<p>My DD attended undergrad in NorCal and is now working at UCalgary for the year and is enjoying it. It was a bit difficult to find new friends at first since she was not a student, but once she connected with her crowd, she has had lots to do. She has played community sports, snowboarded many weekends, and been generally quite active.</p>
<p>Cost wise she was surprised how expensive it was, a 2bd condo is $1200/mo and parking vs bus pas either on is around $75-100/mo. So cheaper than the Bay area, but not small town cheap.</p>
<p>UofC in my opinion is kind of a joke. In the view book it states you only need a 72 average to get in, thus proving anyone who has done their homework, can get in. I don’t mean to be trashing it, but I’m telling you the truth. If you want to go to a reputable university in Canada, try McGill, UofT, or UBC. Either of those are great universities, and next fall I will start applying for UBC and McGill.</p>
<p>^ You are quoting minimum averages. So what? McGill has a 75% min average for a number of their degrees. Most Canadian schools post similar stats. What matters are the average entering stats</p>
<p>Selectivity is not the end-all, be-all. As but one example: one of THE best places to do an undergrad in my field, almost guaranteeing admissions to a top business school for a PhD if one were to do research there as an undergrad? Well it’s a particular state university that has open admissions.</p>
<p>Then again, if you have actually attended U of C and the other schools on your list, you might have some insights to share that the rest of us lack.</p>
<p>What’s your field and what’s this school?</p>
<p>From what I understand, UC is really good for anything oil-related, given that it is in Calgary which is home to the headquarters of many major oil/gas companies. Also, biomed is an up and coming field (the Bachelor’s of Health Sciences program is pretty competitive to get into)</p>
<p>One thing to keep in mind with Canadian schools is that all of them are public, so none will boast the selectivity that you find in elite American schools. Unlike American schools which tend to weed out students during the admissions process, Canadian schools tend to weed them out during university. That said, UCalgary is generally not considered one of the “top” Canadian schools overall, although it certainly does have its strengths.</p>
<p>I can’t reiterate enough the effects of petro-inflation in Calgary. I have a friend who went to school there and ended up coming back to Ontario because he found that socializing/eating/living was just too damned expensive.</p>
<p>On a tangential note, I’m tired of reading about this oil boom in Alberta – the rest of the country wants in, too. Time to re-nationalize the oil industry so Alberta can’t fritter away any more oil revenues on Ralph-bucks sweepstakes.</p>
<p>well maybe i can shed a little bit more light on the program im in and what i’ll be doing. so i got accepted in the the Bachelor of Health Sciences program and my major in Biomedical Sciences. This course allows me to earn an Honours Bachelor of Sciences degree, which im not sure if its better than a regular bachelor’s degree, plus i get to do my own research which im very excited for</p>
<p>That’s great, good luck with that program! I know several people in the program (they just finished their 2nd/3rd year in the program) and they all love it!</p>
<p>Here’s a shocker. In QS World rankings. U of Calgary gets the highest score in terms of citations per faculty, than any other Canadian uni. And ranked 4th in the world. This is very strange to me but so it says. For those that do not know, citations are a key currency in academia, reflecting the influence of one’s work on one’s field.</p>
<p>[THE</a> - QS World University Rankings 2009 - Citations per Faculty | Top Universities](<a href=“http://www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings/world-university-rankings/2009/indicator-rankings/citations-per-faculty]THE”>http://www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings/world-university-rankings/2009/indicator-rankings/citations-per-faculty)</p>
<p>thanks starbright, does that mean that UCalgary faculty have the 4th most impact in their field compared to all other universities across the globe?</p>
<p>it just means they focus a lot on research and publications… but perhaps they are each not very impactful ?</p>