jantaoYVR

Since everyone else seems to be plugging their alma mater, I'll go ahead and do the same.

I finished my undergrad degree at McGill in PoliSci/Economics (in 2000), and I think that on balance GSP, McGill would be the school for you.

While I agree with some others here that U/G tuition is subsidizing graduate work, the graduate arm of the Poli Sci department is not that large. Also by the time you hit your Junior/Senior year, you'll be able to take very small and challenging seminars. My last two years, I didn't have a class over 20 people (in my political science classes), and the norm was more like 8-10.

If you would like I could put you in touch with some of the professors there, or if you had any specific questions about course offerings, student politics or Montreal in general, feel free to email me at the address in my profile.

Jason

Academic

Naturally, I have my own biases, but I'll try not to let them show, and give a view from the inside. It's true that if you go to one of the major schools (Mcgill, UBC, and U of T included), the overall quality of education won't be all that much different. In Ontario, that includes most of the universities in the south of the Province. I'd suggest that you look for a couple of things: first, check out which school has a good Political Science department and which areas they specialize in. Check the websites to see who the faculty are and what they teach. Sometimes a department can be very good even the the University as a whole is not tops. Carleton falls into that category. Queen's is very good in Political Science, as someone mentioned, as is University of Western Ontario, but I don't think there are huge differences in quality.
The next thing to think about is what the rest of the school has to offer. You might be in Politics, but you presumably have other interests, so look at the range of courses available, whether you can combine Majors, the difference between Honors and Non-Honors degree prgrams etc. It's the total education package you should be looking at.
Finally, consider the style of the universities. The ones you list are all big city schools with very large numbers of students. Queen's is much smaller and is in a city of about 70,000. You'll also find big differences in the "personality" of the schools. The larger places tend to be more impersonal, while the smaller ones have a much greater sense of community.
Feel free to e-mail me if you have other questions.

Stranger

Just curious, what do you mean? Referring to the university president? Why is is he an a$$hole?

LondonElite

When I went to Queen's, they had a T-shirt that read:

'Tis better to fail out of Queen's than to graduate from Carlton'

No one ever regretted going to Queen's...belive me.

BTW, I'm off to K-town for Homecoming this coming weekeind (firt time in a long time) if other Queen's FTers are there.

Cha Geill

shuuy

No, I agree.

B1

IMHO an American student might have a difficult time with the programs at the big central and western Canadian universities. There is an emphasis on early and intense specialization (yes, I work at one so I see it close up and it would be quite a shock). Often it is hard to find the courses you need and the space to get into the section you can schedule. The current hot spot (the place to go) seems to be King's College in Halifax, part of Dalhousie University. This is a pretty easy place to get to by air and there are good connections to the US. Dalhousie itself is an excellent bet too. The program at King's is more like an American liberal arts school and the scenery and city are very attractive. There are three universities in that town and others nearby - a really good place to meet people. Then there are the smaller schools that have been emphasizing undergrads entirely - but are not near major airports: Bishop's, Acadia, Mount Allison. Good luck and keep us posted.

GSP flyer

OMG! You guys have been so helpful in this, I honestly didn't expect half this many responses. Your responses as Canadians make me feel sooo much more relaxed about moving up there(that and seeing Bowling for Columbine). You've represented your country well. Thanks a bundle.

I did a double take when I first saw the Maclean's rankings. I had never heard of Guelph, and it's top ranking made me think something wasn't kosher.

YYCOlie-As for cost, I'm currently paying $4700 USD per TRIMESTER, CAD$9500 for the year sounds like an absolute steal. Oh, and I wouldn't touch PHL with a 10 foot pole, I hate the place with a passion.

I speak semi-conversational French, and I'm taking classes in it right now, so I can survive, but by no means could I possibly survive lectures in French.

I've been through the whole big/small school debate, and it doesn't matter a whole lot, though I lean slightly towards smaller schools.

I was planning to apply at 4-5 schools, probably 3-4 Eastern, 1-2 Western. After listening to your responses here's probably the list with comments below.

1.McGill
2.University of Ottawa
3.University of Toronto
4.University of Alberta/UBC (one of these two)
5.Carleton/Queens (one of these two)


1. McGill is a mortal lock to make it because of the cultural/academic fit. It's the one I gravitated towards initally, and people have at least heard of it down here(I have to worry about getting a job at some point after college back here in the states, but I'm not in a hurry ) . I also have people who mind as well be family in Montreal.

2. I hadn't even considered U Ottawa, but being close to the center of government appeals to me, I almost applied to Georgetown but the cost scared me away. It might not be a bad idea, and consequently makes the cut. Is the school completely bi-lingual(ie: are some classes taught in French only?)???

3.U of Toronto reminds me of another UT I know, UT-Austin. Great faculty, endowment,etc. but huge size, consequently it's dropped some, but it will probably make the cut.

4.UBC also suffers some from large size, but I'm still interested. I've always wanted to experience the West Coast. The scenery makes up for some of it, and I've heard nothing but rave reviews about Vancouver. The mindset sounds something like California, which is a plus, as is that beach.........

4.U of Alberta was one that I had thought of and simply dismissed. It sounds like it might be a good fit after all. My only concerns are about Edmonton's cultural fit. Every Canadian(they're all from Quebec, Ontario, and BC) I've talked to describes the place as Texas moved 2000 miles north in both economic and cultural terms. Isn't Alberta where most of the opposition to gay marriage comes from? The only reason I bring this up is because I find that the more gay-friendly a place is, the better in terms of cultural value.

