<p>not exactly. At least not in BC. The BC secondary school systems are pure rubbish. Pure Rubbish.</p>
<p>The education in schools such as McGill, UT, UBC, Queens business and Waterloo engineering are comparable to the best in the US, but the selectivity is MUCH much lower. Most extremely good Canadian students try for the ivies, leaving only the very good students for the Canadian schools.</p>
<p>ā¦and now chair a department at an elite publicā¦</p>
<p>I can tell you that the undergraduate program I took as a student was far more rigorous than what we are offering here.</p>
<p>The admission standards may be different, but CDN HSs send fewer of their kids to Universities, so there are fewer applicants overall.</p>
<p>
[QUOTE=archi92]
The Canadian education system relies more on grades and trying to improve academically a student. They also reinforce students knowledge more, and most importantly, giving a much more stable education than America. (I have a best friend in Canada and currently studying her senior year)</p>
<p>The American education system on the other hand, emphasizes the studentās leadership skills not academically but also in extracurricular activities. Its selectivity and demands are higher than Canadian Universities, making American U much more famous.
[/QUOTE]
</p>
<p>FWIW, I attended McGill for two semesters. Iāve also attended US universities, including two semesters at a state flagship which USN&WR ranks in the 31-50 range among National Universities.</p>
<p>Even though Canadian universities focus primarily on academics, it does not follow that they do a worse job than US universities at developing the whole person.</p>
<p>For one thing, Canadian universities generally offer a variety of extracurricular activities. So the availability of extracurriculars is not a major difference between US universities and Canadian universities.</p>
<p>US universities frequently donāt offer a healthy environment. US universities are frequently socially exclusive. At many, the Greek system dominates the campus. Partying is out of control at most US campuses. Binge drinking is commonplace. As a result of these factors, most US universities fail to offer environments which are conducive to personal growth.</p>
<p>By contrast, Canadian universities generally offer a healthy environment which facilitates personal growth. Canadian universities are generally socially inclusive. This makes it possible for a student to try different niches until they find one that fits. Also, even to the extent that students āpartyā, they generally donāt get out of control. Binge drinking is much less of a problem in Canada than in the United States.</p>
<p>Overall, I experienced more personal growth at McGill, despite being there for only one year, than I did during my entire 3 1/2 years of attendance at four-year universities in the US.</p>
<p>Also, within the context of the US, selectivity is instructive in comparing US universities. By contrast, the fact that US universities are more selective than Canadian universities is actually a symptom of a problem. Namely, there are not enough spaces in quality US universities for every student who can benefit from them. Itās unclear why this is a good thing.</p>
<p>*"not exactly. At least not in BC. The BC secondary school systems are pure rubbish. Pure Rubbish.</p>
<p>The education in schools such as McGill, UT, UBC, Queens business and Waterloo engineering are comparable to the best in the US, but the selectivity is MUCH much lower. Most extremely good Canadian students try for the ivies, leaving only the very good students for the Canadian schools."*</p>
<p>Where are your stats to back this upā¦because I find this hard to believeā¦as a Canadian not one of my friends or anyone in my high school applied to U.S universities or in fact any I know in my neighborhoodā¦at the university fairs no one was even interested in a U.S school. I am not saying Canadians donāt apply but itās a small portion, I would imagine, of the high school graduating class.</p>
<p>Ofcourse only a small portion does, but most of those are the best, aiming for HYPS. Thereās no point in paying higher tuition and leaving the country if youāre not going to get a ābetterā education. </p>
<p>Also the university fairs (at least ones my school participates in) donāt really have US universitiesā¦ heck it doesnāt even have UT or McGill. It focuses on small colleges around the area, because most people are not going to go to a good university.</p>
<p>Iāve seen both and really when it comes to huge countries like America and Canada you have to be talking each state/district. Plus American private schools are well known for their rigorous courses and their competitiveness.</p>
<p>You have to segment students by academic performance to determine costs associated with studying outside Canada:</p>
<p>The very top Canadian students who are competitive, with well rounded backgrounds, if accepted can attend top schools in the US/UK and elsewhere for about the same price or cheaper than your average Canadian universities. Indeed, some schools will not only provide scholarship but will also pay for travel, health and living expenses and more. </p>
<p>Whereas, top grades, without the well rounded background, even if accepted will require cost significantly larger than those at an average Canadian school. Top Canadian students and their parents should consider and plan to apply to more world class institutions as it will make Canada stronger in the long run.</p>
<p>I should add that although overall reputation of top US schools are better students can achieve great success with a Canadian university education - especially from UofT, McGill, Western etc.</p>
<p>Having a Ivy, especially from HYP, education increases your access to opportunity and brand recognition but it does not assure success, balance nor happiness.</p>
<p>lololololololollo</p>
<p>---->Top Canadian does not mean top American<----</p>
<p>There is really no comparison when it comes to top American and top Canadian universities.
