<p>I'm a Canadian citizen born and raised in the US. My father went to UToronto but I've never really been back to the city (except once when I was a lot younger and can't really remember a sense of the city). Something that's really important to me is a big city atmosphere, and based on that and some other factors, I've come up with UToronto and McGill. Can anyone give me a good comparison? Most people I've spoken to have been utterly biased one way or the other.</p>
<p>DS is applying to both. They are both excellent universities in wonderful cities. Different atmosphere, but both prestigious. Both quite large.</p>
<p>im applying to both (also from US)
kinda leaning towards toronto, but who knows!</p>
<p>U of T has a lot of commuters. It is WAY more of a city campus as well (you can't really tell the city from the campus sometimes).
McGill is also located in a central part of the city but it has more of an enclosed campus feel. Also McGill has a ton more students that move to Montreal to go to school there (nowhere near as many commuters as Toronto), so the social scene is a lot more lively.
Both schools have pretty great locations, in Toronto you can use buses to get pretty much anywhere so anything that can't be found right next to campus is a short ride away (I think you get free rides with your student ID also). McGill is in the St. Laurent area of Montreal (the more French section). There are lots of bars around and plenty of shops and restaurants very close to campus. At McGill all students move off campus in their second year into apartments or houses near campus. There are plenty of spaces to rent for a good price, and the neighborhoods and buildings that students live in tend to be composed of mainly students. I'm not too sure about the residence situation at U of T because there are so many commuters, but I know that the off campus living is a lot more spread out.
As far as academics go both are top-notch, so you really shouldnt have an issue there unless you are going into a specialized program.
Overall I would recommend McGill if you are not from the Toronto or Montreal areas because the overall college experience at McGill seems to be much better. Toronto is such a huge city that U of T blends in with the city, whereas at McGill helps shape Montreal because there are so many students living in the city. I just don't feel that you can get the same college experience out of U of T as you can from Montreal because Toronto is so much of a business based city that the university can easily be overlooked.</p>
<p>thanks the upper floor^^</p>
<p>I went to UofT and don't think it blends in with the city like CK says. It doesn't have a wall around it, but there is a definite change of feeling once you step on campus.</p>
<p>Even though a lot of UofT students live off campus, there are still thousands who live on campus, and a LOT of the ones who live off campus live very close to campus.</p>
<p>Regarding commuting, both universities would have a lot of commuters due to their large sizes. Mcgill accommodates 2400 undergrads and graduates <a href="http://www.mcgill.ca/residences/%5B/url%5D">http://www.mcgill.ca/residences/</a></p>
<p>You might be underestimating Montreal's business position within Canada - as it's still very strong and amongst the top.</p>