<p>“It may be worth mentioning that the American kids I know, all of whom are more or less liberal Democrats politically, found themselves on the right-wing fringe of the Canadian political spectrum.”</p>
<p>Interesting point…and since there is comparatively little ethnic and religious strife in Canada, their chronically outraged often focus on sexism and what they perceive to be their excessively militaristic neighbor to the south.</p>
<p>Even Canadian “directional” Us (Concordia, UQO, that sort of thing) are better than the vast majority of American directional Us.</p>
<p>My own classmates compared the University of Montreal physics-mathematics dual major as being as hard as, or harder than, a physics-mathematics dual major at Georgia Tech (if GA Tech even offers one such program) but, really, my school has a top-3 (or top-5) physics undergraduate program in Canada so top programs are comparable to what is offered at “reach-for-anyone” schools in the US.</p>
<p>Compared to the US, there are very few “reaches-for-anyone” before one reaches the stage of professional or graduate school. Yet some Canadian schools are compared to American “reaches-for-anyone” as far as educational quality is concerned and that the few “reaches-for-anyone” that I know of are Quebecer programs, like Quebecer med schools, dental schools or law schools that in-province students can access directly from college. However, Francophone schools are not for those who don’t speak French at the AP level. Even so, University of Montreal’s Criminology undergraduate program is a “reach-for-anyone” from an American student’s viewpoint, to be compared to the likes of UMD, UCI and UPenn in that field.</p>
<p>Quebec has a peculiar educational system, which replaces 12th grade and first-year university by a separate institution called a CEGEP (or college), which weeds out students in the pre-university stream in hopes of them joining the technical programs.</p>
<p>I don’t know if they’re still that way, but there used to be several Canadian Universities, or parts of universities, that were bilingual (French/English). U of Ottawa, Glendon College of York U, and parts of Concordia University, Laurentian University, University of Alberta.</p>
<p>Those looking for a small college atmosphere in a big city should check out Glendon.</p>
<p>One Canadian school that I don’t believe has ever been mentioned on CC is Bishop’s University in Sherbrooke, Qu</p>
<p>Oiviov–the lack of sports and frats to me seems like a plus, but this concerns me:
“6. The mood in the classrooms is often more serious and formal than in American classrooms. Most Americans I know who went to Canadian universities found the Canadian students and professors to be less chatty and humorous in classrooms. And they found the students to be a bit shy about asking questions compared to Americans.”</p>
<p>So then there are fewer seminar style/discussion classes? This concerns me mostly regarding humanities/social sciences classes.</p>
<p>Which schools in Canada allow the students to stay in the dorm during winter and summer break and give students opportunities to work in the campus?
I am asking as an international parent who can’t afford to send my child home during these vacation times.</p>
<p>Bishop’s is the only LAC in Quebec (unless a few directional LAC-sized Us qualify for that status) so that’s definitely something that would set Bishop’s apart from other Quebecer Us.</p>
<p>moneyp-- you would have to contact the U’s directly to find out about that. Even in the States not every school allows students to stay over break periods. I know where my D goes in the States she could pay extra to stay over but would also have to move since not all dorms are open year round. They have one dorm in particular that is for internationals but even at that I dont believe they can stay over the summer break without being enrolled in courses. I know one couple that had similar problems here and they put their child in a short term hotel for the summer months and dont forget that school ends a lot earlier in Canada. Most U’s in Canada are finished by the end of March early April at the latest but they dont get as long of a break at Christmas.</p>
<p>Redpoint --I wouldnt say there are fewer seminar style /discussion classes and I definetly disagree that Canadian students are a bit shy about asking questions. Our local U has seminar style classes with 200 - 300 students in it and there is plenty of discussion. I think that as others have said our classes tend to be more serious and therefore any discussion is generally very focused on the course and not trying to drift off topic. In general Canadian Students dont look at schools as being reach or safety, I know that right now my D is applying for Grad school and our home U will be what you would consider her safety since she knows she will be accepted with a 150% (yes they will technically pay her to attend) scholarship but it is not her first choice school.</p>
<p>One thing I know for sure though is that an American student coming to Canada wont have the same problems as in the vice versa. The problems my D has had have been as silly as how big is Canada, or ‘we are going to Canada for the day, where are you going? oh! just to Canada’. My D finds the complete lack of knowledge about Canada very frustrating and I dont believe it will happen the other way because we study the US in our school system.
As I said in my earlier post, my D is going to the States because she needs to make the contacts to succeed in her chosen field. It is unfortunate but the name really does matter in some fields and she knows that.
