<p>Hi....i am an intl student from India.....
I was browsing through the forum when i noticed that almost everyone is anxious to get to either the US or the UK......and ppl are not that enthusiastic to pursue higher studies in Canada...although i've heard that the Canadian's spend the highest amount of their GDP for education.... </p>
<p>Just curious to know if there is any particular reason for that..as i am myself considering both the countries for post-graduate studies!</p>
<p>Personally, I think it because of the rate of the UK and US universities. They have a high international standart:
Here is the ranking from ( http:// <a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14321230/site/nwesweek/%5B/url%5D">www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14321230/site/nwesweek/</a> )</p>
<ol>
<li>Harvard University<br></li>
<li>Stanford University<br></li>
<li>Yale University<br></li>
<li>California Institute of Technology<br></li>
<li>University of California at Berkeley<br></li>
<li>University of Cambridge<br></li>
<li>Massachusetts Institute Technology<br></li>
<li>Oxford University<br></li>
<li>University of California at San Francisco<br></li>
<li>Columbia University<br></li>
<li>University of Michigan at Ann Arbor<br></li>
<li>University of California at Los Angeles<br></li>
<li>University of Pennsylvania<br></li>
<li>Duke University<br></li>
<li>Princeton Universitty<br></li>
<li>Tokyo University<br></li>
<li>Imperial College London<br></li>
<li>University of Toronto<br></li>
<li>Cornell University<br></li>
<li>University of Chicago<br></li>
<li>Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich<br></li>
<li>University of Washington at Seattle<br></li>
<li>University of California at San Diego<br></li>
<li>Johns Hopkins University<br></li>
<li>University College London</li>
<li>Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne<br></li>
<li>University Texas at Austin<br></li>
<li>University of Wisconsin at Madison<br></li>
<li>Kyoto University<br></li>
<li>University of Minnesota Twin Cities<br></li>
<li>University of British Columbia<br></li>
<li>University of Geneva<br></li>
<li>Washington University in St. Louis<br></li>
<li>London School of Economics<br></li>
<li>Northwestern University<br></li>
<li>National University of Singapore<br></li>
<li>University of Pittsburgh<br></li>
<li>Australian National University<br></li>
<li>New York University<br></li>
<li>Pennsylvania State University<br></li>
<li>University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill<br></li>
<li>McGill University<br></li>
<li>Ecole Polytechnique<br></li>
<li>University of Basel<br></li>
<li>University of Maryland<br></li>
<li>University of Zurich<br></li>
<li>University of Edinburgh<br></li>
<li>University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign<br></li>
<li>University of Bristol<br></li>
<li>University of Sydney<br></li>
<li>University of Colorado at Boulder<br></li>
<li>Utrecht University<br></li>
<li>University of Melbourne<br></li>
<li>University of Southern California<br></li>
<li>University of Alberta<br></li>
<li>Brown University<br></li>
<li>Osaka University<br></li>
<li>University of Manchester<br></li>
<li>University of California at Santa Barbara<br></li>
<li>Hong Kong University of Science and Technology<br></li>
<li>Wageningen University<br></li>
<li>Michigan State University<br></li>
<li>University of Munich<br></li>
<li>University of New South Wales<br></li>
<li>Boston University<br></li>
<li>Vanderbilt University<br></li>
<li>University of Rochester<br></li>
<li>Tohoku University<br></li>
<li>University of Hong Kong<br></li>
<li>University of Sheffield<br></li>
<li>Nanyang Technological University<br></li>
<li>University of Vienna<br></li>
<li>Monash University<br></li>
<li>University of Nottingham<br></li>
<li>Carnegie Mellon University<br></li>
<li>Lund University<br></li>
<li>Texas A&M University<br></li>
<li>University of Western Australia<br></li>
<li>Ecole Normale Super Paris<br></li>
<li>University of Virginia<br></li>
<li>Technical University of Munich<br></li>
<li>Hebrew University of Jerusalem<br></li>
<li>Leiden University<br></li>
<li>University of Waterloo<br></li>
<li>King's College London<br></li>
<li>Purdue University<br></li>
<li>University of Birmingham<br></li>
<li>Uppsala University<br></li>
<li>University of Amsterdam<br></li>
<li>University of Heidelberg<br></li>
<li>University of Queensland<br></li>
<li>University of Leuven<br></li>
<li>Emory University<br></li>
<li>Nagoya University<br></li>
<li>Case Western Reserve University<br></li>
<li>Chinese University of Hong Kong<br></li>
<li>University of Newcastle<br></li>
<li>Innsbruck University<br></li>
<li>University of Massachusetts at Amherst<br></li>
<li>Sussex University</li>
</ol>
<p>Like you see the first 10 Universities are from UK and US!!!</p>
<p>^^ canada is represented first with number 18, I think....</p>
<p>and mundane rankings speak next to nothing about a school...</p>
<p>"^^ canada is represented first with number 18, I think...."</p>
<p>Yep -- my university, proud to say.</p>
<p>Frankly i don't think university rankings are absolutely accurate...so i don't put too much weightage on them.....Are there any other downsides of a Canadian Education for intls????