Is Uof T really better than say UC-Irvine, New York University, Wake Forest, Notre Dame? Those schools are ranked around 35-50th and I would rank them around there too. Actually, perhaps I am being too GENEROUS. The top Canadians schools would rank towards the end of those Universities. </p>
<p>McGill acceptance rate is about 50% - one in two applicants get it!!! And believe it or not, U of T is around 89%! Canadian Admissions look online at your grades from 6 classes of yours to see if you qualify. No essays, no activities, no references, no 4-year transcripts, no SAT - nothing of the sort. Please, how is this an assessment? </p>
<p>-------> Furthermore, we have not mentioned LAC LIBERAL ARTS COLLEGES in the US. Schools like AMHERST MIDDLEBURY and WILLIAMS are highly selective and very prestigious. These schools are far superior to Canadian schools. Their billion dollar endowments are divided amongst 3,000 or so outstanding students. Huge Canadian research universities with tens of thousands of graduate students have way lower endowments despite their apparently āstrongā research and āabundantā resources. In fact, those Canadian endowments include government support.</p>
<p>Now, if you want to even compare Canadian schools with places like Amherst and Middlebury, then everyone in the discussion has to recognize that UofT and McGill are equal to the lower tier-1 American universities mentioned above. I submit to you, LAC like Middlebury and Williams are superior to UofT and McGill.</p>
<p>I am currently a UofT student and I would like to respond to the poster above:</p>
<p>-While it may be that a liberal arts college like WILLIAMS may be more selective and have more endowment per student, you also cannot compare private liberal arts college with a public research university, theyāre different things. </p>
<p>-As for your ranking, I believe TIMES HIGHER EDUCATION and SHANGHAI JIAO TONG rankings rank UofT and McGill above UC Irvine, NYU and those other universities you listed. Reputation-wise they may be similarā¦</p>
<p>-In general, American universities have more of a spread while Canadian universities are more uniform. Itās very logical when you think about it. The top universities in the states are more competitive because thereās 10x the student population and theoretically 10x as much competition for the top. On the other hand, the US also has more community colleges (referred to as colleges in Canada) and STATE universities which here in Canada there is no equivalent. In short, Canadaās top universities are roughly equivalent to the higher tier of the US universities but not the top ones. Thereās also no grade inflation here.</p>
<p>-The amount of American students also necessitates a reason for references, SATs, etc. But let me tell you, while here universities may be easier to get into, itās quite hard to survive. UofT profs mark pretty hard, so all the people who had inflated grades in high school get weeded out pretty soon and the quality of education is therefore similar to a top US university.</p>
<p>^gofishus, donāt even botherā¦ Americans are extremely ignorant about Canadian universitiesā¦ and they always will be. Anyone who wants to rank Canadian universities according to the USnews mathodology has no clue how Canadian universities function. Moreover, anyone who tries to compare the acceptance rates between Canadian schools and American schools simply donāt know how Canadian school admissions works. Canadian universities are extremely large and admissions are on a department by department basis. Due to their size, the overall acceptance rate is high. However, certain departments have a very low acceptance rate. Again, StraightG is simply ignorantā¦ he states that the acceptance rate of U of T is 89% (citation?). Even if that were true, I would be willing to bet he/she does not know that U of T has 3 branches with one being significantly more selective than the other two. U of T has the capacity to hold many students and soa large number of students are accepted but many (and I mean MANY) are weeded out after the first year. To end off, I would like to point out that acceptance rate does not determine how good a college is. Oxford and Cambridgeās acceptance rates are much higher than HYPSM. I believe their admissions also work on a department by department basis similar to Canadian universities. When comparing Canadian and American universities, you are comparing apples and oranges. They donāt compare well.</p>
<p>just a thoughtā¦
that canadian universities are āless selectiveā or āless competitiveā might be because of this. (ā¦ maybeā¦ maybe not)
in canada, or at least in ontario, Aās are anywhere from 80-100%. so in subjectively-marked subjects like english, 85% would be considered a really good markā¦ whereas in the states i believe 90+ is an A.
