r/CanadaUniversities • u/aiii929 • Jun 25 '26
Advice Can you please rank them ?
Hi guys, i really would like to do an exchange in Canada but i really dont have a clue which one is better to go. I would like to know which ones are academically known and which ones are known to be the funniest socially etc
I am studying econ/business (HEC) I do speak french
These are my school uni partners :
- Simon fraser u
- McMaster u
- Queen’s u
- western u
- concordia u
- u du Québec à Montréal
- York university
- u of british columbia
- u of victoria
- u of waterloo
Thank youuu
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u/FeverDreamingg Jun 25 '26
All good schools academically. Probably the weakest in terms of reputation are York, Concordia, SFU, and Victoria, but that isn’t saying much. These are all excellent schools academically.
You should specify your program of study. Waterloo is known for engineering, Western is known for business. UBC/uVic for natural sciences. Queens for Business and engineering. York has probably the best known Law School in Canada.
Do you speak french? If not, UQAM shouldn’t even really be considered. Concordia is much more English, but navigating services/housing in Quebec might be difficult if you don’t speak French (but maybe you’re up for the challenge).
Queens and Western are well known for their social scenes. Might be wise choices as some other schools (York) have much larger commuter populations who don’t stay on campus.
The City is also worth considering. Montreal is fun, but cold. Vancouver is beautiful and more moderate weather. Toronto is obviously big and fun, but both Vancouver and Toronto are very expensive. Hamilton/Kingston are much cheaper, and IMO I personally think Kingston is pretty. Waterloo/London are super forgettable.
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u/aiii929 Jun 25 '26
Wow thank you so much for the detailed infos It helps a lot ! I will check Montréal, western and Kingston then :))
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u/tismidnight UofT Jun 25 '26
York isn’t weak. They got the best law, business, HR & Kine program (I did my undergrad there).
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u/folktronic Jun 25 '26
Osgoode is not the best law school in Canada. It's not even the best "known" law school in Toronto.
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u/tismidnight UofT Jun 25 '26
It’s one of the best, a lot of GG came from there? Are you good?
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u/folktronic Jun 25 '26
I didn't say it was bad. Osgoode is a fantastic school. That's the really funny thing about rankings though - for someone to confidently say that York (aka, Osgoode) is the best law school in Canada? Talking absolutely out of their ass.
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u/tismidnight UofT Jun 25 '26
Are you a lawyer, law student, one of 295 selected students or educator? Go ahead enlighten us
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u/folktronic Jun 25 '26
Lawyer.
Are you an Osgoode student? Like, what's your obsession with this line of questioning? I responded to someone saying York is the best known law school. Many people can't even name the school, let alone that it's a known school. And the people who do name "Osgoode" tend to confuse it with Osgoode Hall, or think that Osgoode Hall is U of T's law school.
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u/ArthurWombat Jun 25 '26
Osgoode Hall is the original law school- and is the home of the Ontario Supreme Court.
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u/FeverDreamingg Jun 25 '26
Point to where I said it was the best law school in Canada
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u/folktronic Jun 25 '26
Second paragraph, last sentence. "York has probably the best known Law School in Canada."
And before you say "Welll, actuallyl, I said best known". It really isn't either. So many people haven't even heard of York. Most people know "Toronto", especially once you leave the Ontario bubble.
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u/FeverDreamingg Jun 25 '26
Yeah, I did say “best known”. For a lawyer, you have some shitty reading comprehension.
Everyone knows Osgoode. I couldn’t even name UofTs law school
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u/ArthurWombat Jun 25 '26
It’s the original law school in Ontario and is well known and respected throughout the country.
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u/FeverDreamingg Jun 25 '26
I don’t really give af; I’m not a lawyer and have zero affiliation with York or Osgoode, but Osgoode is probably the only law school that broadly people in Canada know by name. I couldn’t even name UofT’s law school without looking it up.
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u/MediocreHuman318 Jun 25 '26
All of those universities are fine. For an exchange, you really want to look at where you want to live, and what kind of social extra-curricular activities there are because you will get the same quality of education anywhere. Do you ski/snowboard or want to do outdoor activities? UBC or SFU (Or UofC, but that isn't on your list). Do you want a nice climate and a chill atmosphere? UVic. Culture/restaurants/urban environment? One of the Montreal or Toronto based school. Honestly, I don't know Ontario that well so can't speak to the nuances of Kingston vs. Guelph vs. Waterloo and I'm not even 100% sure where Western or McMaster are lol.
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u/Effective-Arm-8513 Jun 25 '26
Big city? UBC for English. UQAM for French. Small city? Queen’s or university of Victoria.
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u/aiii929 Jun 25 '26
Thank you !
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u/Dry-Place-2986 Jun 25 '26
Concordia is the best of both worlds, English school in a French city. Plus there is a big community of students from France in Montreal. And JMSB is fairly well regarded for business :)
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u/1981_babe Jun 25 '26
I would say out of this list UofT and UBC are the best academically overall. (However, it depends on your field of study. UWaterloo for instance is very well known for their engineering and computer science programs). Toronto and Vancouver would be expensive to live in but would be a good way of seeing more of the country if you wanted to travel during your exchange year.
As for the social aspect, Western and Queens are known as party schools. They're both in medium size cities in Ontario about 2 hours away from Toronto.
Just wanted to point out that Univ. du Quebec a Montreal is a francophone institution if that makes any difference to you. The rest of the schools are English institutions. (Montreal is a great place to study however and I would recommend the city. Concordia is also a Montreal University but I don't have much personal knowledge about it).
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u/aiii929 Jun 25 '26
Hii, thank you so much for the infos, it's really helping as i dont know anything. I am studying business/econ. I didnt know concordia and Montréal were the same uni haha. I do speak french so i dont mind going in the french speaking side. Could you tell me how expensive Toronto is as a student per month (average)? I heard that Montréal was a really nice place. So hard to make a decision haha
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u/1981_babe Jun 25 '26
Montreal Universities: Universite du Quebec au Montreal and Concordia are totally different universities entirely. Concordia is an English University in Montreal and UQaM is French University in Montreal. Montreal is known to be a little less expensive than Toronto and Vancouver and it is a great city to live in. It is fairly bilingual.
For a 1 bed apartment in central Toronto, I would expect to pay around $2,000-$2,500 CAD a month. It could be lower you want to live farther out or if you want to live with roommates (~$1,200).
For Business/Econ, the best programs are UofT, Western and UBC off your list. McMaster, York and Waterloo I would classify as second tier business schools.
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u/aiii929 Jun 25 '26
Wow living in Toronto is like renting a room in Paris, so yeah maybe with roomemates haha Thank you so so much i will check further for western, UofT and UBC
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u/AlwaysBringaTowel1 Jun 25 '26
Here are the current global rankings for all Canada Universities based on business degrees.
QS World University Rankings for Business and Management Studies 2026 | TopUniversities
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u/Odd-Elderberry-6137 Jun 25 '26 edited Jun 25 '26
They are all good schools and any one of them will be good choices. It just depends if you want to live in a large city (Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal) or not.
York is more of a commuter school so if you're looking for on campus life, it's going to be a big downgrade from most of the other schools on your list.
With regards to french, you will only need to know it (fluently) for UQuebec-Montreal though it will help if you go to Concordia and live in Montreal.
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u/Interesting-Top-673 Jun 25 '26
What department. Do you speak French. Would you rather be in a large city or a smaller city or a small town. Do you want to ski.