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That link is laughably bad, at least for Canadian universities.

U of Toronto at #20 world wide? Impossible. People are not lining up to get into Toronto. I was offered a full scholarship at my first choice at Toronto, and didn't even get my first choice at Waterloo.

Waterloo behind 7 or 8 other Canadian universities? Also impossible.



These rankings rely so heavily on research and reputation for scoring that you shouldn't look at it as an indicator of a university's academic quality.

That would be the reason U of T is ranked so highly; they are even amongst competitive Ivy League schools!

When I was applying for university (2007/08) U of T was handing out acceptance letters to everyone. Instead of rejecting you they would offer a place at a "lesser" campus (Mississauga or Scarborough) or defer you to a less competitive but related program. They are the largest university system in the nation with lots of spaces to fill so the scenario you described (getting accepted by the "#1 ranked school in Canada" and rejected by another") actually happens quite a lot.

As for Waterloo, they're hardly a well rounded school. Yes, their engineering and computer science departments are internationally renown, but otherwise they are 2nd tier.

Whatever the metric for rankings, I still think U of T is the best school in Canada. Just maybe not top 20 in the world.


Waterloo very well known:

Physics, CompSci, Mathematics, Engineering, Optometry departments.

Good, but not great:

Science, Econ.

Average:

Traditional arts and humanities.

While Toronto has a first tier medical, legal, and maybe engineering programs. Everything else is just good or worse. for a top 3 school list in the country, Waterloo and Toronto both definitely deserve a spot, but I wouldn't say that Toronto is solidly the best in Canada; nor would I say that of Waterloo. But for the two of them to be that separated basically means that this list is measuring the wrong things.




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