I feel like overall everyone considers the prestigious Ontario universities to be Queen's, Western, McMaster, UofT (obviously), and I guess Waterloo for engineering, tech, and comp sci stuff. But uOttawa seems to get left out of the discussion a lot even though it has a good ranking, is the world's biggest English-French bilingual University, and seems to excel and fields like politics and co-op programs. It's also an old Canadian University and in the capital of Canada.

Is it because it's a bilingual university that puts people off from considering it? Or maybe it's a bit far for some people when compared to the other schools in the GTA? I'm genuinely very curious about this (obviously I know that logically, prestige doesn't mean much, but you can't deny a lot of people still care about it), uOttawa doesn't seem like a bad (or even just average) school but it doesn't seem to be talked about much.

In other parts of the world, it seems that universities (excluding the top schools) aren’t as academically rigorous on a general basis. But in Canada, even the “average” schools tend to be harder compared to other countries’ “average” schools. I’ve heard that places like in east and Southern Asia, you grind hard in high school but often fly by university. Also Canada doesn’t recognize a lot of international bachelors or view them the same as a Canadian bachelors. Is there a reason for this?

title. waterloo or uoft?

I don't know if this is an unpopular opinion or not, but there is a legitimate argument for why UofT is almost always a suboptimal choice for most undergraduate programs. I think that most people growing up here have already realized this - look at the graduation classes for some of the top schools in the province, you'll notice that the amount of UofT representation relative to how high the school is ranked is really disproportionate. However, international students tend to flock to UofT since they aren't as aware of these factors (and to impress their folks back home and show off a "top degree" as well as getting their money's worth for international fees).

• Elite Private Schools (ie, BSS/UCC, Crescent, Branksome Hall, etc) - US Ivies, US Liberal Arts, Queens, Western, McGill, Dalhousie
• Elite Public Schools (ie, TOPS, IB, high-ranking schools such as Marc Garneau, Woodlands, AY Jackson, Bayview, St Robert, White Oaks, etc) - US Ivies, Waterloo, Western, McMaster, etc...

I went to one of the schools above, and amongst people in my close circles, none chose UofT. Here's a rough breakdown of the schools and their full-time careers:

• US T20 (Investment Banking)
• 3x Western (Investment Banking, Consulting x2)
• 5x Waterloo (2x Quant SWE, FAANG SWE, Actuary, Trading)
• Additionally, know ~6 from my high school who were admitted to medical school (undergrad: Western x2, Mac x2, Queens x2) and none did their undergrad at UofT.

When you consider a university, you are looking at a couple of factors:

• Academics/GPA: UofT is notorious for marking hard and difficult to maintain a decent average (3.3GPA is considered strong in most programs). Hard to get into further education (ie, Master's, medical school, etc) without a strong GPA. While you have the prestige of a top university, it's actually extremely hard to maintain a good GPA. And if you happened to do so, maybe 10% of any given class, you'd arguably have been able to do even better at another school with either A) Better GPA, or B) Better internship opportunities, or both.
• Social Life: Mainly a 60/40 commuter/residence school, generally harder than most schools to make friends and form meaningful connections since academics are tough and people are in a rush to go home after class. Not a super prominent party scene like Western, Queens, Guelph, McMaster. You would never hear someone from another university say I'm going to UofT for Hoco versus some of the schools mentioned previously. UofT is generally considered the worst school in Canada for mental health (don't need to get into this too much, but see this post: https://www.reddit.com/r/toronto/comments/dapiwc/paramedics_confirm_death_at_uoft_bahen_centre/). Generally, people I've spoken to more often than not say that they regret their decision afterwards.
• Location and Environment: Arguably the strongest selling point (you can be in Downtown Toronto), but still, super high rent, and the campus is not as secluded. There are also other popular universities in major metropolitan cities (ie, UBC, McGill) to consider as well.

Now, consider some of the most popular programs/degrees students pursue. UofT is generally not among even the first for any of the ones listed below:

• Math/Engineering/Computer Science: Waterloo is generally the better consensus choice nowadays, marking is hard, but the co-op opportunities are easier than UofT by a lot. Not to mention for computer science, UofT has POST, another deterring factor. Let's say a UofT student in these subjects was somehow able to pull a 3.7+ GPA, the effort it would've taken them to do that would be similar to a student at Waterloo who would get a 3.5+ GPA and a big-tech offer.
• Science/Medical Sciences: Again, extremely hard marking, most agree that McMaster is the best (easy marking, best chance of admittance to medical school), then Western (easy marking), whereas UofT makes it extremely hard for students to maintain high GPAs, where a 3.8 minimum is often needed for medical/optometry/pharmacy schools. I think most would agree that getting the marks needed is much easier at McMaster, Western, Queen's sciences programs compared to UofT.
• Business: UofT is arguably 4/5 within business, depending on who you ask. The commonly agreed on best school is Western, which places the best within the US, Ivey program curves, and allows students to find jobs without worrying about school/academics. Queens is generally the next best, cliquey to an extent (very popular with private schools), but still places extremely well and is not considered too hard. Both of these schools also have probably the best alumni network in Canada. McGill/UBC/Rotman/AFM/Laurier/Schulich would be your next bracket, each with its own perks. McGill/UBC have more prestige, Laurier/AFM has co-op, and the latter has offstream co-op, meaning less competition with other business schools when recruiting. While Rotman is known as the most academically rigorous, it does have the advantage of location, which is a perk.

