Why You Should Study in Canada
Most of our articles discuss the topics we often get asked about: finding work in Canada, finding a home in Canada, and the immigration process itself. These are all very important matters when considering immigration to Canada, and we feel it is our duty to take the time to give all the possible answers.
Today, however, we wanted to turn to another very important matter.
Today’s article is dedicated to those of us seeking redemption through education. Planning to go to school? Already a student and searching for a better place to complete your degree? Have children in need of higher education? This article is for you.
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Canada For Students
At the end of October, U.S News published its 2019 University Global Rankings list – a list which ranks the world’s top 1250 universities. 3 of Canada’s universities make it to the top 100 list, and 19 of Canada’s universities made into the top 500. We know the critical readers among you are saying this isn’t enough information. You want to know what these rankings are based on. You need to know we’re not just judging cafeteria food here, and that the rankings are unbiased and genuinely quantifiable.
The researchers used 13 indicators to measure and compare schools in a rather complicated manner.
They definitely did not use cafeteria food as an indication…
We won’t get into the finer details of the research, as the discussion of research methods can take up a long time and get quite complicated. But these are some of the basic details about this comprehensive research.
The score of each school was based on one of these indicators. Researchers used several methods to reach the most accurate score:
- Academic surveys with thousands of respondents around the world – most of whom are academic or research staff, while 3% are graduate or post graduate students.
- A web based database which covers over 18,000 of the most influential scholarly publications.
- Separate results for the regional level and for the international level.
If you’d like to read more about the methods that the researchers used, you can get all the information right here, down to the smallest detail.
Global and Regional University Standings
According to this research, the university at the top of the chart is Harvard university, with M.I.T close behind. The Ivy League slotted into the top of these charts as they have for many years. They are such tough competition, that only 2 UK universities slotted into the top 10 – Oxford University made it to 5th place and Cambridge university came in 7th.
But we’re here to talk about Canada, aren’t we? The university of Toronto made it to 20th place. The University of British Columbia made it to 29th, and Mcgill university is 43rd – a few steps up from last year when it took 49th place.
Regionally, The top 5 universities in Canada are:
- University of Toronto
- University of British Columbia
- Mcgill University in Quebec
- McMaster University in Hamilton
- University of Montreal
Are the global scores for Canadian universities really low?
With Canada’s top university making it only to 20th place, the scores seem “bad”. Why should you go to a Canadian university, when American and British universities have better scores, right?
Keep in mind, these are the overall average scores for the universities for all scholarly fields, and reputation and “brand name” counts for a lot. When you inquire about the field of study you’re interested in, things look very different. For example, the University of Toronto came in 5th in the world in the field of clinical medicine. It was 10th in the world in the field of arts and humanities, 12th in the field of biology, and 17th for neuroscience.
The University of British Columbia came in 12th in the world in the field of environmental studies. The University of Waterloo came in 14th for computer sciences and McGill came in 18th in the field of neuroscience.
These numbers look a little different, don’t they? When looking into it, you can find that in nearly every field of study, Canada has at least one – and more often than not – more than one – university in the top 10. A desire to go to the #1 university in the world is understandable, but choosing it based on the overall average rather than its standing in the specific field you’re interested in can be counterproductive.
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Choose your school
By now you might already have a general method of selecting your institution of higher learning set up in your mind. In case you don’t, we can suggest a few tips to consider when selecting your school.
- Choose your area of interest. The top schools in that field should be the ones you consider.
To help you do this, US News developed an easy interactive tool to filter schools by country and by academic subject. - Find out tuition costs, textbook costs, and any other cost related to your education – make sure you can afford your desired school.
- Find out acceptance terms and make sure you can fulfill the requirements.
Unless you’re very wealthy and have the grades of a genius, this should help you narrow down your choices. This is when you should look into the “life outside of school” element.
- Costs of rent or student housing near the school.
- Costs of drinks in nearby bars, meals in nearby restaurants, cinema costs – basically find out how expensive going out to have fun would be.
- General cost of local utilities, any taxes that might apply to students, and other living costs.
- Finally – remember Canada has free healthcare. Just saying…
You probably have narrowed your options down, and we believe Canadian schools are at the top of your list. What are your top 5? Let us know!
So do it – go for that student visa!
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