The College Thread

[Assassin]

Well, being an engineering student, i've never really cared much about humanities or social sciences so im not sure what english lit actually constitutes. But here are a few links that mite be of help.

http://www.mcmaster.ca/ - Main page for McMaster University.

List of faculties

Overview of the English program - You can also check out the "Level 1 english courses" link at the bottom to see if those courses are what you're looking for.

Main page for international students

Some useful info for international students - This is a pretty useful page. It has an overview of the university, the surrounding area, the departments and an estimate of cost breakdown and stuff (you can get to it by clicking "office of international affairs > international applicants" in the above link)

List of international universities with which mac has student exchange programs set up for 2007

Hope some of this helps. If theres anything else you need, or something in particular you wanna find, let me know. I'll be glad to help you look.

[Winged Dancer]

Just English, as my career covers everything ever written in that language - from Sheakespeare to chicano literature and nigerian literature, as long as it was originally written in English.

[Ryllharu]

Most Universities in the United States love exchange students. It's part of their unreasonable obsession with Diversity (*waves hands for effect*) If you're an international transfer student, you pretty much can get seeded.

It got so bad a couple years ago that the University of Michigan was sued because their application process gave African-American students an automatic 50 points on their application (the essay was worth 2 to 10 points I believe).

Anyhow, the first step I'd recommend for looking at a college in the US is to go to US News and World Report. They are largely an unrivaled ranking system. We'll skip some steps and go with this, the best Liberal Arts Colleges:

http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/col...rtco_brief.php

Compare some of these on the list with two really important things, student to faculty ratio, so you don't get enormous class sizes (something you really don't want in a Lit class) and secondly, tuition. There's a lot of really good Private Universities in the States, but they'll kill you on cost. Most universities in the States have gotten pretty expensive.

Once you've found a couple you like, make absolutely sure that transfer students (or international transfer students) get guaranteed housing. If they don't offer it, the college had better be in a large city like Boston or Philadelphia.

After you've really narrowed it down, take a look at what their English Department offers as classes. If they're just the basic offerings of "British Lit after 1880", "American Lit up to 1870", and "Chaucer", don't bother. All of them have those. Granted some won't always show the really interesting special topics classes, but my college recently had a specially offered Literature Course solely on Hell in Literature. My RA last year told me she was taking it this coming semester, and was really enthused about it. I took a class on Third World Literature focussed on India, and it was an amazing class. That one does seem to be offered regularly.

Well, that's my quick guide to picking a college in the United States by major. Student to Faculty Ratio is probably more important that anything. If the class is too big ( > 40) , the professor won't bother starting up a discussion in class.

[Board of Command]

University of Waterloo

We have a huge foreign population.

[masamuneehs]

Everything that Ryl said. ESPECIALLY the student/faculty ratio for YOUR MAJOR / FOCUS. And remember, teaching assistants are almost always poor substitutes for actual professors, so take that in mind and ensure that you'll be in a place where you'll have access to helpful professors who will want to help you. That's the one thing I disliked about my major at Cornell, too many students, too many inept TAs, too many professors busy with their own stuff.

Also, seeing what kind of Lit you want to focus on is pivotal. Some places might have an excellent 'English' program, but that might be because of an Olde English department or one where the best professors are focused only on Contemporary Literature, others on Poetry. Make sure it's the kind of English Lit you're looking for.

Finally, when applying, choose from a broad range. Even if you don't think you can get in to a set of schools, apply to one or two of your favorite 'reach' schools anyway. On the other hand, ensure there's at least one school that you're applying to that you'll be able to get into and will enjoy going to.

[Zati]

"McGill is an international university whose main language of instruction is English. McGill has 21 faculties and professional schools offering over 300 programs at the undergraduate and graduate levels."

One of the top ones in Canada.

McGill
Faculties
Department of English

[complich8]

After 8 years at Purdue (Indiana), I'm comfortable saying it's a great place for engineers, scientists, cloistered academics and alcoholics, and not a good place at all for people looking for "the American experience" as it were.

If you're considering the US and want a vibrant night life, I'd aim for the Chicago area or NYC. Chicago has like 5 major universities that are worth checking out and close enough to the city to have good city-experience life (University of Chicago, University of Illinois at Chicago, Loyola, Northwestern, Depaul -- ymmv on several of them depending on stated religious preference and their policies). California's also a good place to go, with the UC system and all.

[Stoopider]

I reckon UK should be the best for english lit.

But for culture and just living experience, Melbourne's nice.

www.unimelb.edu.au

[SorC]

Another Australian based University is Monash. It's main campus is Clayton. Monash also has quite a large number of international students. It's a great University, but then I'm biased I went there. The website probably isn't the most informative around but I hope it helps.

[DB_Hunter]

University College London

Pros: Solid Reputation, in the heart of London, right next to Oxford Street and Old Bond Street. The former is a shopping haven for what is called high street fashion in the UK, with the latter being a haven for designer clothes.

Cons: A bit too studious for my liking. Atmosphere is a bit dry. But then again, maybe I chose the wrong degree...

Kings College London

Pros: A very good rep for humanities subjects like Languages, history etc. Quite a chilled out place. Like UCL in the heart of London.

Cons: Rep not as good as UCL. On the same road as this joint.

Brunel University

Pros: Erm... next to Heathrow Airport?

