UT, Queen's, McGill or UBC?

<p>If you guys get offers for those following schools (for business/commerce/economics) which one would u go to? Talking about reputation, job, etc?</p>

<p>i got an offer for economics honors at Queens and Economics (w Finance and commerce) at UofT. I also applied to McGill but dont have an official answer yet. Didn't apply to UBC (got admitted to Uof Ottawa Concordia and UWO also)</p>

<p>I'm 99% sure I'm going to pick Toronto though, check out <a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=157985&goto=newpost%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=157985&goto=newpost&lt;/a>
if you want more info and other opinions though. Hope this helps!</p>

<p>Go UofT!!!</p>

<p>btw which college r u into??</p>

<p>Go to McGill!! That's by far the most prestigious Canadian univ. And that's also the most well known one.</p>

<p>Here's a site I just fell upon. Macleans is supposed to be the most trustworthy candian ranking system: Its should solve some of your problems as far as "prestige" is concerned:
<a href="http://communications.uwaterloo.ca/macleans.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://communications.uwaterloo.ca/macleans.html&lt;/a>
Hope it helps and good luck choosing!</p>

<p>Thanks~ I got accepted to economics Honour for Queen's, McGill for international business and arts, waterloo for international trade w/ co-op, UBC for commerce.
I've applied to UT (St. George- St. Mich) and they received my transcript and application on Feb 10th. But then.. they haven't even reviewed it yet so its sort of worrying me somehow. They said that it will be reviewed within 6 weeks but its already 6 weeks. McGill and UT are my top choices but don't know which one to choose once I get the offer.</p>

<p>Well I'm for UofT above McGill dispite the so called "prestige" McGill is said to have over UofT. I guess wait and see where you get in eh? </p>

<p>I'm guessing though since McGill and UofT are about the same selective wise you shouldnt have a problem for UofT. Good luck though!</p>

<p>Well, Toronto will give you 100% Financial Aid (kinda like those Ivy schools) given you apply to OSAP or w/e other government financial institution you are able to apply to. McGill doesn't really give enough money to anyone outside of Quebec.</p>

<p>Well good luck on wherever you get into. So far I'm still waiting for UofT and McGill. Got into Queen's and Waterloo. I'm going to UofT if I get in.</p>

<p>g_man, I don't know why you think that U of T will provide you with 100% of your financial need. I have a daughter, several nieces, nephews, and children of friends attending U of T, in addition to knowing many professors there, and I have never heard of anyone receiving 100% of their financial need.</p>

<p>Oh, it's only for Canadian citizens and permanent residences, at least that's what the booklet says.</p>

<p>"For Canadian students, the University of Toronto is committed to the principle that no student admitted to a program will be unable to enroll or complete the program due to a lack of financial means. Our commitment is based on the asumption that students will first access the government aid for which they are eligible. We assess financial aid on the same basis as the Ontario Student Assistance Program (OSAP). For a student who qualifies for the maximum OSAP loan, and who has further asssessed need not covered by OSAP, the University will provide the additional assistance in the form of a non-repayable grant for undergraduate students. The grant is delivered through a UofT program called UTAPS, University of Toronto Advance Planning for Students."</p>

<p>As far as I know the system is kinda like the Ivy League 100% Financial Aid guarentee. However, you'll still have to apply to OSAP first, and whatever OSAP doesn't pick up and you are deemed to need, UTAPS will pay for the rest. I know for a fact that the most OSAP will give an individual is around $9k to $12k. (Usually at least fifty people from my school goes to UofT every year and this was their experience.) That's clearly not enough because UofT estimates that you need about $17000 per year (quoted in the booklet), therefore they will give you the rest.</p>

<p>However I may be wrong because there are many complaints about the Ivy Leagues not giving enough, and I suppose it may also be the case at UofT. So anyone with additional info please share. :D</p>

