<p>Also, I’ve been to Dallas and Toronto and Houston. I would have to agree that they don’t offer the urban experience like you would find in the Northeast, Europe, or some large Canadian cities. The difference I would say is that Texas cities are large driving cities that are sprawled across vast areas, not like you see in New York, Paris, etc. Plus, the only mode of transportation is really a car. I like the walking cities where you can get good public transportation, and don’t really need a car to go everywhere.</p>
<p>Canadian Universities only seem to care about grades and test scores. EC’s and leadership don’t matter unless you are applying for a scholarship.</p>
<p>@web Houston has Metro Rail and Dallas has Dallas Area Rapid Transit. Also consider buses. Vancouver is a nice city no doubt but it lacks one important thing: culture.</p>
<p>It’s so odd that Texas has such huge cities, yet no real public transportation.</p>
<p>^Yeah but they are really making progress, the Houston Metro Rail is significantly expanding it’s rail across the city. Most sunbelt cities are so spread apart it makes subways pretty much economically impossible.</p>
<p>^^^That’s the point. A city that is “spread apart” is basically a collection of areas connected by freeways. There is a high rise downtown, nostly office buildings, and various suburban hubs, often anchored by a mall. For example, where can Rice University students go off campus without a car?</p>
<p>I’ve heard that Vancouver is one the best cities in the world to live in. I’d love to find out why. An international experience wouldn’t be bad for a college student.</p>
<p>@tom</p>
<p>They could go to the nearby Rice Village for food and drinks or take the metro light rail that is conveniently next to campus to the theater district to catch a play. They could also take the rail to reliant stadium for a concert or the houston rodeo.</p>
<p>tons of options available, especially considering that the rail is literally next to campus, don’t talk about anything you know nothing of</p>
<p>I know a lot of U.S. kids considering Canadian school; seems a much more popular option in recent years (just an impression). I live in the northwest and UBC gets 3-5 students from my D’s average-sized high school each year. The University of Victoria gets a few, also. </p>
<p>My observations: Canadian universities are very big, and there are fewer of them per capita, compared to the U.S. Meaning: there really aren’t that many choices. </p>
<p>And you get the bigness of a Big Ten American school, for better or worse, but absolutely no American college sports scene. Sounds trivial, but I think that component turns off many people who otherwise want a big school.</p>
<p>I am an American who is considering attending the U of Lethbridge due to their neuroscience program. While there are several neuroscience programs in the US, I’ve only found a couple that (on paper aka website) compare to Lethbridge. With the discussion here, I’m really wondering if I would be much better off staying in the US, at least for my undergrad. My plan is continue my education through PhD (for research, not clinical).</p>
<p>Thoughts?</p>
<p>“I’ve heard that Vancouver is one the best cities in the world to live in. I’d love to find out why. An international experience wouldn’t be bad for a college student.”</p>
<p>Vancouver is definitely a great city: it’s absolutely beautiful, has great restaurants and night life, has a lot of outdoor activities available, and has the necessary arts for a cosmopolitan city. IMO - it has some of the vibe of San Francisco but is cleaner.</p>
<p>
Define culture. Vancouver is a true melting pot. If you mean that there is no single overriding cultural motif - other than perhaps support for the Canucks - then you are correct. But I don’t see how anyone interested in “culture” could snub a city with so many vibrant ethnic communities. Houston and Dallas are certainly no better.</p>
<p>If you’re interested in anything tech/engineering related (especially CS/electrical Eng) check out the University of Waterloo. It’s pretty much Canada’s CMU, and they have an amazing co-op program. Bill Gates has said they take more grads from Waterloo than from any other school.</p>
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<p>One thing to understand about Canada, is that candian immigration sells them selves on not being a melting pot, but a mosaique. So foreigners will retain a lot more of their culture than comparable communities in the U.S. </p>
<p>I went to UBC and spent a nice 4 years in Vancovuer. I loved it, but there are parts of it I won’t sugar coat. I do think U.S. Cities are more open, friendly. Foreign attitudes towards anglosaxon culture (and i’m asian american) differs vastly, some very much want to be Chinese living in Canada, others are as integrated as immigrant-americans. The unusual thing about vancouver is that many 2nd gen immigrants predominately assocaite with other 2nd gen immigrants.</p>
<p>I’ll weigh in on this discussion since I am the parent of an American-born child who will likely attend college in Canada (if they’ll have her!). My daughter does have dual US/Canadian citizenship, so the tuition for her will be less than a US citizen, but that is not the main reason for her interest in Canadian universities. Some of the things mentioned here about Canadian universities are the things that have attracted her to them – living in a big city with a stronger foreign cultural presence than many US cities, the decreased emphasis on the Greek system as well as less emphasis on collegiate sports. Some kids are attracted to less ‘traditional’, i.e, US college type, experience than others, and for those types of kids, I think many Canadian universities are a good fit. I think you can liken them to US schools such as NYU, Northeastern, Columbia, etc. </p>
<p>As to the possibility of a Canadian degree hindering one in terms of employment in the US, I can say that my husband, who also has dual US/Canadian citizenship and graduated from University of Toronto, has had no trouble whatsoever in the past 25 years obtaining employment in the US, all of which has been in California, where UofT has even less name recognition than it has on the East Coast. As a matter of fact, his UofT degree at times provoked interviewers’ curiousity over the years, and most certainly in a positive way. Having something a bit out-of-the-ordinary on your CV is not a bad thing, and I think shows someone whos is curious and not afraid of risk and change. All good things.