Another thing to be aware of coming north is that mosy U’s only guarantee housing for the first (freshmen) year, after that you can apply for dorm but most will go to outside housing such as apartments or shared housing. Another good thing we have is there seems to be many more scholarship opportunities for international students in Canada then there are in the States. My D has a 3.98 GPA and cant get a merit scholarship because she is not a US resident</p>
<p>If it has 200-300 students, it’s prob not a “seminar.”</p>
<p>Nobody’s saying Canadians don’t ask ANY questions; I’m saying COMPARED to Americans, they seemed shy, humorless, and reluctant to offer their views. There is more than a trace of the uptight British educational system in the Canadian universities.</p>
<p>“One thing I know for sure though is that an American student coming to Canada wont have the same problems as in the vice versa.”</p>
<p>They won’t have the SAME problems, but they will have a few problems. The Canadians’ resentment of being in the shadow of a superpower that uses its military for more than parades will surface from time to time.</p>
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<p>I’m American but lived in Canada as a teenager. At that time there was plenty of lack of knowledge. My brother likes to tell the story of his 8th grade history teacher who found out he was American on the first day of school and told him, in front of the class “Well you’ll have a lot of catching up to do. You Americans don’t even know how many provinces there are, whereas as a Canadian, I can name all 52 states!”</p>
<p>CuriousJane-- that is funny but I am not surprised, we have our share of uninformed people as well</p>
<p>Oivoiv-- Perhaps it is deifferent terminology but these are 200 - 300 seat lecture halls that are used regularly
if you want to know why there may be resentment read your last paragraph again.I sincerely hope you did not mean that the way it came across.</p>
<p>Percussdad, I have parents from both sides of the border, and have spent time in both countries. It is painfully true that most Americans are very ignorant about all things Canadian, and that Canadians tend to know a lot about the U.S. All Canadians know Wash DC is the U.S. capital, but it is a disgrace how few Americans could tell you that Ottawa is the capital of Canada, and I apologize for that. But you seem to be saying that an American’s adjustment to Canada would be seamless, and that simply wasn’t my experience. I’m not one to walk around shouting “U…S…A!!!,” but I still ran into plenty of folks who thought Americans needed to continually beg forgiveness for our country’s role in the world. It wasn’t a major problem, and I still loved my experience at a top Canadian university.</p>
<p>Oivoiv-- I apologize if I made it seem that the transition would be seamless. Of course it would not. For many reasons it would be difficult as we are different, I was staying away from the political difference and bassically commenting on the somewhat lighter side, such as one student saying lets go for a day trip to Vancouver by car from New York State then not believing that it is the same as saying lets drive to LA for the day. Nothing important but tends to be frustrating.<br>
No American has to apologize for their government, and most Canadians I know (emphasize the I KNOW as I cannot speak for all) have nothing but the utmost respect for the American military personel, we may not agree with what the US government has done but then again I do not agree with a lot of what my own government does, that is part of living in a democracy.
My D and all of her HS classmates could tell you the Capital of each State as well as sing the full 3 verses of your National Anthem. It is not that way in most school but her school was just that way, a very international focus.</p>
<p>I was at the University of Guelph many years ago, a couple of hours drive from Toronto. It is equivalent to a US state land-grant institution (think Iowa State and the like) in a small town. It was good academically and had a typical college/ residential atmosphere. A lot of international students, especially from Hong Kong, in those days.</p>
<p>I did not find Canadian students to be as shy and humorless as suggested here by others.</p>
<p>The student union bar, in the recreational center in the middle of campus, was said to sell more beer than any other bar in Canada.</p>
<p>Near Guelph is the University of Waterloo with a STEM focus.</p>
<p>Any thoughts about Queens ?</p>
<p>Lots of binge drinking for first year students at McGill.</p>
<p>Due to the lack of focus on sports, the experience is certain to be much different than that at most US universities–especially those in the South.</p>
<p>Depending on what you want to major in Queens is an outstanding U. Kingston is beautiful university town well within reach of Montreal, Ottawa and Toronto.</p>
<p>I understand that, with enough APs, you can skip the first year in McGill and finish in 3 years, which would be very attractive from a financial point of view.</p>
<p>McGill is a great school, though stats driven. I think for Queens, you need to like small University towns. </p>
<p>Re: the whole experience. I think you can get a decent one from a Canadian university and I personally might stay if I got into some very selective programs. However, I am personally planning on returning to the States since I’ve lived there most of my life and Canada IS different.</p>
<p>Getting back to what percussiondad wrote: "I wouldnt say there are fewer seminar style /discussion classes and I definetly disagree that Canadian students are a bit shy about asking questions. Our local U has seminar style classes with 200 - 300 students in it and there is plenty of discussion. "</p>
<p>This, again, alarms me. Are classes (in general) much bigger than they are in the states? A seminar class as I know it is 12 people sitting around a large table discussing Dostoevsky (or whatever). Is this a rarity?</p>
<p>Here’s another question. Unlike US schools, Canadian universities don’t typically care about anything besides grades and scores. They don’t look at essays, ECs, recs. How does this transfer to the college experience … Is it all about grades and scores?</p>