<p>Yeah So I'm having a hard time....I was hoping people might be able to add some pros and cons to each school to help me make a choice? I plan on majoring in Electrical Engineering so yeah...here are my reasonings for now:</p>
<p>Cal Poly:
Great Engineering Program. $17000 total fee since I'm a CA resident. It's in CA. Pretty close to LA, which is awesome. Heard theres a lot of hands on teaching which I prefer to sitting in class. Also heard there's a lot of great parties and hot girls so I guess that's a plus....xD</p>
<p>McGill:
I'm originally and still am a canadian citizen. So it's like $8000 total fee for me. I don't know much about it's engineering program but I know the school is arguably #1 in canada and #17 in the world. Don't know much else about it. Worried I won't be able to come back to the US and work and stuff.</p>
<p>Yeah....help?? ^.^</p>
<p>You’re in the same situation as me; Canadian Citizen, California resident, haha :)</p>
<p>To be honest, I don’t know much about that specific major, but I have a few friends in McGill who I could try and get in touch with.</p>
<p>Now, I noticed you mentioned parties and such, and I assume the vibe of the city is somewhat important to you. Take it from someone who has visited both cities multiple times…Montreal is a far more exciting college town than San Luis Obispo (and Los Angeles for that matter).</p>
<p>Anyways, I’ll try and get some more info and post back.</p>
<p>In terms of being able to move back to the US after going to school in McGill, I wouldn’t worry about it at all. McGill is well known across the US.</p>
<p>My daughter is in the same situation, considering McGill, Cal Poly & Waterloo. We just returned from a visit to the Canadian schools last week and attended a Cal Poly event the week before and here are my impressions:</p>
<p>McGill. The number of students in first year lectures (including Calculus & Physics) is high: 600. The class sizes drop as you progress through the years. There is a vibrant night life around the campus which may (or may not) be distracting to a young student – drinking age is 18. You will be living off-campus after Freshman year so will need to find a rental (+ roommates). There are 526 students in the engineering department and it seemed rather disjointed to me, although maybe I was missing something. The plusses are: 1) My daughter has 4 years of French and would like to become fluent; 2) as a Canadian born abroad who has never lived in Canada, but has a Quebecois parent, she qualifies for the Quebec rates (lower than the Canadian rates).</p>
<p>Cal Poly. The school guarantees a 4-year graduation rate if you follow the curriculum exactly. There appears to be a lot of help available to students. Of course, the climate is a huge plus. Negatives: 1) Tuition, we are out of state; 2) Inability to changes majors easily.</p>
<p>Waterloo. I was extraordinarily impressed by their program. It is a co-op program for all engineering students so it takes 4-2/3rd years to graduate. You go through your courses with the cohort you start with so there is no signing-on at midnight to get courses (a huge plus). There is a lot of support available at Waterloo and the facilities are amazing. The co-op aspect means, however, you will need to find housing at your co-op location every other term, which could be a hassle if you live far away (as we do).</p>
<p>^ at Waterloo, finding co-op housing is not as challenging as it might seem. Thousands of students go out to co-op work terms every 4 months, and there is a substantial internal network of students, employers and Waterloo staff that can help. In some cases, it’s simply a matter of the incoming co-op student taking over the apartment/room of the outgoing student.</p>
<p>Sapper1815: Thank you for the information; I was rather hoping it would be that way because we are Western US based. Waterloo truly has an amazing program and I’m quite sure they graduate engineers that are “work ready.”</p>