Cons: Not part of the University of London organisation like UCL and KCL, so doesn't carry the same kudos. On the outskirts of London.

These are what I have come up with off the top of my head. Come to these and you will be learning the language in the country it originated from.

Plus you get to be in London, which is probably the Capital of Capitals in the world. Really cosmopolitan, closest city I can think of like it is probably New York.

[Winged Dancer]

Thanks for the links!

I like London, or I least I liked it when I was there... and since I'm a little too studious, I may fit in there =P

So far, things seem to be going well with the ones I've already e-mailed, especially Kent and Glasgow - those two basically told me I was welcome for an entire year as long as I filled my papers. Now I'll start with the Canadians...

[SK]

UMass (www.umass.edu)
Amherst (www.amherst.edu)
Hampshire (www.hampshire.edu, this is where I go, its VERY unconventional)
Boston College (www.bc.edu)
Smith College (www.smith.edu)
Boston U (www.bu.edu)
Northeastern (www.northeastern.edu)
Holy Cross (www.holycross.edu my cousin did a semester here she said they were great)

Going to school in Mass is the way to go, best schools in the nation.

[kooshi]

University of Victoria (www.uvic.ca)
University of British Columbia (www.ubc.ca)

Both universities are in British Columbia, Canada. UVic is a smaller university than UBC, so if you prefer smaller crowds and a town-like and very quiet city, UVic is your choice. Otherwise, UBC for the big-city type.
Vancouver is one of the most diverse cities in Canada (and possibly the world) while Victoria is just a ferry ride from Vancouver. Both universities are HUGE in diversity.

[SK]

Seeing as almost all the members at GW seem to be late teens/early twenties, I figured we should have a college discussion thread. Basically we can discuss how college is going for us, what classes you're taking, where you go, roommate stories etc.

Hopefully this thread can run from now until the end of the academic year or beyond. Also, if you're starting this year post in this thread, people in their 2nd year and on might be able to give you advice concerning anything from courses to roommate problems. If you're a junior or senior and need help with the whole process, maybe someone on the forum can give you useful links and information.

Anyway I go to Hampshire College, I transferred here after doing a year at Temple University which I hated. My main reason for transferring was the undergraduate philosophy program, which I thought sucked, as well as the overall liberal arts core curriculum at the school. Another big factor was dorms not being guaranteed after freshman year. So basically I'm on my 2nd year but its like I'm a freshman, I gotta move in earlier, do some orientation activities, meet with my adviser and all the other bullshit.

I got my room assignment which thank God is a single, I had 2 horrible roommates last year (talking at 5AM to girlfriend and basically just being assholes) so I'm really happy about that. I also got my schedule which is really nice, got into everything I wanted but one class that I'm waitlisted for. Have no early classes and no classes on Friday so its not bad at all. May as well post it, I'm a Philosophy/History major BTW:

Civil Society & the State 9/06/2007-12/13/2007 Seminar Tuesday, Thursday 12:30PM - 01:50PM
Philosophy of Wittgenstein 09/06/2007-12/13/2007 Seminar Tuesday, Thursday 02:00PM - 03:20PM
The Microbial Majority 09/05/2007-12/12/2007 Course Monday, Wednesday 02:30PM - 05:00PM
Between Husserl and Heidegger 09/05/2007-12/12/2007 Seminar Monday, Wednesday 10:30AM - 11:50AM

Next time try running a search before posting a brand new thread, eh?
Merged
No warning, as it would result in a ban, and this is just too minor a slipup.

Of course I did a search, I've been here since 2004

[infidel]

I'm starting my senior year in high school, so I really can't post anything about my classes. But -- I am applying to colleges soon. Those colleges are: Miami University, Ryerson University, Saint Joseph's University, Shippensburg University, and West Chester University. I'm still not sure if I am going to apply to Ryerson yet, but guess we will see.

[Splash!]

Could bump this thread. It already exists.
The College Thread

[Board of Command]

I go to University of Waterloo in Ontario. I just finished my first year of Systems Design Engineering this month. It's supposed to be one of the more challenging programs offered at this school but I haven't found it to be too difficult. There are some courses that were pretty gay, like Linear Algebra. Work load was much higher in my first term compared to my second term, although second term was probably tougher in terms of actual material. The one unique thing about my program is that I'm always with the same classmates every class. We just stay in one room and different instructors/profs come in to teach. This way, you get to know your classmates really well.

My home is in Waterloo, so I just live at home while I'm at school. I say "while I'm at school" because I go off on a work term every other term. The job can be different each time. Last term, I worked at the Ministry of Transportation. It was a pretty dull desk job and wasn't very relevant to my interests. My next work term starts in 2 weeks and I'll be working at the ATI headquarters doing video card benchmarking. That'll probably be lots of fun.

I never get a summer off.

[SK]

I actually have something to be happy about today, I got approved for a $6000 loan for school this year and have no bills or aunt mad she has to pay my bill to worry about. I officially owe nobody but the government!

[Hikyuu]

LOL someone rez'd a thread I made from when I was posting the first time around ...
Anywhoo my current college standing is.. After having withdrawn from UMD for two semesters
I turned in my College transfer Into UMBC where everyone is AZN and commutes..at least half isn't bad

[SK]

Yeah I was confused at first, I obviously searched for the thread before making a new one, and didn't see it. How long before you graduate Hikyuu?