also 'cause we donāt have admission tests.</p>
<p>aca0260 - I am sorry for you too since you went such a pathetic high schoolā¦ Probably such a pathetic regionā¦ Is a school with no athetic team a school at all? I go to a Ontario secondary school too, but I feel so sorry to your bad luck.</p>
<p>Opps forget what I just said.
I only looked at the first page and didnāt know there were more pages :(</p>
<p>In the THES [ranking of North American universities](<a href=āTHE World University Rankings: Measure by measure: the US is the best of the best | Times Higher Education (THE)ā>http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2010-2011/north-america.html</a>), the University of Toronto is #13, UBC is # 22 and McGill, #26. Toronto in particular ranks lower than HYPSM and Caltech, buth higher than Columbia, UPenn, Duke, Northwestern, Vanderbilt, Emory, WUSTL, Rice, Brown, Dartmouth, Notre Dame, etc.</p>
<p>I am not sure about Columbia and UPenn in particular, but I tend to agree that UofT is really better than all other aforementioned schools that are ranked lower according to THES.</p>
<p>Undergraduate in Canada is no where near that in the US. Yes, UToronto may be a stronger research institution compared to Dartmouth, Columbia, and Brown. However, UToronto and McGill are huge (with a lot of researchers, students at all levels), so itās not really fair to compare it to schools a fraction of their size such as Dartmouth, Williams, and even Brown. At the undergrad level, most students at Dartmouth, Williams, can get into UToronto & McGill, but very few of students at UToronto & McGill can get into Dartmouth, Williamsā¦ Thatās is why students at UToronto & McGill are impressed when they meet undergrads from schools such as NYU, Cornell, UCLA, Carnegie Mellon, etc.</p>
<p>@IvyPBear āThatās is why students at UToronto & McGill are impressed when they meet undergrads from schools such as NYU, Cornell, UCLA, Carnegie Mellon, etc.ā</p>
<p>You must be easily impressed then. The only thing that ever impressed me about NYU studentsāgrads was how they could manage to take in $80,000 to $100,000 in student loans for an Arts degree.</p>
<p>the comparence between American and Canadian universities is hard to be measured precisely if the difficulty of the amission is being used for judging it. It is that because the system structure is fairly different in a sense, and truly top canadian universities intend āgraduationā to be tougher than āadmittedā, while top american universities intend getting āadmittedā to be more difficult task as it gets to be limited according to the individualsā ability and highschool, and āfinancial issuesā as well.</p>
<p>what did you study? Iām a canadian graduate student, and Iām working my ass off. The reason why American universities are more prestigious is not because of anything but itās massive population, age, and bureaucratic nature. In other words Canadian schools are relatively more advanced that american schools when measured in dollars. The essence of the canadian university is the excellent teaching. American schools are not egalitarian enough. But thatās because itās America, so duh. Itās like comparing apples to pears.</p>