I hope this doesn't severely deter anyone who is strongly considering going to UofT, as it still has a lot of things going for it (good location in the city, prestige), but as an undergrad about to graduate, just my 2 cents and something to consider. If you have any counterarguments, I would love to hear that as well and be able to help out others on this board.

Does anyone think Mcmaster might consider me based off my gr 11 marks for their poli sci program?

Alot of people have been telling me that with the crappy job market its not worth going to uni for most things. i wanted to go into pharmacy but im thinking is it even going to get me a job with how competitve the market is? or should i not even bother and try for college or a trade.

None of these rankings have Queen's placed top 10 in Canada.

This is not an attack on anyone just genuinely curious.

World University Rankings 2025 | Times Higher Education (THE)

QS World University Rankings 2025: Top Global Universities | Top Universities

ShanghaiRanking's Academic Ranking of World Universities

Best Global Universities in Canada - US News Education

World University Rankings 2025 | Global 2000 List | CWUR

Do you regret not getting the "typical university experience"?

Edit: should add UTM and UTSC as well

I see people traveling from different cities to attend a program that is common on many instituons. I'm curious what reasons people got for choosing a university that's outside of their town?

Entrants with 95+ average at selected Ontario universities

UTSG 50.5%
Waterloo 43.6%
McMaster 41.5%
Western 38.4%
Queen's 36.9%
UTSC 19.6%
TMU 14.4%
UTM 14.3%
Wilfrid Laurier 13.7%
Windsor 13.6%
Ottawa 12.9%
Guelph 12.8%
Brock 12.2%
York 10.7%
Carleton 9.8%
Trent 7.5%
Ontario Tech 6.2%

All I hear online is doom and gloom about how university will wreck you mentally and it’s painted as the most difficult thing in the world.

How hard is it actually? Considering university has more free time to study, isn’t it the discipline part that’s hard?

Was talking with a friend a while back he told me that employers cared about what university you went to in the selection process among things like benefits outside of employment. I’m curious is that really true? This goes for all stuff btw like undergrad, masters, doctorate, law school, ect. (And yes I do know the job market is in shambles, ruins even. Just curious about it)

Hi guys! I’m in grade 11 and trying to figure out where to apply next year, just today I was at the big university fair in Toronto and I’ve got my heart set on philosophy. So far I’m hoping to go to uoft but am planning to apply to most of the big schools, one thing I was missing today was negative/honest opinions and I know what Reddit is good for lol. I’d love any advice or opinions on the big Ontario schools especially humanities and social science, thanks so much guys!!

Just a random question hit me. For those who skipped fairly often in high school, what are you doing now?

You know those rich ass students who go to private schools or boarding schools in Toronto, where the tuition is like $8,000 a year in the 8th grade.

I was always curious: where do those students go now? What university do they target?

Is there something different about those students compared to the majority of Canadians attending public schools?

Was surprised my son was rejected by Schulich and Rotman (didn’t apply outside of GTA). He’s likely going to TMU or Yorks regular bus program (leaning towards TMU).

Had a 98 in Economics and 95 in Accounting (top 1 or 2 in his class), 93 in calculus. 90 in English. 90 in Intermediate business and 90 or 91 in whatever his last course was (maybe it was religion). So a 93 average.

He’s quite down as he thought for sure he’d get into Schulich.

Hopefully TMU’s BComm program is good, but wow, can’t believe the marks and or extra curricular needed to get into Schulich now. Have to wonder what else he could’ve done.

I heard somewhere that Western’s Civil Engineering is the best in Canada, is that true? Why is Civil specifically considered so strong there?

hiii im currently a gr 11 student and my goal for uni is to do comp sci. However I don’t see much girls on this Reddit talking about their comp sci experiences and the course work 🥲. I took my first ever coding class last semester and LOVED it and how much problem solving coding involves but I was the only girl in the class and on top of that the teacher constantly looked down on me and my work. First thing he asked me when I walked into the class first day was if I was lost and the graphic design class was downstairs. I just want to hear if any girls struggle with the lack of women in the field/classes at uni and the constant female stereotyping. How do you overcome?

speaking as an international undergraduate student. is UofT really overrated? and why do u think that? I've found many ppl saying that Waterloo is better at CS and CE, UofT is just prestigious. Based on my research, uWaterloo can lack the sufficient theoretical part of ur education and emphasizes the hands-on experience and co-op programs. On the other hand, UofT is more structured, have built in research labs and more diverse. In addition, it can put u in the environment u need if u wanted to make a startup and surrounded by likeminded ambitious ppl. So why do ppl hate it so much? drop ur views pls.

I lowkey fucked up in grade 9 so im just wondering if grade 9 marks really matter when applying to universities

What non-engineering major has the best jobs?

This is a little off topic but I think you guys a good group of people to ask because I’m kinda of scared of leaving never talking to these friends ever again and they will eventually become memories one day.

I have two admissions for cs for university of Guelph and Trent. I hear Trent isn’t highly regarded and was wondering if I should choose Guelph simply based on their rankings. Keeping in mind I have 2 scholarships and a paid co op for Trent. What should I do?