<p>gman, the students I'm talking about ARE Canadian citizens. As I said, I think that it is very unusual for anyone to have 100% of need met. My D who is in first year has a few friends whose families are in pretty dire financial situations and these kids definitely do not get everything paid for by U of T. Are you from the U.S.? I'm wondering because it doesn't cost Canadian students $17,000 a year at U of T.</p>

<p>I went to McGill. I work on Wall Street and make well over $100K in my first year out of school. I am not an exception. Sure it was ranked #1 by MacLeans, sure it has one of the highest entering grades in Canada, sure it produces more Rhodes Scholars than any other Canadian school and sure it was ranked as Playboy's top 10 party schools. That doesn't matter and frankly, who cares. What matters is that every major firm will recruit at McGill and you will get a job. It is the ONLY internationally recognized Canadian university. Period.</p>

<p>Why?</p>

<p>As far as Americans are concerned:</p>

<p>U of T = University of Texas</p>

<p>Queen's = It's a sketchy area of New York - Queens College (City University of NY)...however, to most they think of the one at Oxford but then are disappointed when they find out it's in Kingston, Ontario. Also, Queen's College Bahamas, Queens' College Cambridge, Queens College Mallorca (Spain), Queens University of Charlotte, Queen's University of Belfast...take your pick</p>

<p>Western - Here's a conversation about Western:</p>

<ul>
<li>I went to Western?</li>
<li>Western what? Virginia? </li>
<li>No, Ivey School of Business </li>
<li>You went to Princeton? </li>
<li>No</li>
<li>Harvard?</li>
<li>No</li>
<li>Yale? </li>
<li>No</li>
<li>Brown??? </li>
<li>No...University of Western of Ontario, Richard Ivey is the dude that gave us some cash</li>
<li>Oh...where's Ontario, is that in California?</li>
</ul>

<p>leyton_reynolds is right. just looking at international reputations McGill would be your best choice if you can get in. After that Queen's would be the most internationally known school.</p>

<p>One piece of advice to those who are making decisions. Choose the school which is right for YOU. Consider what you want to study, what programs are offered, the reputation of professors, the variety of courses and the ease with which you can get into the ones you want, the location of the school and how that may influence your travel to and from home, whether you want to be in a large urban area or a smaller city. Don't let supposed 'international reputation' be the major consideration in your decision-making process.</p>

<p>As someone who is older and has considerably more experience than most of the posters who have commented here, in addition to having kids and nieces and nephews at U of T, Queens, and McGill, I can tell you that the name of the school itself will not make or break your future. I also have the advantage of having lived in both Canada and the U.S. and along with my husband (and many family friends and relatives), have had the experience of grad school, job hunting, recruiting, and hiring graduates from these schools. You are no more likely to get a good position if you are a McGill grad than you are if you're a U of T or Queens grad. Most people in Human Resources, especially in NYC since that's been mentioned here, are very much aware of the reputations of all three schools. I can guarantee you that. Choose the school which you love, not the one where you think there is a perceived advantage for something which will happen four years from now! :)</p>

<p>Great. alwaysamom made me fell all bad about myself. I am tempted insult her in my defense but my mom brought me up better than that and I truly respect my elders. However, that doesn't mean that I can't voice my own independent opinon.</p>

<p>Employers are companies. Companies are made of people. People are ignorant. I know this is scary but this is the reality. Even more scary is that company hiring is run out of HR and HR is generally even more ignorant than regular people. For the most part, HR is the bureaucratic scum of the a corporation whose only purpose is to question my business trip to Europe or to pester me about my self-evaluation form. Little do they know, my business trip to Europe brought in $8.5 mm in fees and allowed them to keep their job and put food on the table.</p>

<p>Unfortunately, things like brand name, image, reputation and pedigree are more important than quality of education and what you actually learn in school. I work in finance and work with morons. They are ivey league morons but morons nonetheless. Wall street firms go to these ivey league schools and hire the 67th ranked guy from Yale but guess what, he's a moron too. How about that guy that sits beside me from Harvard? Also a moron. What about Mr. Stanford across the hall? Actually, not so much of a moron but a complete social outcast and couldn't get a date if he paid for it (trust me, he's tried). </p>

