<p>The people here seem pretty knowledgeable, so I think that I'll see what you guys have to think about my options.</p>
<p>My two top choices are: </p>
<p>1) Trinity @ UofT with a couple scholarships worth $7000 in total
2) Macalester College in St. Paul, MN</p>
<p>I've done a fair amount of research so I know pretty much what I'm getting at each school, but I just wanted to have a few opinions from others in a similar situation</p>
<p>Thanks.</p>
<p>They are about as different as you can get, in so many ways. Are you looking for a very small liberal arts college or a large research university? You’ll get a good education at each of those schools but your college experience will likely be different. What is the cost differential?</p>
<p>Hey!
I’m in a similar situation. I’m deciding between Wellesley College and U of T (Trin as well). I’m looking to going into economics, probably heading to grad or law school afterwards, so unfortunately the cost has become the deciding factor. I don’t qualify for much aid at all at Wellesley, only work study, so it’s not particularly affordable for my parents, especially if they plan on helping me out with grad/prof school later… so UT (which comes with scholarships) is where I’m headed.</p>
<p>Let me know if I’ll be seeing you at Trin. :)</p>
<p>Good luck, loveduck! I have 3 Ds at U of T, one undergrad, one grad school, one law school. I hope you love it there as much as they do!</p>
<p>The cost differential is about 50k+ for Mac and about 15k in total for U of T. I live in Toronto, so yeah, the advantage that Toronto has is lost by the fact that I have already experienced the large city. My parents are able to pay the fees for Mac easily though, so cost is not a problem</p>
<p>You are comparing two completely different schools. As a Canadian, for me spending $50K extra is insane, might as well buy a nice convertible and ride in style instead or something equally crazy, why squander it on tuition?</p>
<p>UofT is Canada’s best university (there I said it ;)) and rated 27th in the world (AWRU '09) and it’s cheap. Why pass that up?</p>
<p>On the other hand, if you are majoring in some liberal arts type stuff that is better in a LAC, and want to get out of town, then go for it by all means.</p>
<p>yea, the two are very, very different schools. its like comparing apples to oranges really. So, it entirely depends on what your looking for out of your uni. experience, and also what your major is. if you wanna major in engineering for example, then UofT would be the obvious choice. If you were to major in a humanities or such, then perhaps Macalester is best.</p>
<p>UT trinity is a really nice school. i just got my info package today.
after comparing it with waterloo, mcgill and other universities in canada, UT looks the most like a world class university.</p>
<p>^ Hope you compared more than just the pamphlets ;)</p>
<p>Honestly, I think this forum makes it very easy for people to become obsessive about prestige, name, rankings, etc. Ultimately it’s a combination of other things that will make your undergrad experience fun and successful or not.</p>
<p>But in my experience having a recognizable school name (which UofT has) does help to some extent, which in turn implies regional considerations (where do you want to work and live), and so on. </p>
<p>OP: We can’t give you a definitive answer :P</p>
<p>I liked how the Trin registrar actually signed the admission letters. I thought that was a nice touch. </p>
<p>UT is more a commuter school and may not offer the traditional uni experience (tight knit communities). It doesn’t mean that it’s not available but you’ll just have to look harder to find it. It’s more research intensive though. But the TTC (the transit system) here sucks.</p>
<p>Hey guys, thanks for all of the advice. Btw I’m interested in the humanities/social sciences. For me the decision comes down to the difference between a private school and a public one. Although U of T has all the opportunities that Mac has, they are certainly harder to come by and then harder to use since there is no centralized system (as far as I know) - I’m talking about internships and research with faculty members. </p>
<p>Maybe I spoke too soon when I said that money wasn’t a big deal because it constitutes the crux of the issue of the American college system vs. the Canadian University system: are all of the opportunities and large endowments of American LACs worth the price tag? </p>
<p>Will my chance of getting into grad school be impacted by going to Mac?
Does the school say anything about me?</p>
<p>Possibly the best way to communicate what I’m after I should explain a bit further:</p>
<p>When I went for an interview with an alumna from Middlebury, she asked me to list off the schools that I was applying to. When I mentioned Mac, she said “interesting…” What is that “it” factor that makes spending all of the money worth it and why would the interviewer say that?</p>
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<p>My thoughts exactly. Plus, at U of T you’d have access to some of Canada’s (and the world’s) best students, professors, and researchers. Don’t be scared by large class sizes, because they slim down in your third and fourth years. And don’t worry about access to faculty: if you ever want to meet with a prof, all you have to do, as I’ve said before in other places, is shoot him an email.</p>