Accepted to Engineering Science in St. George! I thought I wasn't considered for early admission since I didn't know we needed official AP transcripts, had to send them late and took a few weeks for transcripts to get to UT =_= (I took AP classes early). My application wasn't under review until early March so I was really worried haha

Yeah, people tend to say that Trin and Vic are the most "prestigious" colleges, but don't pay too much attention on this, because it's just hype. I mean, I got into Vic, and even I think the prestige factor is BS. These colleges just happen to attract the highest amount of applicants, which is why they have cut off marks and separate applications.

Is Trin truly better than Vic, or is Vic truly better than Trin? No

Is Trin and Vic better than the other colleges? No.

In the end, the college you are accepted into will only be your residence, or place to go for registration, administration etc., because you will take the majority of your classes outside of your college. So choose the college that seems like the best fit for you, not because it's popular.

You can find intelligent students, famous alumni, stellar professors, and fun extra-curriculars in every college at UTSG. Employers and graduate schools don't look at the colleges that you graduated from, because a U of T degree is a U of T degree. :)

Do you go to U of T? Based on your other posts that I've seen, you seem to really hate it. It's a bit unfair of you to run around giving people advice that's biased because of your negative opinion of the school.

There are 25 students in each class, actually, and that's because the courses are designed to let students escape that whole 'feeling like just a number' deal. It's an excellent way to transition between high school and university, and to work more closely with your classmates and professor. Enough of people (like me!) must want to take the seminar courses, seeing as they exist. I don't know about the Pathways or 199 seminar courses, but I've talked in person with people who are in Vic One and they all absolutely love it. Everything I've heard so far about Vic One sounds fantastic, actually.

People who don't like the idea of taking seminar courses shouldn't go to Vic, obviously, but just because Vic makes its student take seminar courses doesn't mean it sucks. That's a bit of a blanket statement on your part. Vic's section of the campus is absolutely beautiful, and from what I've seen they have a really tight-knit and active community, a lot of amazing alumni, and lots of school (college?) spirit. As those are pretty much the only things you should take into consideration when choosing a college, I'd say Vic is a pretty great place to go (unless, as I said before, you really don't want to do a seminar course).

And can I add... totally irrelevant if you aren't a Harry Potter fan, and to why one would actually apply to Vic... but Vic has the colours of Gryffindor. And, the Vic dining hall is modelled after the Oxford dinning hall that the HP movies use for Hogwarts. :3
I know, useless to why one would want to apply there - but come on, how is that not cool for HP fans?

I can't wait to get ahold of those scarves and become a gryffindor... >:)
Have you heard the Vic tends to hold Harry Potter formals too, like people dressing up with robes and all - and they have a Dumbledore's Army club? Okay, going too far, but it looks like we will get along with the students at Vic due to their shared fondness over Harry Potter.

Yes I did see the phoenix and lion on the coat of arms! :)

Fun fact, they call Trinity Slytherin, or Ravenclaw (people tend to be undecided over this?).

Either way, I like what Vic has to offer as a college- it's home to the Literary Studies/Comparative Literature subject!

Congrats!

It took about a day and a half for them to email me after I checked the portal, and it took about a week for me to receive my letter/admissions package, so you should be expecting it. Sometimes it takes time for them to email you because of admissions awards from your college/takes time for the portal to reach your email.

I have lots of friends at Vic and they all say that:

1. The seminar courses are useless. They're on topics like "Harry Potter and Physics" and "Jazz and Architecture". If you actually want to learn something then by all means the seminars are useless.

2. The seminar courses usually have mandatory attendance but you don't actually do anything in class. So they're a waste of time, but you can't skip class.

3. The seminar courses are graded based on a few essays you write in-class. The grading is such that everyone gets a B+ or A- no matter how good or bad their essay was. As a result many of my friends would have had a 4.0 GPA but instead were dragged down by the one seminar course they took.

I see my friends and every so often they complain to me about their seminar courses and how lucky I am to not be in Vic and not be bogged down by this requirement.

I actually go to U of T, and I can tell you, a lot of things about university that seems fun when you were a high school student aren't actually fun at all.

Also, I LOVE U of T, but seminar courses are still stupid.

1. While I'm certain you really do have friends who dislike the seminar courses, the fact that they dislike them doesn't mean they're useless (and you can't be friends with every single Victoria student; I'm positive there are people out there who absolutely love the seminar courses, as I've met several of them). It just means they aren't of use to those particular people. None of the topics you listed sound useless to me - if anything they'd at least be fun to study, even if they weren't of much use in the 'real world'. The usefulness of learning material is subjective. For example, math is useless to me, since I'm not going into a career that will involve it.

2. Lots of people I know have the same opinion of school in general.

3. I can't really say anything on this subject, since I know nothing about the method of grading. I do like writing essays, though, so there's that.

I'm guessing your friends didn't apply to Vic for the seminar courses, then, right? They definitely don't sound like something you should take on lightly.

I definitely believe that (I remember being so excited about getting a locker when I started high school, haha). What things specifically, though?

You're entitled to your opinion (it's easier to understand your point of view now that you've explained it). I think the seminar courses sound neat. Perhaps I'll change my mind upon actually starting university, but for now my opinion of them shall remain positive.



Congratulations! And I agree. :)