Would it be better to...

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...go to an University that my sister went to and didn't like but has better, more academically driven programs or to a school that has a really good spec ed program, it's close to home so I can live at home and I'll get more scholarships for going there?
I want to succeed in life, but do I have to go to the big box school to do it? (the big box one is the one my sister went to)

Last edited by ebec11 on 12 Aug 2009, 3:03 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Well it depends if your planning to go into intense research and/or doing post-grad education. But you can always change schools for post-grad. If you just want to get your degree and then get a job then it doesn't really matter what school you went to since employers don't really look at that (or so ive been told). I have heard plenty of times that Harvard graduates don't make more than graduates from other school.

Which one do you consider the big box school?

Really, the quality of your education depends on you. Personally, I tend to prefer a smaller college. I've had really bad experiences with the attitudes of faculty and other students in larger universities; I've found smaller schools are more focused on the students and creating a better learning environment. I've also found that the larger schools' programs don't always live up to their hype. There's a tendancy to want to rest on their reputations. When I returned to school, I chose a smaller, less prestigious university and have been very pleasantly surprised.

Well... how much better is the school your sister disliked compared to the one closer to home. I don't know much about Canadian universities, but in general unless we're talking about "ivy" or extremely prestigious schools, I would simply choose the school that had the best reputation and personal fit.

My sister's school is not an Ivy league school, but is pretty well known around Canada (do they even have Ivy league schools in Canada?)
My biggest worry right now is the language barrier. The "big box" university speaks both English and French, which is very worrisome for me. My sister is pretty good at French, so it wasn't a concern for her, but my ability to speak French is virtually non-existent. The other university on the other hand is just English.
I did find out that the standards for the programs I want are the same for both Universities, so I don't have to worry about the other school not having good enough standards. That makes me a little less worried.

Well you really shouldn't worry about your ability to speak French. I go to a very bilingual university also and i take most of my classes in French and usually there is like 1/4 of the people in those classes are trying to learn French. You can even ask questions in English to the prof and write your exams/ project in the language of your choice. Also all the profs are bilingual (at least to some extent) and all (or almost) the services and employees are bilingual so. This is at OttawaU ,I don't know which university your considering but I am sure that if it is a bilingual university then they probably have similar services. I would definitely ask them especially the exam/project thing so you don't have to stress when exam time comes. Also think its probably the best opportunity you will get to learn French if that is something you wanted to do.

If you want to go into academia, it is better to go to a more quality university. But if you want to work in another field, it probably doesn't matter as long as you get a degree. I would myself go to the college with the best disability services even if it doesn't have the best academia, but then again I need disability services quite badly.

I need the disabilities services a lot too. I think I'm decided (for maybe two seconds if I know me) to go to the lesser known one, I don't think the difference in academics is too bad, I'll get a lot of scholarships if I go there, and I love that it's close to my house so I can live at home (it's a direct bus route to the school, no transfers even)