Which Toronto university for Civil Engineering?

November 20, 2007 7:31 AM

CanadianCivilEngineeringFilter: My friend, new to Canada, doesn't know whether to go to Ryerson or U of T for his Masters in Transportation Engineering. Is there enough of a difference in prestige and/or program to make this an easy decision?
posted by Paddle to Sea to education (16 comments total)

Ryerson is a polytechnic masquerading as a real university.
posted by sid at 7:47 AM on November 20, 2007

If it's prestige you're interested in, it's a no-brainer: people still call Ryerson "Ry-High" make t-shirts that say "friends don't let friends go to Ryerson", and generally look at it as an overblown community college. On the other hand, U of T is full of pretentious jerks (who say things like the above).

I don't know anything about the program at Ryerson. U of T has some pretty impressive (to me) civ facilities. U of T engineering is generally regarded as a fairly academic (on the scale of academic-practical), which may be good or bad.
posted by aquafiend at 7:50 AM on November 20, 2007

on posting:
whoops, sorry sid, the "above" referred to what I was saying, not what you said.
posted by aquafiend at 7:51 AM on November 20, 2007

To elaborate, if your friend is interested in doing research, he should go to UofT. If he is more interested in a professional degree, he should investigate the Ryerson program, talk to the profs, sit in on a class or two and get a good sense of the level of the program.

And then he should go to UofT.

Just kidding.

I know that UofT has an excellent transportation program. I know nothing about the Ryerson program, but in general engineering at Ryerson is more practical and hands-on than the Faculty of Applied Science at my alma mater. So the choice completely depends on what kind of experience he’s looking for.

And sorry for my first comment, if he is turned off by elitism, he should definitely avoid UofT =).
posted by sid at 7:57 AM on November 20, 2007

For better or worse, U of T has a much better reputation than Ryerson for engineering. If he can get into U of T, he should do so. Better employers recruit at U of T and the alumni network is better. (In engineering at least - for journalism it would probably be the other way around).
posted by GuyZero at 8:01 AM on November 20, 2007

Also, is this a MEng or a MASc? Ryerson might be OK for a MEng program (terminal, non-research based) but U of T is really the only serious contender for a research-based program. But YMMV - review the faculty, check the facilities, etc.
posted by GuyZero at 8:04 AM on November 20, 2007

I'm pretty sure he's after a MEng. I guess the only other question now is how much he intends to pursue R & D. Looking at other threads here, it looks to be a fairly important feature of an engineer's career.
posted by Paddle to Sea at 8:26 AM on November 20, 2007

I've never heard of Ryerson before, but I know that U of T publishes quite a bit of interesting research. (I say this as a librarian working win a transportation engineering library.)
posted by kendrak at 8:28 AM on November 20, 2007

U of T, no brainer. For graduate school you want to be part of a large faculty that can offer a diverse range of courses, and you want your professors to be well-connected to research and industry. This is unquestionably U of T. It's bigger, older, more well-known and respected by far.
posted by PercussivePaul at 9:06 AM on November 20, 2007

U of T. The only exception is if your friend has something very specific in civ that he wants to do that no one at U of T does. No matter what kind of job he is looking for after graduation, the U of T diploma is more attractive.
posted by bread-eater at 10:11 AM on November 20, 2007

U of T. World class and internationally recognized university. Ryerson - Polytechnic with new "university" name. Easiest decision ever.
posted by meerkatty at 12:19 PM on November 20, 2007

U of T has a much stronger academic reputation in other fields as well. It will likely enable more comprehensive collaboration. U of T wins for name recognition in Canada and abroad as well.
posted by KevCed at 12:47 PM on November 20, 2007

+1 to bread-eater, I should have mentioned that too. There is an outside chance that Ryerson happens to have some leading expert in the field your friend is interested in. That's the only situation under which he should consider Ryerson.
posted by PercussivePaul at 1:40 PM on November 20, 2007

Your friend should go to U of T, with the caveat that he will become almost certainly an insufferable prick about it later.

Just kidding, U of T-ites. Love Ya!
posted by SassHat at 6:53 PM on November 20, 2007

U of T is a perfectly decent university, meerkatty, but how in the world did you learn that it's "world class"? No Canadian university is "world class." U of T does not even remotely touch the level of the best US public universities (Michigan, Berkeley, UNC-Chapel Hill), and speaking of U of T and, say, Harvard in the same breath is ludicrous. U of T is predominately- overwhelmingly, in fact- a commuter school. Commuter schools are NOT "world class." It's as "world class" as, say, The University of Florida or SUNY-Buffalo. Maybe less.

The U of T is elitist. It's not elite. There is a huge difference there that Canadians don't seem to grab. All universities in Canada are basically the same. I teach at the University of Calgary and there is nothing- NOTHING- to distinguish my students here from those I taught at all three campuses of the U of T (which required something like an 80 HS average for admission. Oh, and a pulse, first and foremost, a pulse and a high school diploma), Guelph, and Ryerson. Canuck unis are all OKAY, and that's about it.

The best thing I can say about Rye is that it gives its sessionals supplemental health insurance and matching RRSP contributions. U of T is without question the more prestigious school, but again, that's not saying much. At all.
posted by ethnomethodologist at 9:39 PM on November 20, 2007

ethnomethodologist: I figured U of T was world class when during my graduate school interviews at Columbia and Cambridge, they referred to it as such. I had also gone to UVic and Cambridge had never heard of it. Your gripe about Canadian universities being the same academically may be valid, but it's just not the case when you're branching out to grad school or employment outside of Canada - U of T is internationally recognized, many other Canuck schools are not. That would be a HUGE factor in my decision between U of T and Ryerson.
posted by meerkatty at 12:23 PM on November 21, 2007