Mind~grove

McGill or Toronto?

Your vote might or might not affect my decision, but I’d love to know anyway.

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Scale of 1 - 10:

1 - Very much ‘YES’ to McGill.

5 - Neutral

10 - Very much ‘YES’ to Toronto.

Toronto

Pros

• $$$
• Better food
• Toronto is a city I know I’d love. There might not be much time to play around in the city or join many school clubs, so this may or may not matter.

Cons

• Overcrowded
• At school, I only hear bad things about Toronto and good things about McGill. This info comes from the student’s family, relatives and friends who went to either school in question. Apparently UT is bad for undergrad and great for grad.
• Fangqin and Yin, who are in UofT right now, don’t rate highly of it. Yin is against it. Fangqin is leaning toward the ‘against’ side. There are many horror stories from her about the unfair marking… but I have no idea what that’s like at McGill.

McGill

Pros

• Adventure in a city I’ve never been in before
• Mirabelle (and many others from Massey) are going there with the same intention as me of becoming a doctor. I lack EQ and street smarts, and tend to be too honest at times. I need people to point to me which way to go. Also, I <3 Mirabelle.
• Many people at school think it’s the best in Canada for an undergrad in something biology related.

Cons

• $$$
• Cold <== Mom like to remind me of this often. According to her, it was still snowing a few days ago. I read somewhere that it’s so cold and icy that buses slide backward down hills!
• Lack of French skills.

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I’m still confused! Gut instinct say McGill right now, but I have no idea how it’d feel in 10 minutes.

…Stupid Spammers Suck.

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There were the occasional insightful (but unhelpful) comment though:

“… ticket into the upper tiers of Canadian law - assuming that’s where you want to be.”

“which is a bit like being the world’s tallest midget.”

“That may well be true. But that doesn’t change the fact that the importance of the world’s tallest midget can be reliably established by the fact that every other midget in the room seems to obsessively compare their height to his.”

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The only thing I learned was that Montreal has lower living costs than Toronto, and that might not be even true. Most people advise to just pick the university you think you’d do well in, and in a city you’d enjoy.

Toronto is a love/hate thing, there are not more of one than the other. Most people are fairly happy with their choice… McGill may be extremely competitive as well.

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Toronto - 50%

McGill - 50%

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I hope I can reach equilibrium soon, and one that I will not regret.

McGill 60%

Toronto 40%

I think I convinced mom to let me to go McGill. I didn’t talk to dad yet.

My only major reason against McGill is $$$.

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Costs:

McGill - $17,000 - $21,000 (I’m guessing I’ll use $20,000)

Toronto - $16,000 - $17, 000 (Here’s guessing I’ll use $17,000)

Difference - $3,000

Bursaries/Scholarships:

McGill - $4,500

Toronto - $2,000

Difference - $2,500

The extra bursaries almost makes up for the extra money McGill will cost me. However, U of T DOES have that guarantee that it will give you whatever you cannot pay through UTAPS. Also, I can get $100 - $3,500 from Queen Elizabeth II Aiming for the Top Scholarship, which I’m not eligible for if I go to McGill.

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Estimated money sources:

OSAP —————– $12,000 <== (McGill is a public university. According to OSAP, the maximum a student can receive from OSAP should be the same inside Canada.)

McGill Entrance Bursary —- $4,500

Total —————— $16,500

I need another $3,500. Now what?

I’m trying to reason with myself about U of T residence and Colleges. You can join if you want.

I’m sort of in New College right now at U of T. ‘Sort of’ because I didn’t officially accept anything yet.

Although looking back, it might have been a good idea to sign up for University College instead of New College… (UC has 150 scholarships from $500 - 10,000, while NC has only 50 ranging from $1000 - $3000. UC has extra residence bursaries. AND it looks like a pretty castle.) I got $2000 from NC. I thought about how hard it must be to gain a new scholarship from UC, and decided that maybe I wont be so hasty in calling to change residence.

NC cost more by about $1000.

NC also has the best cafeteria at U of T for which I’ll need to feed off of for an entire school year. (Maybe that’s why it costs more. It’s a more modern building, so maybe it looks better from the inside… but I can’t find many pictures, sadly. Mira, can you find those U of T tours from Youtube and send them to me?)

The food was why I choose NC in the first place, (shallow, I know), but –

What I couldn’t find, was the rumour that NC apparently has more engineering students, while UC has more lifescience students. By how much? Is it posted really obviously somewhere, but I’m so dense I can’t find it? Would it harder to make close lifesci friends at NC? If no one directs me down a path, I’ll surely be lost…

Not being able to see where I’m going, or how I’m getting there comes with being Book Smart, Street Stupid.

So here’s hoping I don’t regret not changing residence right now… and that I make a decision soon.

— — —

Right now, I’m thinking 85% Toronto, and 15% McGill. This number varies day by day - especially if I talk to Mirabelle about university!

McGill just gave me a bursary of $4,500, if you want to know, Mirabelle.

*sigh*

Fangqin was right, the hardest part is not getting in, but making the right decision.

This is not about where I’m going to university; THAT’s a BIG dilemma. Wanting to change residence is also a big dilemma.

On to the point:

Functions Test - Thus, May 15

Calculus Test - Wedn, May 21

English ISU Essay - Wedn, May 19 21

English ISU Presentation - Wedn, May 21st

English Content Exam - Fri, May 23  <== Also, Anime North starts on this day and goes till Sunday.

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POPTOR Weekend - Fri-Sun, May 16 - 18

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DARN!

Whilst I’m glad I got accepted into POPTOR at all, this timing sucks. It’d be nice to visit the U of T campus, but by then I’d likely have chosen already.

Still, Wow. I wrote most of my answers the day it was due… (Around 12-3am. Because I’m cool like that, right?

…nah. I think I just lack initiative.)

Yippee! Hard work paid off!

But –

Transportation is a problem, though maybe Greyhound could solve that. (expensive…! $100 if I take city transit fees and meals on the bus into consideration.) Not being able do well in English is worrying me. I don’t even know what points I’ll argue for my ISU, or what to creatively compare The Three Junes to for the English presentation. *insert loud crying here* T_T

I have no hope at all for the English content exam. Thus, that makes it a negligible problem because it’s unsolvable. ^^;;

EDIT May 09 — WAHHHHH!!!?!? Calculus is likely on Wednesday the 21st?!? That’s three major things in one day. When am I going to find the time to do English and the two Math tests? I’m so far behind it’s not funny.

Aisha, Adam and I went filming for Adam’s newest media arts project - the romantic music video.

We spent 10 minutes figuring out what a guy would write to a girl to call her out to private place to confess to after school. And then we spent 10 more minutes deciding on the guy’s name. My character’s name ended up being Yuri. XD;; (Can you guess why?)

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it’s because of Chinen Yuri. Aisha filmed me while I was on a high and rambled and made up stuff about why I joined Johnny’s. No, I will not show you. It’s too embarrassing.

Bloopers dominate over actual scenes! I discovered, yet again, that fluff scenes are super-awkward to film, as hilarious as they may be. At one point, after being “confessed” to for the nth time, Aisha suggested to just run.

And I did.

Yes, next time some boy tells you that he likes you, pump those legs and RUN LIKE MAD!