<p>I know what your thinking, getting a job should not be a concern (especially in your freshman year). Well, as much as would love to be some idealistic hippie trying not to sell out to the "man", it's nice to be able to pay the bills and buy that Mercedes Benz SLK55 AMG Roadster that I've had my eye on.</p>

<p>Frankly, you will use about 1% of what you learn in school on your job. I don't want to discourage you because school is about being educated and not necessarily about what you learn. Although I rarely use multi-variable calculus on the job, it teaches you how to think and solve problems. I did enjoy my history. However, more importantly, it's about how much you party. Getting a 3.95 GPA (that's what I got) is pretty meaningless given that it's not like I look back on my senior year and say to all my friends, "Dude, remember that time I aced that accounting exam...I really showed that professor." No. I say, "Dude, remember when we did the century club and hooked up with those random girls on the dance floor."</p>

<p>Haha, I see this is almost my situation right now.</p>

<p>I'm in the middle of a decision of going to University of Toronto for a double major in biochemistry and math or going to University of Waterloo for a double major in applied math and bioinformatics. </p>

<p>I have my eyes on an MD-phD program (Neuroscience or Biomedical engineering phD probably, I really like quantitative bio related stuff and I want to use it to help ppl) somewhere for grad school and those programs are very selective. There are only four positions per year at UofT, 3 at Western, 20 at Duke etc... There are many applications for those programs though. Therefore godly MCATs and GPAs are a given. On top of that they want extensive undergraduate research and experience.</p>

<p>Here is my dilema, I know that at Waterloo, the profs are very accessible and the co-op program will give me 2 to 3 years of undergrad first hand experience. University of Toronto has 1200 lifesci students first year and who knows how many people all eyeing the medical school stream. Everybody will be hogging the profs, and they are nearly impossible to reach before medical school applications. Therefore it's really hard to get undergrad research there. On top of that (a minor point), the people there are known to be very cut throat, and friends of mine came back and told stories of how they were misled
by "peer tutors" in their assignments and got 0s... Our school (Vincent Massey) does send a lot of people to UofT every year though, so we have a nice community of Massey people who are willing to help up a fellow former school mate.</p>

<p>However, on the other side, I like the UofT environment more and it holds a stronger name than UofW. If I do manage to land any research position then UofT wins. MD-phD programs may be selective enough that the selection may have to come down the prestige... This is what I'm afraid of. UofW rose to fame in its Math program fairly recently, and I doubt its acknowledgement has extended south of the border yet.</p>

<p>So basically in short: Waterloo to play it safe and have guarenteed research (with good profs mind you, just no universal prestige yet) or to be risky and go to UofT and gamble for those few undergrad spots. (Getting one is harder than getting into med school so...)</p>

<p>Therefore... help me out? </p>

<p>Other details: Waterloo gave me some 14k national scholarship thingie and 2k entrance. UofT will probably give me 1k for entrance (they hadn't even sent out their acceptances yet for most people...)</p>

<p>to leyton_reynolds:
I must say what you wrote was truly ignorant. I am going to U of T and I know that it is a prestigious school and one of the best in Canada. After applying to many schools in the US and visiting some, I realized that you can get a better education at ANY school in Canada over most schools in the US. So, to say that people in the US do not recognize these top schools (Western Ivy, U of T, Waterloo, etc.) and only recognize McGill is not only ignorant on your part, but also of the US culture itself. It says something about the US if they want to shut their eyes and only believe that their schools are the only schools that offer a good education. It says something if they ONLY recognize McGill (which I am sure they don't). And it also says something if it true that Americans have no idea where Ontario is. What does it say? That Americans, if they act in the way you describe are completely ignorant to any culture but their own. And why should we cater to that at all? And believe me, Canadian students know where every state is in the US as well as the names of many of their schools.
By the way, U of T is a extremely prestigious school to attend. It is one of the top research universities in North America (2nd to Harvard) and many Prime Ministers, Governor Generals, and Nobel Prize winners have attended. To tell a student that they will not be recognized in the real world if they attend, is in my opinion, totally ignorant.</p>

