Studying at the University of Toronto

Studying in Canada means a high level of education, interesting leisure and excellent prospects for international students. Not surprisingly, many high school graduates dream of studying at Canadian universities.

If you also think about getting an education in Canada, you will be interested to learn about the real experience of a student who has already gone this way.

We talked with Saida Mirzalimova from Kazakhstan, who has been living in Canada for 4 years, studying statistics and economics at the University of Toronto, and has a cool YouTube channel about living and studying in Canada.

Saida, how did you end up in Canada? Why did you decide to study in this country?

I have a slightly unusual story. I was born in Kazakhstan and studied 9 classes at the State Physics and Mathematics Lyceum. At age 15, my parents sent me to China to a Chinese school to learn Chinese and graduate from school there. After a year of studying at a Chinese school, I transferred to a Canadian international school in Beijing.

Thus, I decided to get a university education in the West, having already studied in both Kazakhstan and China. The choice was between England and Canada, since I entered universities in both states. Still, I decided to go to Canada because of my university, slightly lower prices and, of course, the opportunity to get resident status in this country.

The University of Toronto is Canada's most prestigious and rated university. Did he live up to your expectations?

The University of Toronto is a really good university. Very strong professors work here. The university is very big. You can teach anything from engineering to religious studies. We have a very large number of buildings, research centers, gyms, dormitories, student areas and much more. You can find a tour of our university on my YouTube channel.

University of Toronto needs to study. It will not work to achieve excellent grades through good relations with professors and cheat sheets. Only a lot of effort and punctuality in your studies will help you.

However, education is very expensive here. Having walked this path, I cannot say that I am 100% sure that it was worth it. Time will tell, but I think you need to understand that prestige is far from the most important thing. Some professions do not need high university ratings.

But was it difficult to enter such a prestigious educational institution?

I finished the IB program at my Beijing international school, which is very well-regarded in the world, so I had no problems with admission. If you score a certain score, you will be admitted to many prestigious universities, because the IB program itself is not easy. However, even if I graduated from high school, I would still have a good opportunity to enter our university. All you need: very good grades, a minimum of 6.5 points on IELTS (preferably higher) and competent answers to questionnaire questions. For some programs, you need to submit a motivation letter and go through an interview. For admission to my program, an interview was not required.

Studying at the University of Toronto, and indeed in Canada, is not cheap. Many of our readers are interested in the issue of scholarships and grants. Do you get any scholarship that helps pay for your studies?

I am asked this question very often, and I understand why. Education at Canadian universities is expensive. All prices are on the official websites of all universities. There are no full grants in Canada, but it is possible to receive a scholarship.

Scholarships are divided into 2 types: for those in need and for successful students. If your family’s total income is less than a certain amount, you can apply for financial assistance. However, the university helps Canadian students more than foreign ones. I received a $ 10,000 freshman scholarship as an IB student. In my opinion, this is the maximum scholarship. In my second year, I received $ 5,000 for a good student. Scholarships at the last courses are very rare, maybe someone else is receiving. I don’t get it at the moment.