U of T vs UBC vs SMU vs Warwick

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Toronto
1

Hey guys, I need some help with this. I’ve refined my university choices to University of Toronto, University of British Columbia, Singapore Management University, and the University of Warwick for an Economics or Economics and Math degree. I will be attending one of these schools as an international student.

The factors I’m considering (in order of importance) are:

  1. Internships and Job placements

  2. Learning environment within the university

  3. Cost of attending the university

  4. Brand name (recognition) of the university degree

  5. I have spoken to people at U of T and SMU and both are pleased at internships and job placement in their respective universities. I’m not too sure about UBC and I would like to get any input on that. Should be fine considering Vancouver is a big city with several financial institutions. At Warwick, the internship scene is great, however, being an international student, I only get about 5 weeks to hunt for a job after I graduate, or else I’m kicked out of the country, which sucks.

  6. Toronto class sizes are massive and thats definitely a downside. The rest seem good whereas SMU seems the best being similar to a liberal arts school, having class sizes of about 20 students and world renowned faculty.

  7. Toronto is the most expensive while the others are reasonable.

  8. I guess it’s U of T with the best worldwide ranking and the most renowned according to many sources. However, I don’t think these schools differ to a large extent, especially at the undergraduate level.

Any advice/inputs for the comparison between these universities will be appreciated :).

2

  1. Most of Canada’s financial industry is in Toronto.

  2. U of T’s classes are no larger than any other large university.

  3. I doubt many people in North America have heard of Singapore Management University. SMU on this board means Southern Methodist University.

Have you visited any of these universities or cities?

3

Thanks for the reply @bouders ders!

Never been to Canada, I live in Singapore currently and I’ve been to the SMU campus. SMU has a great faculty - I know this professor who earned his masters and phD in economics from LSE and teaches at SMU. He told me that lot of his econ students land great jobs in Singapore, working for JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley, etc. SMU is ranked 1st in Asia for economics, but yes I agree its not well recognised in North America or Europe. It also works out to be cheaper than BC and Toronto.

However, I’m really eager to study in Canada and really need to make a decision between Toronto and UBC.

U of Toronto has the ranking (which I believe is based on research of faculty so shouldn’t be much of a deal at the undergraduate level?), the perfect employers and is located in a great city. Also, as you say the class sizes aren’t too bad. However, what I’ve heard and worried about is the grade deflation. To what extent to grades matter in the process of getting a job?

On the other hand, at UBC I’ll be able to stand out better and be the bigger fish in a small pond. Also, it’s located in a great city with great weather, housing, and overall student satisfaction is high relative to u of t(from what I read). However, I’m not too sure about the internship and job placement opportunities in the financial sector at UBC.

What do you think?

4

I don’t think that UBC is much of a smaller pond.

Vancouver is more expensive than Toronto, but both are very expensive. Vancouver has a tighter connection to Asia.

Yes, U of T has grade deflation. Only about 10-15% of students will get a 3.5 or higher. However, I wouldn’t expect UBC to be much different.

You can check out yconic.ca or the ubc reddit group - they’ll be more helpful than I with respect to UBC.