In terms of life on rez it really depends on the type of person you are. Your bound to make friends on res but its hard to keep in touch with them in the upper years, the variety of courses offered and the different majors really makes it hard to keep in touch with your friends. The seniors are mostly people that hate UTSG, seeing as to how their getting close to the end of their undergraduate studies and coming to the realization that their hard work and dedication for nearly 4 years won't pay off and their dreams will be shattered. There are a bunch of clubs and stuff to join and be part in but its really hard to balance that with a 5.0 credit course load. Overall UTSG lacks in all areas in terms of school spirit, its no small tight knit community that's for sure.

Yes, we take great pride in "helping" our peers out.

I really don't know how indicative the post count of a Facebook page for an entering class is...

Of course it does, it will be shown in the new LipDub video done by all 3 campuses in University of Toronto. Here's a teaser: http://www.utlipdub.com/

In general, I'd say no. But if you're in U of T engineering... outside of class, you'll find plenty of people dying to cheer for Skule and engaging in ridiculous acts in the name of Skule spirit (e.g. frosh week, Godiva Week, anything the Lady Godiva Memorial Bnad [sic] crashes, parade floats the Blue & Gold committee builds, pranks set up around school once in a while...).

[quote=RSanDiego]Of course it does, it will be shown in the new LipDub video done by all 3 campuses in University of Toronto. Here's a teaser: http://www.utlipdub.com/[/quote]

Seriously, it's taking them ages to release the final lipdub. Filming was 5 months ago... if that's any indication of level of school spirit.

Boy, a lot of bitter opinions on this thread. O.o. I don't get why everybody says UofT has no school spirit. I'm a 4th year student (majoring in Physics+English) and my experience has been entirely different. I've made friends from like both my programs, sometimes during labs and tutorials in the case of science classes. I've made friends from my clubs, met my best friend on campus when I was in engineering, and so on.

Sure, our campus is pretty spread out and sometimes that makes it hard for there to be a sense of a cohesive group on students. But the largeness is beneficial too. The largeness means that we have a great and diverse amount of students, from backgrounds of every kind -- and with interests of every kind. For instance, interested in food? There's a club for that (UeaToronto) that's really active and constantly finding sources of free food on campus, cheap food new campus, organizing new food events, and so on. Like singing in a choir? There are like at least 10 choirs on campus. Interested in sex ed? There's a club for that. Interested in student journalism? Again, there are like 10 newspapers on campus. Interested in politics? There are clubs for that. Interested in building a solar-powered car? Again, there is a club for...

Okay, you get the idea. Sure, not everybody is wearing UofT garb or playing sports at UofT or running to be the next class president. But I don't think that necessarily means UofTers have school spirit. A lot of students, I think, are *proud* to be from UofT. As donaldbelfon says, a lot of people are actually wearing UofT sweaters and stuff like that. We have one of the biggest frosh weeks. :P We even have a healthy online presence. We have blogs like Upbeat, blogUT, UeaT, which students can read to connect to other students. (I even wrote for one campus blog.) There is a UofT reddit group with monthly meet-ups. Just some examples. On the resources front, we have a career centre, counselling services, academic workshops, the registrars, the awesome gyms (I go to both on a weekly basis :))... all designed to help STUDENTS and all helpful. There are many ways to get connected and many resources on campus.

School spirit is about more than just having a squad cheerleading for UofT. :P It's about being diverse and having resources as well. Seriously, UofT has school spirit, you just have to immerse yourself in groups too and open your eyes to the huge diversity of people at UofT. So many of them can teach you something new -- you just have to put yourself out there. And that's true no matter what University you go to.

Deathangel,
That has really not been my experience at the University of Toronto. I am in the faculty of physical education and kinesiology and we have TONS of spirit, likewise my friends in other faculities feel the same way. It is important to clearly define school spirit before you start taking shots at the university of Toronto. University in general is on a much larger scale than any high school could ever be, for that reason school spirit manifests in different ways. UofT has school unions, clubs available for its students to join, it hosts night events, an amazing frosh week, discounted food around campus … I would personally categorize this as school spirit. Similar to high school, university life is what you make of it. If you don’t participate in anything you will leave with a bad experience, if you actively involve yourself in student government, events, etc. you will find the school spirit you were looking for!

Sheldore,
It really depends on how you define school spirit. Even at queens and western you will meet students who don’t “have school spirit” no university is immune to that, the university experience is 100% what you make of it and you have make the effort to get out there and attend events!
I am a third year student at the university of Toronto and I feel pretty confident in saying that we DO have school spirit, it may not manifest the same way it does in highschool (pep-rallies etc.), but it is there! UofT holds TONS of events and opportunities for their students, there is a strong sense of community felt amongst the colleges and faculties. I urge you to actually go out and attend the great events uoft hosts, or get involved in a student government---I promise you will get a completely different experience.

Xinzyl,
Forums, by nature tend to attract people who are unhappy with their experiences (in anything) and are looking for validation or to vent. There are tons of events, student leadership opportunities, student governments and sports teams to get involved in. Make the extra effort to involve yourself and you will experience the school spirit you are in search of!

I do go to U of T.
The logic goes: "I may be getting poor grades, but that's because I'm not at an awful school like Ryerson or York."
And then they feel better about themselves.

It's a generalisation to assume that this is true for all students, of course, but that reasoning is quite prevalent.