Campus Visit Report-U of Toronto-St. George’s campus (downtown)

[Dmmetler]

We visited U of Toronto. St. George’s is their main campus-there are two others, which are smaller. The Arts and Sciences are on St. George’s, as are a few other faculties-and every single major DD is interested in falls under A&S. 

1) If York is huge, UofT is giant. 88,000 students. Unlike York, on campus housing is guaranteed the first year (and generally available after that). 

2) It is Hogwarts. Or, at least, that’s DD’s impression, between the college system and many of the older parts of campus, some of which pre-date Canada. She is particularly enamouresd by University College, which basically lives in a castle, and Trinity, which hosts the annual Shakespearean festival. Intramural competition is a big deal. You rank the houses in order of preference when you apply. 

3) The library system is amazing-42 libraries af St. George’s alone, including an absolutely breathtaking rare books collection. Their library system is 3rd in North America. 

4)Liberal Arts system where you declare a faculty, but not a major until you get in and get involved, with part of the first year being short courses in different areas picked by the college or faculty members, often coming out of their research. Changing majors and double majors are encouraged. (Dd commented that it sounded like Sewanee, only not halfway up a mountain and with subway service to get to lots of awesome stuff)

5) Great student activities and community opportunities. DD particularly likes the Royal Ontario Museum. 

6) Very global. 160 countries represented in the student body, lots of food options and cultural options in and near campus. 

7) research is very visible.

We also met with admissions.  

1) Homeschoolers should document “as much as possible”. DD’s college classes will be fine for that purpose. AP and SAT-2 tests are also accepted. You should have documentation for at least some classes in each academic core area. 

 

2) credits for transfer will be evaluated on a case by case basis, after admissions. 

 

3) Age will not matter for student visa or for campus housing, but additional paperwork will be needed (mostly in that someone in her college would need to be granted decision making abilities as needed for legal purposes). They have had underage students before, although 17 is more common than 16.  There may be liability issues with some research and field experiences particularly those involving travel outside Canada, but for the most part, those are not done in year 1 anyway. 

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DD really, really likes it. It is by far her favorite of the schools she has visited. And the most expensive, and likely the biggest reach as far as admissions goes.  Her first question was whether there was any way we could get Canadian residency.  Eep! 

[Arcadia]

2 hours ago, dmmetler said:

We also met with admissions.  

1) Homeschoolers should document “as much as possible”. DD’s college classes will be fine for that purpose. AP and SAT-2 tests are also accepted. You should have documentation for at least some classes in each academic core area. 

3) Age will not matter for student visa or for campus housing, but additional paperwork will be needed (mostly in that someone in her college would need to be granted decision making abilities as needed for legal purposes). They have had underage students before, although 17 is more common than 16.  

 

When we visited Waterloo, the assumption was at least one parent would be staying with the underage child in a rental near campus. AP exams results and dept interviews were what the admissions staff were accustomed to as preliminary evaluation for undergraduate enrollment. We were only looking at Engineering, Math or Physics though. They were saying 13 and older is preferred for underage undergrads.

Chinatown, Toronto is a short walk away from U of Toronto downtown campus. The downtown coach terminal is walking distance away. We took the Megabus there from Baltimore, Maryland. The subway system is not bad. We had fun with the Toronto’s Downtown Pedestrian Walkway when it was raining. The Hertz rental staff at CF Toronto Eaton Centre is quite nice. The food court at Eaton Centre is okay but my kids didn’t like the poutine there, they preferred the noodles dishes.

https://www.toronto.ca/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/8d6c-path-network-map.pdf

[Dmmetler]

From what U of T said, it shouldn’t be a problem to live on campus if she sticks to her current plan, which has her entering at 15-16. We didn’t ask about entering sooner,since the local schools are working for now.  One big difference between U of T and York is that on campus (or near campus-they also own a very, very large hotel about 5 minutes away, which is mostly upper classmen, because it’s not associated with any college) housing is guaranteed for first years at U of T. I got the distinct impression that this is unusual for Canadian Unis.  And I’m pretty confident that DD would be unable to rent an apartment at age 15-16. 

[wintermom]

Glad your dd enjoyed the visit. Yes, having Canadian residency would make it soooo much cheaper for tuition. 

[Bluegoat]

If she found Trinity romantic, she might enjoy reading The Rebel Angels which is set there.  It's an adult book but should be fine for 16.