Canada?! Is it worth it?

I really want to study in Canada after finishing my A-levels. I'm from a South Asian country, so it's a much cheaper option for me (seriously, the british exchange rate is the personification of DEATH) Eventhough I'd LOVE to study in the UK, my parents are imploring me to be realistic, so I've agreed.

Thing is, I know NOTHING about Canada, as place to live, or a place to study.

The only two things I do know are the best universities are University of Toronto and McGill University. I'm leaning towards McGill, but I have no clue of the admission requirements or the difficulty of getting it. I will say McGill's courses are very interesting.

PLEASE.HELP.ME

I am definitely not an otaku (I'm getting there) but manga is love, manga is life
If I don't live in Japan for at least a year, my life won't be complete.

And what's up with girls and accents?? Espesh the British one. I get sad that I lost my British accent.
At least it's now borderline American/Brit.

I don't want to burst your bubble or anything but UofT and McGill are by no means the best universities. The world rankings measure research and UofT and McGill are just huge research schools. Ask most of the students there and they will tell you they don't like it there.

Teaching quality generally declines the larger the school you go to, although not always necessarily true.

Also, the best students do not go to UofT or McGill, they often go to programs that you will probably only know of if you went to high school here.

For an international student however I do still recommend a school like UofT or McGill mainly because its easier to be an international in a city full of internationals and also travel is easier and lastly, lets face it. If you are taking your degree outside of Canada, nobody knows anything but to read the world rankings, so game the system I guess.

Hi, guys:
I am here to share my experience. I did A-Level in England, scored AAAB, and finally I end up in UBC. I have also got into KCL, Southampton, SOAS, Queen Mary in the UK. The reason to make the decision was I thought North America have much more opportunities and so on. The reason why Canada is because Canadian Universities consider British based education, no SAT requirement, they do accept A-Levels instead of SAT, and you can even get transfer credits for them. However, the Universities in Canada is four years, and it is true that you will lose all you friends back to England (I know it is really painful), you need a long period to gain new friends. There isn't much different of living in Vancouver, however you still need to face a new environment. Vancouver is not as expensive as London, I think is affordable. For example, lunch for about CAD$10 (5 pounds) you can eat for a really good one. The university life in UBC I think it likes the most of good universities in the world, study is stressful and hard.
Hope this helps.

Yeah, it does, thanks! I think I'm warming up to the whole, Canada as a possibility thing.

Hi, guys:
I am here to share my experience. I did A-Level in England, scored AAAB, and finally I end up in UBC. I have also got into KCL, Southampton, SOAS, Queen Mary in the UK. The reason to make the decision was I thought North America have much more opportunities and so on. The reason why Canada is because Canadian Universities consider British based education, no SAT requirement, they do accept A-Levels instead of SAT, and you can even get transfer credits for them. However, the Universities in Canada is four years, and it is true that you will lose all you friends back to England (I know it is really painful), you need a long period to gain new friends. There isn't much different of living in Vancouver, however you still need to face a new environment. Vancouver is not as expensive as London, I think is affordable. For example, lunch for about CAD$10 (5 pounds) you can eat for a really good one. The university life in UBC I think it likes the most of good universities in the world, study is stressful and hard.
Hope this helps.

Hey guys. I could really use some help. Does the university of Toronto offer international scholarships to students who get A*s, in GCSEs and A levels.

I don't want to burst your bubble or anything but UofT and McGill are by no means the best universities. The world rankings measure research and UofT and McGill are just huge research schools. Ask most of the students there and they will tell you they don't like it there.

There is an admissions award worth $6000 specifically for International students. But competition is extremely tight. Technically International students are eligible for some other grants and bursaries. But to get a student permit entry into Canada as an international student, you need to prove you have adequate resources to support yourself. If you have adequate resources to support yourself, you aren't eligible for those grants and bursaries. Sort of a catch 22 there. You wouldn't be in Canada as an international student if you were financially eligible for financial aid in the first place.

I'm British Canadian (dual citizen) studying at UofT. I'll answer what questions I can, if you have more.

I'm be among the students that likes studying at UofT. There isn't the same hand holding in UofT that you get in some smaller schools. I grew up in cities and prefer the anonymity that comes with being at a larger school.

I get that and definitely satisfaction is not horrid, but the Maclean's statistics do show that UofT and other large universities on average have lower satisfaction than some of the smaller less well known universities like Acadia etc.

There are very few universities in Canada that are small enough that you are not anonymous anyways so it shouldn't be a major factor.

Lets be honest, the amount of hand holding you are going to get at schools like St Andrews, Durham, Oxbridge etc is going to be higher than any Canadian university. As someone who's studied in both countries I really do believe that unless you are studying Medicine or Law at any Canadian university you are just going to have to deal with being just a number and just in general dealing with a subpar system.

Unfortunately, Canadian universities are run with minimal staff, little funding and education suffers as a result.

@Roryrow You can apply for aid, but I doubt you're going to get much. You can find work at 17, but it's not going to pay well. It's not impossible to find help, but if I were you, looking at student debt this high, I'd probably just go somewhere local.



Where exactly do you come from that you aren't used to being treated like a number?

St Andrews. Did not feel like a number there at all. Especially in my faculty.

Anyone have any idea what kind of grades on need for A level to study in Canada. I goit 6 A's and 4-A* for my GCSE

I went to school and highschool in cities with large schools. I worked for corporations. I did a short stint in a smaller school and felt very uncomfortable. I suppose it's what you're used to. If I need help, I'm used to having to go seek it. I don't have a problem with large classes. It's normal.