University of Toronto

UTSC has a lot of friendly people, I’ve had some excellent profs. The standards are high for academics so you cannot cram for an exam a night before and expect to do well. The buildings are self are pretty ugly in comparison to other universities, especially in comparison to the St. George campus which is just a beautiful castle.

Sometimes good, sometimes not. On weekends (especially Sundays), there’s sometimes events so it gets reeeally loud in the main areas and in the upstairs study areas. On those days, there’s also security to check for ID so make sure to bring your student card. Lots of tables and stuff, but not all of them have outlets for computer which is a bummer.

The idea of a university is to encourage students to interact on campus through a community. This university offers a fairly decent educational experience and some of the professors are exceptional.
The student population is commuter centred. This kills the student life possible due to the development of parking and other automobile. The addition of the IC building has made this campus larger and gives students alternative studying area.
I am guilty of this as well, but it must be mentioned that it can be near impossible to study in the library as the noise levels are extremely high given the theoretical environment. The only way to avoid this is to take refuge in one of the few study rooms which are always in high demand.
The food selection for busy students is also quite limited given that there are only 2 consistent options for coffee/​tea and 2 areas for lunch/​dinner meals. The monolopy that the food services division has over the selection of food is unfortunate as both the student operated food outlets and the privately run outlets are open on weekdays only. The hours for the food outlets can be quite disappointing for the residence students as well.
It would be nice to see greater transit accessibility given that the core reason for the parking lots is the lack of faith in the TTC/​UTSC linkage. Expansion in this area with LRT service would be hugely appreciated by students and staff.

I’m not really sure what happens when you switch from the Bloor line to the RT, but there is a discernible change in atmosphere. I have taken classes on both campuses, and while St. George is a gathering for prepsters and nerds, Scarborough is home to tiny Asian hall dancers and the young. I mean really young. I’m certain I am pretty much a dinosaur in comparison to these kids. I say kids because they are so loud, and dressed in something I’m sure could be found on the closet floor of my 16 year old mother.
I’ve realized two things about attending university at this campus in this city. One I highly enjoy the anonymity of the large on line classroom. Scarborough offers several of their highest grossing classes as on line available. Meaning that one can watch the lectures anytime, and that you need not be subjected to the aforementioned youth and all the irritants that surround them. It also means that the procrastinator inside can be fulfilled and I can still ace all my courses.
Number two, I can try to fit in here, but I’m white, and old comparatively speaking. So I’m fashionable as an almost cougar and someone you think you can ask directions from. In fact I’m certain my prof yesterday was markedly younger than me. Oh well, thank goodness I’m mostly over trying to be cool:).
As far as amenities go, the gym facilities are pretty shoddy though they will be redoing them shortly. Food options are few and have pretty poor hours, but there are two Timmy’s, one open late. Highlight of my most recent trip to Scarberia, the ghetto Asian dance troupe practise taking place in the hallway near floor length windows. I say ghetto, because that is what they call themselves, because in all honesty they are sporting more brand names than a Macy’s superstore.
Bottom line… don’t transfer here, this is a full fledged business and they deny deny deny all the credits they can. As business and psychology faculties go though they are top rated.