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I'm currently finishing up a master's degree here in the States, and I'm applying to do my Ph.D. at York University and the University of Toronto (I'm also applying to several other Canadian Ph.D. programs). Although I'm originally from Michigan, I'm focusing on Canadian universities for two reasons -- the methodology I specialize in is much more prevalent in Canada and Europe than in the US, and I want to obtain permanent residency and eventually Canadian citizenship. After finishing my Ph.D., my goal is to become a professor at a college or university, preferably somewhere in Canada.
York (my top program choice) and U of T are both in Toronto, but I do NOT enjoy city life at all, so I wouldn't enjoy living in Toronto or its suburbs. Are there any small towns or small cities within a reasonable (max. 110 kilometres) commuting distance to York and/or UToronto? Looking on the map, places like Hamilton, Kitchener-Waterloo, Guelph, and Barrie seem to be somewhat close. How are these towns in terms of safety, walkability, rental/home prices, overall cost of living, and arts/culture? I'm single right now, with no kids yet, so schools aren't a huge concern at the moment. I'd prefer a university town (I've always lived in university towns), but pretty much any small city will do.
I've never been to Ontario (except Windsor, which doesn't really count ), so I'm not too familiar with the GTA. Factoring in traffic, gas prices, snow, etc., would it be reasonable to commute from any of these towns, or am I better off just biting the bullet and living in the 'burbs (assuming York and/or U of T accepts me, of course)?
Thanks for the help!
Last edited by northstar22; 01-28-2012 at 11:12 PM..
Sorry to be clueless, but what do you mean by "one of the former boroughs?" Are these like neighborhoods in Toronto, suburbs, or surrounding towns?
Just to clear things up, I don't want to live in an urban area. I'm looking for either small town/city or suburban, with a preference for a small town or city. I'm not looking for inner-city neighborhoods in TO.
Most phd want to live as close to campus as possible. I don't know what your program is, but with all the time your going to spend doing research, studying, taking classes, and teaching, trust me you don't want to add the stress of commuting 1.5hours+ everyday.
Also, how small is small for you? Hamilton for example is not that small. If your willing to live in Hamilton, you might as well live in Toronto (outside the downtown core). The former boroughs are former suburbs of Toronto that are now a part he city limits, like North York (where York University is ), Etobicoke, East York and Scarborough.
I don't know if you alright done this, but check the University of Guelph, University of Waterloo and McMaster university (Hamilton) if they have your program.
If you really don't want to live in Toronto, I'll choose Hamilton. Rent is cheaper than Toronto (the cost of everything else is about the same though) and you can commute to Toronto easily by public transit. The Go bus runs every 30 mins (express) from Hamilton to downtown Toronto, and there is also a bus that runs frequently from Hamilton (McMaster) to York University.
Toronto is simply much too large of a metro area to make commuting from any of the surrounding small cities tolerable. Although you may not enjoy city life, the determent to your quality of life with a large commute may offset any gain you'll get from living in a small city - especially if you go with U of T. From York, commutes to places like Barrie, Caledon etc, may be somewhat reasonable.
As somebody else mentioned, you may want to consider the universities in any of the cities you mentioned. Can't comment on your program specifically, but many (McMaster, Waterloo) are all fine schools.
You should visit Toronto. It truly is a collection of small communities. I've had people tell me that they find parts of Toronto more small-town like than they could have imagined it being (big leafy trees, small streets, quiet, etc). With GTA traffic (the worst in north america) keep in mind that 110K in distance might equal a 2.5 hour ONE-way commute in real time, unless you can travel significantly off-hours frequently (ie 11am - 2:30pm, or 8pm - 6am kind of windows).
Yeah you are going to spend a fortune commuting as well as the time. I would invest the money in living in High Park in Toronto. As another poster said, Toronto is a collection of communities.
Are there at least any decent suburbs in the GTA? Brampton? Mississauga? Kanata? [Emphasis added.]
Kanata is a suburb of Ottawa, bub.
Last edited by maclock; 01-30-2012 at 11:55 AM..
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), so I'm not too familiar with the GTA. Factoring in traffic, gas prices, snow, etc., would it be reasonable to commute from any of these towns, or am I better off just biting the bullet and living in the 'burbs (assuming York and/or U of T accepts me, of course)? 
