Anti-Rating of Canadian Universities 2021
Even about those educational institutions that are known throughout the world, you can find many negative reviews.
Canadian magazine Maclean's has been compiling annual rankings of Canada's top multidisciplinary universities on various parameters, including the reputation of the institution, for 30 years. Journalists from the financial website MoneyWise decided to find out what reviews these universities get on Q&A sites such as Quora or Reddit, and find out what exactly influences their reputation.
15. The University of Waterloo, according to Maclean's ranking, had the best reputation among universities in Canada in 2021. In the overall ranking, this university shares second place with the University of Victoria. But students don't like the campus, food and overall environment, and many in their third year never find a job in their field of study.
14. Simon Fraser University is in second place in Maclean's reputation ranking. Students complain that they lack on-campus bars and parties, as well as psychological counseling services.
13. The University of Guelph was ranked first in Maclean's student satisfaction index. The main drawback of this university is its location in the small town of Guelph in the southern province of Ontario.
12. The University of Victoria is on the south side of Vancouver Island, and the city of Victoria is even smaller than Guelph. Students complain that food prices on Vancouver Island are noticeably higher than on the mainland, and services and infrastructure are not up to par.
11. Ryerson University is located in downtown Toronto, and that, too, annoys many students. Besides the fact that everything in Toronto is very expensive, Ryerson University completely lacks the sense of student brotherhood, of being in a special space like on campuses, which are small towns in their own right.
10. Concordia University is one of two English-speaking universities in the city of Montreal, capital of the French-speaking province of Quebec. Montreal was recently ranked fifth in the global rating of the best cities to study. Montreal's universities also have drawbacks: for example, students don't like the local toilets. And there are also many students in Concordia who study hard and only came here because their parents wanted them to.
9. York University is located in Toronto. 94% of its graduates find jobs within two years of graduation. But students complain that there are constant strikes at the university and in the city of York, disrupting life. There are strikes by professors, assistants, and catering workers.
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8. Memorial University of Newfoundland is good, except for its remote location. It is on a small island, in the town of St. John's, where just over 100,000 people live, and some students who come from metropolitan areas have a very hard time there.
7. Carleton University in Ottawa ranked fifth in Maclean's overall ranking, but only ninth in the reputation dimension. It is said to be a university for those who did not qualify for other, more prestigious institutions.
6. Wilfrid Laurier University likes students, but it has lower passing grades than most other universities and fewer programs. Business and management students get much more attention than students in other majors, which isn't everyone's favorite either.
5. The University of Québec in Montréal accepts only French-speaking students, and the requirements for applicants are relatively low. It has many branches with a very small selection of fields of study. In Maclean's ranking, this university ranked last in terms of scholarships and student services.
4. The University of New Brunswick also offers a small selection of fields of study and small scholarships. It is harder for students to get grants for research projects. Another significant disadvantage is that the knowledge given at this university has little to do with real work in the specialty, students complain about wasted time and money.
3. Brock University admits students with obscenely low grades to most majors. The average score of applicants, which is calculated on the basis of their high school diploma, is 70%, i.e. 7 on a 10-point scale and 3.5 on a 5-point scale. Therefore, Canadians do not place much value on this university's degree. In addition, it invests less money in research than all other universities in the ranking.
2. The University of Regina, the capital city of Saskatchewan, guarantees graduates who have not found a job in their field of study in six months, a free year of additional training. It is very easy to enter the university — the minimum passing score for applicants is 65%. Still, students aren't happy: They aren't hired because of the university's reputation, even though it was ranked one of the best in Canada in 2019. And many professors, according to students, understand nothing about the subjects they teach.
1. The University of Windsor, which has the worst reputation in the rankings, is also not too demanding: you only need to score 70-75% to get in. The city of Windsor is on the U.S. border and is connected to Detroit by a bridge and an automobile tunnel under the river. Both Detroit and Windsor are depressed regions whose economies are based solely on the automobile industry. The percentage of employment for graduates outside the region is very low. Students don't like the fact that there is nothing to do in Windsor. They also complain about the quality of education.
Some of the listed institutions have been in the anti-rating before — Windsor University, Carleton University, Ryerson University, and Memorial University of Newfoundland, for example, were in the dozen worst in 2020.
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