Hello! I recently just got accepted to Boston University and University of Toronto (Downtown Campus) as an international student from the US. I got accepted for International Relations at Boston University and Economics at University of Toronto. Unfortunately, at UofT you have to apply to be in the International Relations major in your sophomore year. As a side note, I’m receiving the same financial aid from both universities at the moment. I’ve also visited both universities and I absolutely loved UofT’s campus and felt more “at home” than at BU. I was just wondering which college, is more prestigious and recognizable around the world. Also, if anyone has any insight into which school has a better IR program that would be wonderful. Thanks!
What matters isn’t the amount of financial aid, but the net price. A 10K scholarships off a 24K school is better than a 30K scholarship off a 65K school.
What’s your net price* at each?
Were you admitted anywhere else?
Have you taken dual-enrollment classes before? Or done independent study? Were you in IB? Any of those would prepare you for UT. “regular HS” would create a huge shock in terms of how much autonomy you’re supposed to have. In addition, you have to be ready for serious grade deflation - like, where getting a 70% is seen as a victory. 
*net price = (tuition+room+board+fees) - (grants+scholarships)
The net price for each school is virtually the same, including scholarships, financial aid, etc… I’ll be receiving college credits for several of my main courses through AP and Early Enrollment programs. At the moment I’m more concerned about the quality of the program at each university and notoriety with employers (local and abroad).
Both are excellent, both are urban, both have a good reputation.
If they’re your style, you can’t choose wrong.
If you’re looking for prestige and global reputation it.'s Toronto by a wide margin, but both will get you where you want to go. I’ve lived in both cities…Toronto is significantly bigger but both are relatively safe and have good mass transit. Have no idea about their IR programs. You can drink in Toronto at 19 for what that’s worth…lots of nightlife real close to UT campus.
Just a note, at Toronto all students, regardless of department only declare their major/minor or double major or Specialist degree (a Specialist is 2 majors worth of credits all in one area, which is great for students who want a really deep focus in their chose field) at the end of their first year, for all departments. In your freshman year, you are attached to the department you applied to but you have a lot of freedom to chose courses outside of that department and it isn’t hard to start your year in one program and then end up declaring a major in another department at the end of the year (provided you have the credits (this is what I ended up doing, starting in the Arts program 1st year and ending up declaring a double major in the Life Sciences department at the end of the year). The trade-off is that all these majors/minors/specialists (collectively called POSTs, ie. the title you will actually see on your degree, such as “Major or International Relations”) have freshman year courses prerequisite courses and sometimes gpa requirements as well, so if you do go to UofT make sure to take all the required courses you need to in your freshman year to get into the POST you intend to declare at the end of first year.
Yeah I saw on UofT’s IR program page that they do require specific math, economic, etc. freshman year prerequisite courses with at least a 70-75% average in those classes. I’ll definitely have to keep that in mind if I end up going to UofT!
The required courses and grades will likely vary by what level the POST is as well: a minor will generally have fewer requirements than a major and a specialist degree will have the strictest requirements. The Specialist POST is something that is worth highlighting because it is fairly unique to UofT and I knew some students who really enjoyed taking one because they really wanted to focus on one area, since they are essentially two majors worth of courses all in one area (I personally did a double major instead). The trade-off is of course that you get far fewer electives.
Another note on UofT is that they do not have a “Common Core” like a lot of US schools: aside from the prerequisites for your POST and the courses in that POST that you take in years 2-4 to complete that degree you really don’t have to take much of anything you don’t chose. As of 2013 (my graduation year) the only requirements were that each student in the Faculty of Arts and Science (the gigantic department that covers everything from pre-med to IR to physics to philosophy) was that every student had to have 1 credits humanities, 1 credit social science, 1 credit science (somewhat atypically psychology is classified in science at UofT, not arts so a lot of arts students took psych to fill that req) and these three requirements can be filled out at any time over your degree (meaning that any course offered by these departments from 1st year to 4th count). This generally fits with UofTs more specialized approach to an undergraduate degree; the vast majority of the courses you take will count to whatever your POST is, not to filling out a common core curriculum. Incidentally this is probably why double majors and specialist degrees are becoming more common than the traditional major/minor combo (another one I have seen is a major and two minors), because it is pretty easy to fulfill the bigger course requirements for a second major at UofT than it would be at a school with a substantial core. I personally find the double major to be handy because after you graduate because it is almost like having two degrees since you end up with a full major in two subjects (ie. as a hypothetical example, If you have a double major in international relations and sociology you could apply to jobs or graduate degrees that ask for either a degree in IR or a degree in psych). I personally found the versatility of a double major to be quite handy after graduation.
Anyway, good luck with your decision and feel free to message me if you have anymore questions about UofT.