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Some universities have better reputations than others and therefore are considered more prestigious.
But overall it does not seem to be as big a deal as it is in the U.S. Where you sometimes have the "I was a Yale man and my son will be a Yale man too" obsession.
Tuition fees are pretty consistent within each of the provinces as well, so if you go to the No. 1 school in your province it's because of your marks as opposed to financial factors because the 20th ranked school will basically cost the same.
Some universities have better reputations than others and therefore are considered more prestigious.
But overall it does not seem to be as big a deal as it is in the U.S. Where you sometimes have the "I was a Yale man and my son will be a Yale man too" obsession.
I will agree with this. My parents forced me to attend U of Toronto (so I can honestly claim that I was fifth-generation U of T, which made my parents very proud), where I got a great education, but I know that I would have got just as good a one at any other Canadian university.
Where it does matter, is in the professional faculties, but not as much as in the US. Speaking only for law, I found that according to a relative at a Toronto Bay Street law firm, that a U of Alberta law degree carries more weight that a U of Calgary one does. A McGill law degree is powerful, as is an Osgoode one. Still, a physician or lawyer qualified out of any Canadian medical or law school, is the equivalent qualified out of any professional school. And when they land a job in a firm or a clinic, their school doesn't matter; their skill does.
Last edited by ChevySpoons; 11-27-2018 at 05:12 AM..
Part of the issue is that Canadians are not spoiled by the immense number of choices that most Americans have, as well as the sense of competition between schools. Canadian schools are academic institutions, not sports factories that also have academics. There are about 100 Universities in Canada. There are over 125 in Texas, just as an example. Generally, the top level Canadian schools are separated by focus, whether it's medicine, engineering, commerce, etc.
I have colleagues/friends who went to MIT, Columbia, Harvard, and others (such as myself) who went to state university. After your first job (which normally sucks anyway), none of it matters. No one looks at your grades, nor your diploma. Do you have a degree? What are your licenses? What experience/expertise do you possess?
Same goes for my friends who went to school in Canada. In the end, none of it matters, other than bragging rights.
I don't think we have private universities in Canada the same way they do in the US, and if we do, they're not the prestigious route.
Generally, top students go to regular public universities. Some schools do have better reputation than others, for instance in Ontario I would say University of Toronto or Waterloo have better reputations than say, Ryerson or York. But this advantage is usually overblown and only really shows up in grad schools rather than undergrads.
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