Possibly one i can think of is that you are not allowed to work for a year after graduation as in the US....Intls have got three months to find an employer(Which i hav heard is pretty tough) and get work permit otherwise they are expected to leave...
Any other points on Canada are welcum....specially from ppl currently studying in Canada or those who hav experienced it.....Tell us about the pros and the cons guys.....
Thanks</p>
<p>I suppose the downside of Canadian universities is that only 2.5 of them have any recognition internationally. Toronto, McGill, and sorta UBC. Not that the rest are bad schools, they just haven't prioritized getting their names out to the rest of the world. Many Canadians are simply content with going to a school that's regarded as decent or good within Canada. Most don't aspire to work in a foreign country. (from my extensive experience living in Canada)</p>
<p>To me, the biggest downside of the top Canadian universities is that they are too big ! According to the Wikipedia, the University of Toronto has over 53,000 full-time undergraduate students, UBC has nearly 36,000 in the Vancouver campus alone, and even McGill, which is smaller by Canadian standards, still has something like 24,000 undergrads. I personally prefer smaller universities, with an undergrad student body of 10,000 or less like many private research universities in the US.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Many Canadians are simply content with going to a school that's regarded as decent or good within Canada. Most don't aspire to work in a foreign country. (from my extensive experience living in Canada).
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Tell that to the millions of Canadians (including doctors, engineers, etc.) who live in the US ! Well, maybe the US doesn't really count as a "foreign country" for English-speaking Canadians after all ! Besides, now that the Canadian dollar is probably at its highest level against the US dollar in decades, moving south of the border may be no longer that attractive in terms of the extra money one could make.</p>
<p>Agreed with bruno. Canadian universities are simply too big for my tastes. That's going to make job opportunities for new graduates a little competitive.</p>
<p>"Canadian universities are simply too big for my tastes"
is also a good point, I agree =)</p>
<p>"Canadian Universities are too big for my tastes"
Does this apply for graduate programs also??? I am specifically interested in masters in Computer Engineering....How is the student-to-faculty ratio in graduate programs like in good universities....</p>
<p>No, the graduate programs are about normal-sized - just like most notable graduate schools out there. It's just that there are way too many undergrads at each Canadian University. But hey, if you like being around a lot of people, then it should be no problem. I'm just a small campus type of guy...</p>
<p>U of T has about 70,000 students in total, most of them undergrads. Its graduate econ program has 25 students and is pretty much the best or second best in the country.</p>
<p>Do you have an idea abt the no of intl student in canadian campuses??? I mean is the intl student percentage in canada as high as it is in the US or UK or there are a lot less intl students there!</p>
<p>In UBC and McGill, internationals make up around 10% of the total population. But I will emphasize, that such internationals are the ones that are only technically international. There are many immigrants and the like from places like Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Asia that are considered local students because of their immigration status. So in terms of diversity, I think the figure is much higher than 50%.</p>
<p>At McGill most of the "internationals" are just run-of-the-mill Americans, indistinguishable from average Canadian people.</p>
<p>I have to say...that ranking is not very accurate or representative of the school. University of Michigan at Ann Arbor is ranked before Princeton? that is crazy...</p>
<p>Punjab is our nation.</p>
<p>Girls are our meditation. </p>
<p>Drinking is our profession. </p>
<p>Everyday is celebration. </p>
<p>To Hell with education. </p>
<p>Because Canada is our destination</p>
<p>just letting you know, rankings are always a load of crap. They dont mean anything and you should not care what they say. Also, yes princeton is better then UMICH. Again, forget rankings and dont be bothered by them.</p>
<p>As for internationals, i think somewhere around 20% of students at McGill, have their first language as not french or english. So it is very diverse. And then i think there are a bit more anglophones than francophones at McGill.</p>
<p>Supposedly McGill has one of the Hottest Female populations out of all universities, and that in montreal is beauty heaven (thats what i always hear from people there and reading on sites).</p>