Choosing a University: Campus vs Program

<p>I recently returned from a trip out east to tour my top two colleges, McGill and U of T. Unfortunately, I loved them both (I was hoping I'd hate one of them to make my decision easy). I've now made a pro and con list for each, and even though U of T "won", I've noticed that it really only comes down to two factors. Campus/atmosphere and program/research.</p>

<p>The McGill campus just clicked with me. I could definitely see myself there. It was the perfect balance of campus and city that I'm looking for. The U of T campus was also nice, but not on the same level as McGill.</p>

<p>I want to do linguistics and computer science, and at McGill, I'd have to double major, while U of T has a joint major (meaning there's quite a bit of interaction between the two departments). McGill has a limited number of comp sci courses that Arts (my faculty) students can take, and virtually no computational linguistics (what I want to get my Masters in) courses. But at U of T, I can take any comp sci course I want, and they have at least 5 or 6 computational linguistics courses. They also have a research group for computational linguistics, while McGill has none.</p>

<p>They both have awesome linguistics programs and overall reputations. I like both Montreal and Toronto, and all the other factors are either comparable or negligible. </p>

<p>I'd appreciate any advice on which factor, campus or program, is more important. I'd be inclined to say the program is, then I realize that it's possible that I change my mind and do something totally different, in which case the campus is more relevant. </p>

<p>TL;DR version: I love both School A and School B. School A has an amazing campus and a pretty good program for what I want to do. School B has a nice campus and a great program for what I want to do. Which do I choose?</p>

<p>UofT over mcgill for sure.</p>

<p>Care to elaborate?</p>

<p>While your experience at university consists of many things, the reason you attend is for an education. I strongly believe that your education should not be sacrificed simply because you prefer one campus over the other. So I would say U of T is a better choice.</p>

<p>Of course my opinion is based on you being 100% sure you want to study linguistics and computer sciences. You mentioned that it is possible that you might change your mind, in which case McGill is certainly a possibility. I get the feeling that you’re already set on McGill. Both are excellent schools so I suppose there is no choice that stands out as being completely wrong. Good luck.</p>