<p>I know this is an old thread, but there were definitely some very good points made by aca0260. Being also a product of both high school systems, I think one clarification could make things easier:</p>
<p>The level of the material taught at Canadian high schools is lower. Disgustingly lower. However, the grading scheme is more of a bell curve, so it's truly difficult to make grades in the high 90's (unless you were at the top of the class...in which case, you were destined for a top school anyways).</p>
<p>"The level of the material taught at Canadian high schools is lower. Disgustingly lower. However, the grading scheme is more of a bell curve, so it's truly difficult to make grades in the high 90's (unless you were at the top of the class...in which case, you were destined for a top school anyways)."</p>
<p>explain please. are you saying Canadian HS are worse but compensate with a tougher grading system?</p>
<p>Yeah that's precisely what I'm saying, but I wouldn't call it a "compensation." It's a lose-lose situation. </p>
<p>Just take a gander at the newly revamped Ontario Math curriculum, which just cut out Single Variable Calculus (well...at least the Derivatives part of it) to expand on a series of courses devoted to Precalculus concepts. Now, I'm sure that would do quite well for the average Canadian student - but for the high achiever, that's just absolute murder.</p>
<p>It certainly felt easier to get grades in the A/A+ range at my high school in the United States, but I also felt like I got a lot more out of my classes there as well (there was a wide array of AP and actual University classes). In Canada, it did feel harder to get grades in the 95 range despite the much more trivial concepts being taught in school, and I always felt this need to be a perfectionist...instead of learning just for the sake of learning.</p>
<p>Would anyone have any idea of which Canadian school would have a strong English Lit/Creative Writing program--between McGill, U of Toronto, U of British Columbia ( or any other Canadian school)?</p>
<p>Not sure why this thread got revived but Canadian universities not being worth anything is the biggest lie ever. Yes, they are relatively easy to get into but their program's strength rival some of the best programs US Colleges can offer. A few Canadian Universities consistently rank among the top 50 in the world while two or three Ivy Leagues are missing. If you want affordable, quality education Canadian Universities are the very best in the world. </p>
<p>As for your question momonthehill, i am not really sure except i know that U of Toronto is a very well rounded university that places well in a lot of categories. Same can be said for McGill and UBC too. Check out their websites because that may help.</p>
<p>I disagree as I did before.\
McGill,UoT and UBC would all be ranked in the top 25 in the US if they were in the US.
Waterloo is arguable the Stanford or UCal of the North,</p>
<p>Thank you, Shad Faraz. Somehow this thread came up when I was doing a search of this forum for info about UBC. Everything that I've heard about Canadian would indicate that the schools mainly discussed on CC (i.e., McGill, UT, UBC, Queens) are all very fine schools.</p>
<p>There's a lot of talk about selection criteria, so lt's make a few things clear. The education system differs from province to province, the Albertan system and the Quebec CEGEP system are much more difficult than Ontarian HS - International. And yes the Canadian HS system is overall much more difficult than the American one. IT IS GENERALLY MUCH EASIER FOR AN AMERICAN STUDENT TO GET INTO MOST PROGRAMS IN A CANADIAN UNIVERSITY THAN IT IS FOR A CANADIAN STUDENT. An OOP getting accepted into McGill, Queen's or UBC would need some pretty strong marks. Admission standards for American and generally international students are lax because they bring in more money. Finally, public schools have a commitment to educating the public, some dept.s like premed in McGill, business school in Queen's and Ivey are very selective, but overall the university offers students with decent marks the oppurtunity to get a great education, and plenty of them move on to do great things. It's also worth noting that the Canadian government balances funds for different projects and dept.s among many universities.</p>
<p>For undergrad I'd put McGill, UBC, Queen's, UofT in the top 50 (putting selectivity into account as well). McGill, UBC, UofT in the top 25 for many programs internationally. And I'd put McGill slighlty ahead of UBC and UofT.</p>
<p>The Ontarian HS system is not representative of the rest of Canada. Tell a person in CEGEP (outside the SS program) who takes university level courses, that their curriculum is easy.</p>
<p>Just a note about Canadian schools: its very inexpensive if you're a Canadian, but for internationals its more than twice as expensive and its hard to get financial aid..you are expected to be able to support yourselves. The international cost probably still cheaper than American schools, but you lose the possibility of getting financial aid. No such thing as need-based aid in Canada if you're an international, hence the reason I'm looking into richer American schools that can help internationals.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Would anyone have any idea of which Canadian school would have a strong English Lit/Creative Writing program--between McGill, U of Toronto, U of British Columbia ( or any other Canadian school)?
[/quote]
Carleton is supposed to have a very good journalist program.</p>
<p>Ok, so here's a question you guys can battle out: I'm a fairly good student that attended a good high school in ON but I've now moved back to my home country (South Africa - so I'm a Canadian PR) I'm hoping to get into a North-American university but when it came to the difference between Canadian and US colleges (esp LACs) it seems that the US is better in giving aid and have more of the 'presigous feel' on their websites - they generally seemed more "real" and approachable compared the Canadaian ones as though university life is more than just book work. Has anyone else had that feeling?</p>
<p>However, I'm still loyal to Canada and I just want to ask what you think I'll be missing out (other than having to pay expensive application fees) if I had to attend a Can. Uni compared to say a US LAC? </p>
<p>PS: the Fin Aid in the states seems to be better than CAN even though I'm a permanent resident to Canada</p>
<p>What I have always heard about Canada's top universities is that they have very good faculties but 1) they're enormous, and 2) they have extremely high student/faculty ratios, much higher than even the top public in the U.S., much less the top privates. I believe the University of Toronto has something on the order of 55,000 students and a student/faculty ratio of about 22/1 or 23/1, depending on how you count. These figures would give me pause because they suggest a great deal of the teaching is going to be done in large lectures rather than in small discussion or seminar-style classes. </p>
<p>Anyone familiar with these schools care to comment?</p>
<p>UofT has over 63,000 undergrads. I think the reason the faculty:student ratio is low is because that includes only tenured profs. McGill has almost a third of the students and 4-5x more faculty.</p>
<p>Why do they have so few? They're gaming the research output rankings by having a lot of people compete (by doing more work/research) for fewer permanent positions. </p>
<p>I don't see why this would be a bad place to do undergrad. It's definitely a great environment to do solution-driven (not so much fundemental) science research. That said, you can learn a lot by attending a big public school, though I agree that it's not for everybody.</p>
<p>I don't think that's right. The following link is to a document published online by U of T itself, recalculating its student/faculty ratio on the basis of FTE students to FTE faculty, excluding faculty in stand-along graduate and professional schools (like medicine, etc.)---the way U.S. schools are supposed to report it for the Common Data Set. That brings U of T's student faculty ratio down to 22.3 to 1---a bit lower than the commonly cited figure of 23.7 to 1, but still extraordinarily by U.S. standards. </p>
<p>I was born in Canada went to high school for 3 years at a public school that offered AP courses. Recently moved to California currently attending a high ranked school in America and the courses are the same or easier.</p>
<p>Just awful logic. As if US students don’t cross the border to go to school in Canada. As if many other International students don’t do the same. A school’s selectivity needs to consider all applicants from any location and the Canadian schools being discussed in this thread draw from the world.</p>
<p>Yes, terrible logic, but I believe there is a better argument. There are far fewer Canadian schools so the talent isn’t dispersed throughout hundreds of universities/colleges; instead each school has a quality student base comparable to many good American schools.</p>
<p>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 student’s leadership skills not academically but also in extracurricular activities. Its selectivity and demands are higher than Canadian Universities, making American U much more famous.</p>