isolating to some and it's a bit of a trek for a night out. All the schools are excellent from an academic perspective. Western does have a "party " image, but is also a serous academic school. Both my daughter and I had wonderful experiences at Queen's, so would highly recommend! But I do know some people (particularly from Toronto) who found Kingston a bit too small. You tend at Queen's to be submersed in the university experience and I suspect the same is true to a large extent at Western. One great advantage to Queen's is that you are midway between Toronto and Montreal, so easy for great long week-ends away. You're also a couple of hours from Ottawa.

If you're looking at a smaller university experience, another to perhaps consider is the University of Victoria.

Don't know if you are aware, but Queen's owns a castle in Herstmonceux and offers first year and upper year programs there. My daughter in fact spent her first year in the UK at the Castle and had a wonderful time. Maybe not so interesting for a UK student who want to come to Canada though!

Thanks so much Vancanuck, that's really helpful. It will be interesting to see which one she goes for (or if in fact she stays in the UK.). I haven't been to kingston for decades but I still remember it as a really small place which she might find a bit too small. Then again small is manageable and the fact that queens is the opposite of a commuter university is attractive from the point of view of someone coming from abroad. At the moment I think her first choice on paper is UBC because she knows and lives Vancouver (and likes skiing!) but I bet her views change when we look round them all.
So what is your dd doing now, can I ask?

Knows and likes vancouver...

she is finishing up her Phd at York University in Toronto. Your daughter would love Vancouver today--warm and sunny. People are out in shorts. Unfortunately, not so good for the skiing though. On the weekend it was raining at the top of Whistler

She is obviously a clever girl! Wow shorts in January? Now we never had that when I were a lass in Toronto!!