<p>These schools are very different, yet each have their own very distinct advantages and disadvantages. I plan on studying Art History, I'm a white male from upstate New York and tuition costs are fairly equal. I am greatly interested in the diversity and urban location of Toronto, yet the school spirit, etc. at Maryland is also appealing to me. I am interested in playing intramural sports, being surrounded by some good museums, and most importantly having a great time with an active social life on top of my education. Any help, advice, or information would be greatly appreciated. I have visited both campuses and looking especially for any direct comparisions anyone with some knowledge of both schools would be able to provide. Thank you.</p>
<p>U of T has no school spirit. We can just get that out in the open right now. And we really don't care about sports either. I couldn't even name our team and I'm certainly not an anomaly. </p>
<p>The social life is what you make of it. Unless you're going to be commuting, you'll have plenty of opportunities to make friends. Mind you, though, this is the farthest thing from a party school I can imagine and a lot of people often spend a lot of time studying. </p>
<p>There is one decent museum basically on campus and the Art Gallery isn't too far off either. It's also the more prestigious of the two Universities. Again, pros and cons are yours to be measured. If you've any more specific questions about it, feel free to ask.</p>
<p>--Phoenix</p>
<p>At U of Maryland you would have easy access to all the Washington, DC and Baltimore museums. Go to U Maryland.</p>
<p>Do you enjoy Toronto though? I know there's not a lot of school spirit as in sports, but do people like being Toronto students. Do you have a lot of fun or do you just study all the time?</p>
<p>What is a typical schedule like at Toronto? Do you have a lot of core requirements to fulfill in terms of course selection, or is it pretty open? How big are each of your classes? If they're big, is it really bothersome or just something you have to get used to?</p>
<p>well BWB07
from what everyone tells me and from my research, im pretty sure toronto is way harder academically (which is a good thing if u want the challenge)</p>
<p>u usually take 5 classes at a time
classes are either year long or semester long</p>
<p>so far all replies to any of my questions on the u of toronto forum say that
the students generally take 3 year long courses and 2 semester courses at once
so like 7 a year.</p>
<p>u only have 3 core requirements</p>
<p>at u of t u have to pick one of three academic options
double major (7 full course long credits per major)
so basically7 full year courses, 14 half years, or a mix</p>
<p>major + double minor (i wouldnt do this unless there is 3 things u really want to study)
so major is the same and i think usually minors are like 4 or 5 full year credits required.</p>
<p>or specialist program
its like one specialization, and a lot of it. somethin like 12-14 full year credits in the subject.</p>
<p>yeah
if u double major, you are highly likeley to fulfill at least 2 of your three course requirements
they dont tell u exactly what to do</p>
<p>the three requirements are i think
science/math- 1 full year credit
history social studies-1 full year credit (ur major would cover this)
other stuff (mainly english and foreign languages)- 1 year credit</p>
<p>and the required stuff is really flexible from what ive read. they give u huge selections of what courses u want to take to fulfill them</p>
<p>Well, I was born and raised here for my entire life (I'm graduating in a month), so this city is and always will be my home. I'm more attracted to big, bustling cities like New York, Berlin, and London, but that's besides the point. The city is nice and maybe I come across as a little bitter (probably am a little) but, I think that's just because my interests changed. I came into U of T wanting a big college experience and I got it, but I've decided it isn't for me so I'm heading off to a much smaller, specialty elite graduate school next year. ANYWAY,</p>
<p>U of T is a great school over all. I'm a little more anti-social than usual students (though not by too much) but I don't live on residence, so it makes it a little hard. You can certainly waste your entire undergrad clubbing and going out. I know I did for about a year and a half. And it was awesome. So the social life really does depend in a large part, on you. Toronto has some wicked clubs, too. </p>
<p>Now for the academic part, Big twix is mostly right, though, I think he made it a little confusing, to be honest (sorry!). </p>
<p>You can study whatever you want in any combination. You need 20 full year credits to graduate. No matter what your degree is you need a "Science" credit, a "Humanities" credit and a "Social Science" credit. You will find these very easy to fulfill. If you're awful in science, they have special 'philosophy of science' classes that count as well and vice versa if you're going to be a science student.</p>
<p>Majors have varying requirements. Science and mathematics degrees all have more requisite courses than humanities and social science courses just because of the nature of the subject. There are three levels of degrees: minors, majors, and specialists. A minor requires 4 full year credits in a subject, a major 6-7, and specialist 7-14 (it varies wildly). To graduate you need either:</p>
<p>--1 major and 2 minors
--1 Specialist
--2 majors</p>
<p>Believe me, these aren't very hard to fulfill. You can take any combination of courses you want.</p>
<p>Here is next year's course list for undergrad: check it out and see if you find enough stuff you like; if you don't, then, perhaps it's not for you. But, I think you'll find a lot of courses you'll like.</p>
<p>Class size varies wildly also. Hugely popular courses like First year biology has 1500 students. Conversely, when I was in first year, I took Intro. to Japanese and I had 14 other peers. Class size gets dramatically smaller in 4th year (when most of your classes are capped at 18). For some first year intro 101 classes, though, expect to be seated in a theatre. It's not terribly inconvenient, but something to become adjusted to. Really, though, the largest class I ever had was with 200 people and when you factor in how many kids skip, there's really ever 100 people in the class anyway. </p>
<p>Anymore questions, feel free,</p>
<p>--Phoenix</p>
<p>Thanks a lot for the responses.