My husband now works for the U.S. Federal government, in a position for which he had to pass a rigorous, high-level security and background check. His UofT degree presented no problems whatsoever.</p>
<p>Speaking as a former U of T undergraduate, for “elite” jobs in consulting and investment banking - U of T will bite you hard in the short-run until you get a few years of work experience or a US graduate degree. Even schools ranked #20-#35 in the US have better pedigree and recruiting opportunities, despite U of T’s research reputation being far superior. For everything else, it makes no difference.</p>
<p>Just want to weigh in on this again; having lived in Toronto (now living in Dallas), and visiting Austin, Houston, San Antonio and Vancouver, I can safely say that in terms of a college experience, it would go like this:</p>
<p>Austin
Vancouver
Toronto
Dallas
San Antonio
Houston</p>
<p>Austin is a real college town, what with sixth street and all that stuff. UT students definitely enjoy a far better social experience than students from the aforementioned cities. Although I have not visited Vancouver long enough to get a great idea, I can say that UBC has a great social life too from what I have gathered. Toronto…in terms of the schools there, you’d have to get out with a car to actually enjoy what it has to offer. The schools are simply campuses with a few attractions nearby, barring exceptions (such as student clubs around McMaster). Dallas is quite a drag; I go to UTD and it’s not the greatest social experience…I’ve probably said this before, but if I wasn’t in Greek life, I would probably not be meeting a lot of people. Areas around Rice pretty much suck. It’s in the middle of downtown Houston. UTSA is pretty much the same thing, although San Antonio is a beautiful city. If it were up to me, I’d go to school in either Austin or Vancouver.</p>
<p>Also, the whole cultural melting pot idea might seem appealing at first, but the cultural cliques that you can only experience from going to school in Toronto get real boring, real fast. Most people tend to stick with their own culture, and deviation, although it happens, is infrequent. That’s not to say that if you wanted a diverse group of friends that you couldn’t have it, but I feel like people have a glorified view of this ideal. Like the poster above said, a lot of people just tend to stick with their own culture, even in future generations.</p>
<p>People with degrees from Canadian schools will find jobs in America, but it still doesn’t deter from the fact that US companies would recognize an American degree more. That doesn’t mean that a graduate from a Canadian school will have to return to Canada after not finding a job for a year, it just means that you have a little more difficulty than your competition.</p>
<p>But hey, like someone else said, Canadian schools have a far lower value for collegiate sports, and Greek life is practically nonexistent in most schools. I have friends going to school all over in Canada, and for the large part, their social lives begin and end at bars and clubs (apart from just hanging out doing regular things, of course). If the usual view of college life is not your thing, then by all means, go for it.</p>
<p>Yes it is a good idea. Canadian universities are very diverse so you’ll have no problem finding your niche. If you’re outdoorsy than you’ll be in heaven. </p>
<p>In Canada college and university are different things so if you’re heading to university make sure to call it that.</p>
<p>I’m a high school student interested in maybe going to university in Canada. I don’t know much about Canada other than what I’ve researched (which is A LOT!). I want a school for psychology.
Any ideas? I know it’s a broad subject, but I plan to go far with it. I’ve never been to Canada and I want someone who has to let me know what universities I should look into.
btw, I live in Georgia. It’s nice, but I might want something different that is worth leaving for.</p>
<p>Help? Please.</p>
<p>Just in last week’s news…but this isn’t new anymore…</p>
<p>“The economy may be souring elsewhere, but Alberta seems headed for another labour shortage…”</p>
<p>[Winning</a> the war for talent](<a href=“http://www.financialpost.com/executive/Suite+Winning+talent/5462209/story.html]Winning”>http://www.financialpost.com/executive/Suite+Winning+talent/5462209/story.html)</p>
<p>“Americans could ease Alberta labour shortage…”</p>
<p>[Simons:</a> Americans could ease Alberta labour shortage](<a href=“Home | Calgary Herald”>Home | Calgary Herald)</p>
<p>“Alberta will soon be facing a labour shortage of more than 100,000 workers over the next ten years and will need to rely upon Temporary Foreign Workers to fill gaps in the labour supply…”</p>
<p>[Canada</a> Immigration News - Looking for a Canadian Job? American Work Experience May be the Key](<a href=“http://www.cicnews.com/2011/09/canadian-job-american-work-experience-key-091083.html]Canada”>Looking for a Canadian Job? American Work Experience May be the Key | Canada Immigration News)</p>