5.Queens sounds like a great school. The only thing that concerns me is the fact that I don't drive(another reason why I prefer city schools). Once I get there I'd be stuck. Otherwise sounds like a slam dunk. In addition, I've heard the place is a bit** to get into from the two Canadian college students I know personally(one went to UofT, the other to McGill).

5. Finally, Carleton(I applied to Minnesota's Carleton,LOL) sounds interesting. I can't find much info, but I'm intrigued nevertheless.

Note: Some of you will be recieving e-mails late tomorrow, I'm busy tonight but I'm going to write them during the Cubs game tomorrow night. By no means wait for them, you've already been sooo gracious. I owe you my FF mileage balance for your help!

Have a nice evening in hockeyland, thanks a million-in US dollars, not Canadian,

-GSP flyer

[This message has been edited by GSP flyer (edited 09-29-2003).]

liveinahotel

It pains my soul to see this...lol.


Not driving at Queen's is not a problem. If you can't walk to somewhere in Kingston from the campus, you don't want to go there anyways. Getting to Toronto/Ottawa/Montreal is a breeze from Kingston on train, (school subsidised) bus or rides from people you meet there. The comments about it being tough to get into are true...I'm still figuring out how I got in. One upside of that though is that it is almost impossible to fail out.

From my (limited) knowledge of the other schools, it seems like you've got a pretty good idea of what each have to offer.

Best of luck with the choice.

PS - LondonElite...I will be in K-town this weekend for my 5th...and it still hurts to say that.

WillTravel

Going to the University of Alberta will certainly dissuade any cold-haters from visiting you. Brrrr!

cedric

Actually, University of Guelph is very well known for certain programs such as agriculture, hospitality and veterinary - certainly among the top schools in Canada for these fields. In addition, it is one of the younger schools which discredits someone's earlier theory about the older schools having better alumni support.

Also note that it is ranked seperately from the really small (primarily undergraduate catagory) and the really large (medical/doctoral catagory) schools - Macleans is not calling it the best SCHOOL in Canada, just the best of its class. And although I have been less than serious on this thread up to now, I agree completely with that assessment, and so does the vast majority of Guelph students that I have spoken to.

why fly

[QUOTE]Originally posted by GSP flyer:
[B]

The other things I looked at:
1)Best education, both academically and culturally, for the money.
2)I need to be near a big city for my own cultural reasons, being out in the sticks here isn't any fun.

OK to help out more what are you looking for in Culture? email me if necessary

7E7

You will find Edmonton and Calgary open welcoming cities. The press, from down east, likes to paint us westerners with a broad brush as country hicks. The "anti-gay marriage" stems from the fact that the federal Alliance party started in Alberta and the provincial governments stance is consistent with this (in my opinion to keep the rural voters happy). I suspect if there was a vote in Alberta, the majority would be for it or at least indifferent.

As for culture it does exist. There is a very good opera company along with a top rate symphony orchestra that has one of the best concert halls - The Winspear. There are also numerous theatres of various sizes and types of productions. And of course the Oilers!

Don't let comments about the cold dissuade you. Granted it can be -40C but for the most part you will find the winters bearable with an average of -10C. Plus, unlike Toronto we do not need to call in the army to clean our streets from snow

The UofA is a good institution and I understand the polysci group to be very good. The campus is very beautiful with a nice mix of architecture and green spaces.

Some links of interest
http://www.ualberta.ca/
http://www.winspearcentre.com/
http://www.edmontonopera.com/
http://www.citadeltheatre.com/
http://www.discoveredmonton.com/

shuuy

I respectfully disagree. Being in the UK, where someone who starts a B. Sc in Kinesiology, they take less than 3 modules (out of 36) outisde of their faculty... At Calgary, I agree that you go directly into your faculty now, but the only reason for that was because the U of C wanted to attract the top students right into math, or business, and not have them fuss with pre-program. In fact, if my memory serves me correctly, the U of M has a "University-One" program where every undergraduate has a nearly identical first year of coursework (choosing Physics OR Geology, or Calculus OR Linear Algebra, for example). This has led to first year Biology courses being taught by pre-recorded videos, however.

So maybe in comparison to the US system (where I know nothing), but looking at my program and that half of my courses are outside of my intended field of study, I don't know how I've 'specialised'.

O

shuuy

Just a couple corrections, if I may. (And yes, the AC forum is usually very friendly.

Unless you asked to take French classes (or French classes in certain first year subjects), unless you went to U Montreal, or any 'more Quebec' University (i.e. McGill), you wouldn't have to take anything in French. Be careful, however, because the primary language of communication at the Universite d'Ottawa is French (it surprised me too that McGill was more anglophone).

Lastly, Edmonton is the most liberal part of Alberta. Calgary, is more like the Dallas of the north, but I feel that that's largely because we just have as much oil money supporting our 'diversified' [cough] economy as the cities in Texas. Economically, Alberta is the strongest province per-capita (by far), and you don't have to pay a provincial sales tax (although everywhere you go in Canada its 7% plus whatever the provinces tax on, ranging from 6-8% additional). That said, of the 10 provinces, Alberta ranks 8th in terms of per-student funding (Ontario 9th and Nova Scotia 10th).

If you're looking to go into Law, then Ontario schools will grade easier (i.e. higher GPA) than schools out West. (yes, I'm floating this one out there to start some more postings, but I fully believe it - especially at the High School level).

Hope this helps.

O

Commie

Fellow Queen's Alumnus - what did you guys take at Queen's? Myself I am a Comm97...