<p>leytonreynolds posted the exact same comments on the McGill forum...word for word, and not only do i agree that they are incorrect and ignorant but he also seems to be a high school student intent on pushing McGill.....what "investment banker on Wall Street" would be posting on a college forum in the middle of weekdays, which is what he did on the McGill forum? just seems a little sketchy to me...</p>

<p>by the way, re: OP, you really should base it on the individual schools and your comfort levels there...regarding business programs however, UBC and Queen's are both very well known specifically for commerce.</p>

<p>Good point katiebee about the claimed "investment banker on Wall Street". I don't know why I didn't catch that before.</p>

<p>Americans care little about Canada, poll shows
The Globe and Mail | Tuesday, May 7, 2002 | GRAEME SMITH</p>

<p>Almost a third of Americans consider Canada just another state, many mistakenly think Japan and China are their biggest trading partners and most say Britain is their country's best ally, a new poll shows. </p>

<p>But like hopelessly infatuated teenagers, Canadians remain stubbornly loyal to the Americans who ignore them: 60 per cent of the Canadians surveyed described the United States as Canada's closest friend and ally, while only 18 per cent of U.S. respondents said the same. </p>

<p>Ipsos-Reid conducted the surveys last week on behalf of the Canada Institute of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington. </p>

<p>"We've believed for generations that we had a certain romance or closeness, only to find it isn't the case," said John Wright, a senior vice-president at Ipsos-Reid. "This will shock Canadians." </p>

<p>Interviews with 1,000 adult Canadians and 791 adult Americans yielded results that are considered representative of the entire population plus or minus 3.1 percentage points and 3.5 points respectively, 19 times out of 20. </p>

<p>Among the results: </p>

<p>When asked whether Canada is a country "like Britain or Japan" or "just another state like Michigan or Oregon," 30 per cent of Americans — particularly those in the south — classified Canada as a 51st state. </p>

<p>While discouraging, that figure is actually better than Canadians expected: 35 per cent of people north of the border believed Americans consider Canada a state. </p>

<p>Most Americans failed to correctly name Canada as their country's largest trading partner, with 27 per cent selecting Japan and 25 per cent picking China. Conversely, 82 per cent of Canadians identified the United States as Canada's largest trading partner. </p>

<p>Asked to pick their country's "closest friend and ally," 56 per cent of Americans named Britain. Only 18 per cent chose Canada. </p>

<p>Canadians ranked the United States first among their country's allies, along with Britain (21 per cent) and France (4 per cent). </p>

<p>The numbers were released as the Woodrow Wilson Center prepares to honour Peter Munk, chairman of the Barrick Gold Corporation, and Allan Gotlieb, a former Canadian ambassador to the United States, at an awards night this evening in Toronto, the first time the event has been held outside of the United States. </p>

<p>The results also come after a series of recent events — the fatal, friendly-fire bombing of Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan, U.S. hockey fans booing the Canadian national anthem, and punishing tariffs imposed on Canadian softwood-lumber exports, among others — have inspired soul-searching among Canadians about their relationship with the United States. </p>

<p>One way of reading the numbers would be to conclude that Canada can't take its prominence in Washington for granted, Mr. Wright said, and must start lobbying harder for the attention of the world's only superpower. </p>

<p>"We have high-profile political and trade missions to different parts of the world including Africa, Europe, Russia, China, and maybe we should be going to the United States," Mr. Wright said. "We have to make sure we have the platforms in Washington to get the attention of the leaders."</p>

<p>This one will be particularly interesting to music_uofter...</p>

<p>It's about U of T!</p>

<p><a href="http://www.dailybruin.ucla.edu/news/articles.asp?id=27898%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.dailybruin.ucla.edu/news/articles.asp?id=27898&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>