<p>I am an American Alumni of UBC, Vancouver. I graduated 4 years ago and have had a number of experiences since then. I have completed a masters degree, held a job in a fortune 100 company in the U.S. and am currently pursuing a Ph.D. </p>
<p>I've created this post in hopes that I can give American students who are considering Canadian schools some insight into what you might get into. Most of what I've written is based on my experience at UBC, though I think most of it would apply to U of T and Mcgill as well. I visited all three campuses when I was considering universities and I selected UBC because its model more closely mirrored the environment at an American public school The tradeoffs they make when they select a top Canadian school over a comparable school. While there is a plethora of information on American Universities, the programs they offer and the campus life. I remember there was a thorough lack of such information for Canadian schools. </p>
<p>I'm hoping this thread answers some questions that students who are considering top Canadian programs have.</p>
<ol>
<li>Most international rankings of University are largely ranking an Universities strength as a research institution. They are not measuring the institutions pedigree. </li>
</ol>
<p>If you are considering taking a job in America, the name of a Canadian school is not likely to impress more than your local large state school. This is because most Canadian schools are simply unknown within America. I do want to pause and say that most students at UBC do not become baristas, especially the ones who left Vancouver. My feeling is this speaks more about the type of students who went to UBC, they were remarkably persistent in their job searches. I do not want to overstate this as a negative. Many top tier American schools have mostly regional reputation. You would be surprised how unknown Tufts, Emory or Vanderbilt are. </p>
<p>If your aiming for a top graduate school or any type of job that has a strong academic component, you probably will find that your application is competitive with students from other top tier public universities. I have friends at the moment who have gone to graduate school in LSE, Chicago, Harvard, Columbia, Toronto, Northwestern, Berkley, Mcgill. I found on graduation government organizations like the Federal reserve and think tanks where Ph.D's did the hiring took note of my degree. </p>
<ol>
<li>The top tier Canadian schools are commuter schools. They simply do not have the campus life that major universities in the states will have. </li>
</ol>
<p>Americans in general have a strong culture of moving out of their parents home onto a college campus. Many universities require students spend first year on college, and I can't think of a top 30 American school on the eastern sea board that doesn't guarantee housing for their incoming freshman. This means that student life clusters around the typical American university. In contrast, most Canadian schools don't guarantee housing for incoming International students, UBC does. In general campus life was quite limited after classes are ever. If you were involved in extracurricular activities like campus club, you would find quickly that your University became smaller as the same few people were involved in everything. </p>
<p>How vibrant your college experience will depend immensely on the city your school resides. I certainly enjoyed my four years at UBC. That was more reflective of the fact I enjoyed Vancouver. I've seen that most students at Mcgill, Toronto, Western frame their experiences in the same terms. This is a major difference as many American university provide an excellent student life are located in the middle of no where. </p>
<p>Because students generally don't live on campus, this also means that Universities having fewer facilities for students and the existing facilities were geared for commuter students. At UBC almost every faculty had a nice study lounge, 20+ full service coffee shops. However, we had few late night dining options, very few late night study spaces, and had to pay extra to use the campus gym. </p>
<ol>
<li> The Canadian curriculum at top schools do not exactly mirror American curriculums. Most American schools have extensive general core curriculum and require as few as 30 credit hours (10 courses) to achieve a major concentration. Canadian degree programs generally have a smaller core curriculum and instead more courses within the major concentration. At UBC, a minor would require similar coursework to a major at many american schools and a major generally required 4 to 6 more courses than a typical major. </li>
</ol>
<p>This makes it significantly harder to switch major programs or pursue a double major and graduate within 4 years. In American schools its not unusual for students to switch majors 4 or five times. In Canadian schools once you pass the first year, its likely this will add a semester or more to your graduation times..</p>
<p>Some departments offered a special type of major called honours. Honours degrees are generally intended for students seeking to enter graduate school and would be akin to double majoring in the same subject. (Keep in mind many students go to good graduate school without pursuing an honours degree) Students required to take 18 to 20 courses in the subject they are majoring, and usually take a more rigorous set of courses than the traditional major. They often are given better research opportunities and access to better faculty who often do not teach undergrads. Generally these programs have g.p.a. requirements for entrance and some are very tough to gain admission into. </p>
<ol>
<li>Canadian instruction methods are much more similar to European techniques. Top American schools generally offer small class sizes to students at the 300 and 400 level. There is a lot of individual attention given to students, and students are able to gain close interaction with professors. </li>
</ol>
<p>Canadian schools tend to have large class sizes and lectures are often impersonal with professors rarely knowing their students name. Seminar courses are generally a capstone course that students take as a final major requirement. </p>
<ol>
<li><p>Canadian curriculum is test based. Most courses your grade is based on a midterm and a final, or two midterms and a final. In writing intensive courses a final or midterm will be substituted with a paper. Its rare you have homework, quizzes or class participation count for a significant portion of a grade. Final exams may also have a heavy weight on the grade. It was not unheard of for a final to count for 70% of the grade. I've heard of courses where the final exam counted for 95%. Again this is shares a similarity with European curriculum where finals can be worth 100%. </p></li>
<li><p>There is little grade inflation in Canada. I know UBC, Mcgill and Toronto effectively control grade distribution of their courses. Class averages are predetermined and courses are scaled to fit predetermine differences. This means that your grade in a course is dependent on the relative performance against your class mates. Courses which are too easy will be scaled down. </p></li>
</ol>
<p>This is also something to consider if the programs you wish to pursue is grade contingent. Can you outperform your class mates by the required grade? </p>
<ol>
<li><p>Canadian semesters are shorter and they enjoy longer summer breaks. 4 1/2 month summers give a lot more opportunity to do something meaningful. Like engage in a serious internship or go on a meaningful exchange program. </p></li>
<li><p>Admissions process to Canadian schools are much more raw numbers based. If you have good grades, but lack extracurricular you probably are in good shape for most schools except Mcgill. Mcgill uses American style admissions for students from American highschools.</p></li>
<li><p>Your pretty much guaranteed a 3 year work visa in Canada and can gain a permanent resident status, quite easily once you graduate. This is a nice benefit. Ask international students in America. Your Canadian degree means more to Canadian employers, you probably will find it easier to start a career in Canada. If your aiming for competitive career paths like management consulting, Canadian operations of such companies do recruit from Canadian universities. </p></li>
</ol>
<p>Its pretty easy to come back and forth. So don't think your stuck here.</p>
<ol>
<li>Canada has much better academic masters degree programs than the U.S.
Masters degrees in Canada is generally expected of students entering Ph.D programs. That it is common for most Canadian universities to have large well developed masters degree programs in most academic disciplines. Many programs offer low tuition for international students, and some offer full funding packages.</li>
</ol>
<p>Please pardon any grammatical mistakes. I am not a natural writer and I did not spend anytime proof reading this</p>