Hi,
I’ve just been accepted into these three universities for a BA with a major in Economics. I also applied to the University of Alberta but they havent replied as of yet. I would really like to get all the information I can on what is best regarding academic reputation, prestige, potential employment after graduation, student life and the cities that the unis are in themselves. Any help would really be appreciated!
Academic reputation and prestige is probably about equal at the 3 universities.
York is in Toronto, the largest city in Canada and 4th largest in North America. Toronto’s also the financial hub of Canada. Toronto is a temperate climate - lows about minus 10 Celsius in the winter to highs of about 32 Celsius in the summer. York is well known for its law program, but is overshadowed in every other program by the University of Toronto. It is not particularly well regarded in Toronto.
Calgary is at the hub of the oil and gas industry. Winters can be brutally cold. The city is at the foothills of the Rocky Mountains.
Which campus did you get in for Simon Fraser? If Vancouver, then that is a more moderate climate than either Toronto or Calgary. It’s also more expensive.
All 3 cities are very good places to live.
Thank you! Yeah from what I’ve seen over the QS world rankings, York is my last choice(based on rankings and rankings alone). Yeah everybody has been telling me about Calgary being crazy cold! My case is even crazier as I live in Saudi Arabia where it touches 50 degrees Celsius!
Um I think Burnaby? Not sure if that’s in Vancouver haha. I really don’t know!
Isn’t Calgary better than SFU? Like what’s your basis for rating SFU over Calgary? I’m asking because there are others who have also rated SFU higher haha 
And based on online rankings, Calgary seems to by my best pick as it’s 171 in the world and in between 101-150 for Economics
Burnaby is part of Metro Vancouver. It’s a little snowier in winter than Vancouver proper.
Both York and SFU are overshadowed by their blockbuster cousins, U of T and UBC. Calgary won’t have that issue.
University of Alberta is in Edmonton - north of Calgary. It’s even colder than Calgary. Brrrr.
The answer depends partially on what kind of industry you want to work for. If you’re interested in energy, UofC (or A to a lesser extent).
Canadian job markets are not as prestige-sensitive as US job markets… so essentially, go to school where you want to work after graduation.
No I’m looking to go into consultancy or analysing data, basically anything an Economics degree can take you into haha
oh okay, point noted!