Need guidance? Get The Guide

If you’re here, you’re thinking about university or college. Or perhaps someone you know is planning on going; maybe a child or grandchild. Every year, several hundred thousand Canadians find themselves in the same place, asking the same questions. You are probably bursting with excitement at all the possibilities, while simultaneously overwhelmed by uncertainty about your journey and its destination. I can relate. I was there. So was everyone I know.

For more than a decade, Canadians have been turning to the Maclean’s Guide to Canadian Universities to help them make a higher education decision. This edition, our 14th annual, is one-third larger than last year’s, offering more advice, more insights and more information than ever. Think of it as your encyclopedia of all things university. The 256 page Guide includes:

Profiles of 68 Canadian universities: The Guide’s in-depth profiles give you a sense of the look, feel and history of each university, along with the programs offered. Each school’s Campus Confidential section reveals what students say they like—and dislike—about their university.

Student Finance 101: This section, new to the Guide in 2009, answers some essential questions: How much will school cost? How am I going to pay for it? We reveal the cost of tuition, fees, rent and residence rooms at Canada’s universities; show how the average student earns money and makes ends meet; and offer advice on navigating the student loans system.

Foreign students: Are you hoping to study in Canada? There’s a section of advice especially for you.

Scholarships: Looking for money for school? There are so many scholarships out there, often open to even average students. There Guide includes a directory of more than 2,300 university entrance scholarships, worth more than $65 million.

Rankings: Each year, we rank 47 Canadian universities according to more than a dozen criteria of excellence.

Reputational survey: As part of the annual rankings, we solicit the opinions of several thousand people in a position to know something about the quality of universities and their graduates: university officials, high school guidance counsellors and principals from every province, the heads of national and regional organizations, plus corporate recruiters and CEOs.

Student surveys: Why not ask people who know the most about the university: students? The Guide includes results from two national surveys of student satisfaction and educational quality, involving feedback from tens of thousands of Canadian university students. Where are university students most satisfied? How do universities compare in terms of educational best-practices? And how do Canada’s universities stack up against their American peers?

The Guide is available in printed or electronic form. Want to see more? Click here.