u of t colleges

[hammer123]

how does a student pick a college to go to when at u of t? there are all these different colleges at u of t, how does a student get placed in one and how is one chosen?

[Bohiko]

Does U of T have official thread ?

[baddoctor]

when you apply for U of T on OUAC, you have to list the colleges you want to be in terms of preference. i went with Victoria, it's the best :D

[Srvsh]

when you apply for U of T on OUAC, you have to list the colleges you want to be in terms of preference. i went with Victoria, it's the best :D

Ahem, Trinity is clearly the best! :P (We ARE NOT all snobs despite common belief and I do love Vic)

A college at UofT is essentially your mini-community within UofT for your undergraduate degree. If you're living on residence, it's generally where you live. You attend their frosh and you can take part in any of the various events that your colleges hold. It's also where you go to for your registrar, bursar or any other minor academic issues you want to bring up.

You rank them on OUAC and for Trinity and Victoria you have to send in a supplementary application if they're your first choice.

[hammer123]

so it basically doesn't matter what your studying at u of t its just what your prefer to be in?

[Peripatetic]

hammer123:

What should be understood is that the University of Toronto, like Oxford and Cambridge, is not a 'monolith' but rather primarily a federation of very old colleges which were once separate universities, each with their own distinct flavour, due to their different histories. The federated colleges, each semi-autonomous, are the University of St. Michael's College (a Roman Catholic institution, founded by the Basilian order of priests), the University of Trinity College (an Anglican -- High Anglican/Anglo-Catholic -- institution), and Victoria University (a traditionally Methodist, now United Church of Canada institution, encompassing Victoria College for undergraduate arts and sciences, and Emmanuel College for graduate studies in theology -- one of several graduate-level theological colleges, each an institution of a particular mainline Christian denomination in federation with the University of Toronto, the others being Regis College [Roman Catholic - Jesuit], St. Augustine's Seminary [Roman Catholic - diocesan], Knox College [Presbyterian], and Wycliffe College [evangelical Anglican]).

The other undergraduate colleges of the University of Toronto are the constituent colleges, fully owned by the larger University, of a 'secular' character. University College is by far the oldest, being the founding college of the University of Toronto. The others, founded in the 1960s, are Innis College, New College, and Woodsworth College. (Technically, the other main campuses of the University of Toronto -- U of T Mississauga and U of T Scarborough, located 20 miles West and East of the historic campus in two Toronto suburbs -- are constituent colleges as well, otherwise known as Erindale College and Scarborough College, respectively. These two colleges have achieved a considerable level of autonomy since their founding in the 1960s.)

As for which of the seven arts and sciences undergraduate colleges on the historic campus -- St. Michael's, Trinity, Victoria, University, Innis, New, and Woodsworth -- to choose, I would advise reading up on each on Wikipedia or whatever to try to discern where you might feel most at home. The particular religious -- or indeed secular -- tradition of a college may be a factor, as may be a college's academic specialty. I chose St. Michael's mainly because I was (at the time) a Roman Catholic. Many applicants list Trinity as their first choice, because of its prestigious reputation, its relative selectivity, etc.

[dark_passenger]

Just a heads up, Trinity is hardest to get any scholarships in and i think New college is the easiest. The colleges you choose mainly matter when you are living on res, after 2 years you barely use them unless you use the facilities provided by each college.

[Nakuruin]

I've heard that if you don't pick Trin or Vic as your first choice then it's unlikely you'll get accepted.

You should attend some tours if you're close to the university to get a feel for the different colleges (if you plan on living in res). Unfortunately the fall campus day was on sat so if you didn't go on that day then it's more of a hassle to get tours during the school year. Lots of families did 2-4 tours in one day to try to see most of the uni.

We were told not to badmouth other colleges as tour guides, but i had parents tell me that they thought trin were very 'stuffy' and didn't get a good impression after the tour :lol: (jeez, what did you guys do?!) Also, some people didn't like that new college was full of engineers because it doesn't offer a lot of diverse students in terms of academics. Each to their own though.

[baddoctor]

I've heard that if you don't pick Trin or Vic as your first choice then it's unlikely you'll get accepted.



yup, this is true. you have to have Vic or Trin as your number 1 choice to get accepted into either

[hamsterpower]

which college gives the most scholarships?

[Lamphead]

St.Michaels is religious, nothing else really special
Trinity is prestigious and they eat in harry potter robes
Victoria is prestigious
University College is huge
Innis and Woodsworth are small but have independent suite style residences if you apply (the best IMO)
New College is..new and is centered right in the middle of everything which is nice.

The only thing I would really consider is

- Do you care about residence? If so, take a tour of the residences yourself, and I think you'll see Innis, Woodsworth, and New College aka the newer colleges are good options
- Do you care about eating in robes? If so, Trinity
- If you care about prestige, pick Trinity or Victoria, no one really cares, but it's kind of like, if you know someone who was also from there, you kind of have a link, but that's really it..as someone said it's also hard to get scholarships here because of all the keeners

[hamsterpower]

St.Michaels is religious, nothing else really special
Trinity is prestigious and they eat in harry potter robes
Victoria is prestigious
University College is huge
Innis and Woodsworth are small but have independent suite style residences if you apply (the best IMO)
New College is..new and is centered right in the middle of everything which is nice.

The only thing I would really consider is

- Do you care about residence? If so, take a tour of the residences yourself, and I think you'll see Innis, Woodsworth, and New College aka the newer colleges are good options
- Do you care about eating in robes? If so, Trinity
- If you care about prestige, pick Trinity or Victoria, no one really cares, but it's kind of like, if you know someone who was also from there, you kind of have a link, but that's really it..as someone said it's also hard to get scholarships here because of all the keeners


so victoria is not good for scholarships?
I went to innis to check out the residence... didn't like it at all
I saw 5 ppl suite, the washrooms were so dirty (I guess that depends on your suitemate and yourself) and the living room and kitchen was so small

I think I will go to Tartu college, it is so much cheaper and I will probably still go for victoria cuz they still give more scholarships relatively

[Lamphead]

so victoria is not good for scholarships?
I went to innis to check out the residence... didn't like it at all
I saw 5 ppl suite, the washrooms were so dirty (I guess that depends on your suitemate and yourself) and the living room and kitchen was so small

I think I will go to Tartu college, it is so much cheaper and I will probably still go for victoria cuz they still give more scholarships relatively

Innis is really clean compared to Tartu, to be honest, plus there is an actual rez life at Innis where people hang out in the living room and you get to know people, Tartu is more secluded and I would only choose it if you wanted to save money and spend all day in Robarts and not spend much time in Tartu itself. Innis has almost no rat problems or anything, but it's quite common at Tartu. Woodsworth is a lot cleaner and a little newer that Innis but even more expensive by a little if you were thinking about that, really nice residence. New College is the ultimate newest but it's dorm style which doesn't seem to be to your liking.

I'm not saying it'll literally be harder to get scholarships..just the specific ones that are college specific. Realistically, there will be no difference scholarship wise in general; it's not exponentially easier elsewhere at all. If you deserve the scholarship you'll probably get it, period, haha.