Does anyone have some more direct comparisions between the two, or more info about the social life at Toronto?</p>
<p>pheonix?
where are u going t ograd school?
what is ur gpa?
How hard was it for you to obtain ur GPA?</p>
<p>Im really just very interested in how difficult the school is because i heard that to get great grades, academics can be grueling.</p>
<p>What did u major in/minor/specialize?</p>
<p>How hard would it be to keep a 3.5 (if i go to u of T, which is one of my top choices(and a mtach school for me at that) i would like to be an exchange student my junior year at the university of tokyo, and the U of toronto exchange site says that u must have a 3.5 to be eligable to study abroad there (since its such and intense school)</p>
<p>also
did u study abroad?</p>
<p>I am going to the London School of Economics for grad. school with a 3.3 GPA. To be honest, I really didn't do anything for most of my undergraduate career. Women and parties and all that jazz, you see.</p>
<p>I am a History Specialist, Minor in English and I suppose if I took a requisite course here and there I could have gotten another degree in East Asian Studies and a minor in Political Science. Ah well, not necessary anymore, anyway.</p>
<p>3.5 is a high GPA. Well, it really does depend on your field. Grade deflation is rampant in the Humanities and Social Sciences (don't expect multiple choice tests). On the other hand, the workload in the Sciences is higher, but often their GPAs are as well. </p>
<p>I was going to study abroad for a summer last summer at Nihon Daigaku, but other factors interfered with that plan. I have, however, spent a bit of time in some US Universities visiting friends and attending classes there (auditing) while they were busy with their work. Mainly I went to Missouri State (awful place, pretty campus) and the University of Pennsylvania (Ugly campus, but nice place to study).</p>
<p>Tokyo Daigaku, as I've heard, is quite an intense school, but no more so than the University of Toronto. Fluency in Japanese, I suppose would help, and, unfortunately EAS120/220/320 are some of UToronto's hardest classes. Take that from someone who knows. lol</p>
<p>Thanks, Phoenix Wright, for your responses. They've deffinately been helpful, but I still feel a little uneasy about two things that attending Toronto would mean - tons of work and no real social life. This may sound immature, but if I go to Toronto, will I be able to experience the (stereo)typical college life? Will I meet a lot of people with whom I can go to concerts, sporting events, ON CAMPUS, Frat parties, clubs, bars, campus events (are there any)? And I know the drinking age in Ontario is 19. I'll be entering the university as a 17 year old, how will this effect my ability to go out to bars and clubs...? Finally, how would the social life at Toronto compare to U.S. universities like Penn or Missouri State (which, correct me if I'm wrong, I assume would both be fairly similar to Maryland)?</p>
<p>It depends on what you define as the stereotypical college life, really. I mean, you have to remember, you are leaving your country, so there will be differences, though, probably less than any other foreign nation. I entered University as a 17 year old and while you're not going to be able to drink at any campus events, let's just say I know a few places....</p>
<p>If you mean do we care about our sports teams at U of T? Not really. Don't expect anyone to give a crap about our football or hockey teams. We don't have cheerleaders up here or colour guard or those drumming guys (though they looked really cool). There are frats here, but they're not nearly as prominent as at American universities. </p>
<p>The term 'social life' is extremely vague, as well. It depends solely on the person. I can't promise you that you'll meet the girl of your dreams or your best friends at Maryland or in Toronto. What I can tell you is that U of T isn't like Animal House or any other college movie. But, really, is any college? I mean, if you want to stay in your room and study all the time, you certainly can. If you want to get blitzed every night and go clubbing on Richmond street...well, most people do that on the weekends when they're crowded, but, believe me, you can certainly spend most of your time drunk too. </p>
<p>--Phoenix</p>