Toronto Metropolitan University
speciality: Psychology

As a recent graduate majoring in Psychology, I think the university is a great place to learn and help prepare you for your future career. However, and I think that this is true for all universities, you get as much as you put in. What I mean by that is that TMU provides you with opportunities to learn and meet new people but you won’t get the most out of your years here if you don’t actually take part inside and outside your classes. In class, there are great opportunities to participate in class discussions and practice applying what you learn. There are also great services such as career help, clubs and academic support so don’t let them go to waste! Make the most of your tuition and you will have a good experience with this university.

For the most part, the instructors are generally helpful and good at teaching. Of course, there are some professors who aren’t as helpful. While most professors adapted well to the shift online due to the pandemic and the eventual return, others were slow to adapt. One tip I have to manage courses with bad professors is to talk with your fellow students and organize study sessions. Doing so helped me figure out the best way to manage my schoolwork while making new friends.

The campus is located in a good location and it’s nice to have a wealth of places to eat and shop between classes. There are also a lot of nice places to chill on campus if you go a little out of your way to look for them. Before the winter, try to familiarize yourself with the bridges that connect certain buildings. You can’t get everywhere with them but it will help reduce the time you have to spend out in the cold. The campus also recently finished some renovations of the streets but to be honest, I didn’t notice much difference.

I’m taking a certificate program through their distance learning program, and it is pretty sad. Almost every class relies on boring, always the same discussion posts, and the same power-point slides. It is rare they even do live classes anymore. As well, most of the course syllabuses have incorrect dates or information, and in one of my classes for a psych study they literally asked how evolved we think Muslim people are and made us choose a picture on the evolution scale. That was pretty alarming.

TMU is very diverse in terms of its population of students and professors which almost never allows you to feel lonely in their environment. Especially, since it is in a downtown environment in which there will always be people around, from students to professional working individuals. Another thing to consider is that one of their departments, the Chang School of Continuing Education, provides distance/online learning courses which makes it very flexible for students. Though there are a few downsides as well; the environment can be toxic at times depending on what kind of crowd you interact with, due to a few of their unprofessional professors and due to some of their recent cases of sexual assaults. However, on a more personal and specific level, I would like to say that it lacks a few aspects in terms of its Psychology program, considering it is one of their liberal arts programs that does not have an option for co-op and is promoted as a B.A. degree with no strong science background involved but sneakily involves strong aspects of it in their mandatory courses. Overall, I would recommend TMU to an individual who loves to commute to a busy area, is street-smart, loves interacting with diverse crowds and is interested in the business field.

Although I have changed my program into something else. The program was a good experience because of the some of the professors. Some of them would talk about their backstories and experiences in the field and crack jokes. Overall I think that the programs have a good balanced of seriousness and enjoyment in the program.

One of the main reasons I dislike about TMU is their lack of accessibility and flexibility in small programs. The expectation to be on top of your workload in small programs are want causes a large dropout rate. For instant, the field places we’re expected to do is tiring and exhausting. Now add the regular course work, a job and other responsibilities it becomes almost impossible. Another thing I j noticed is regarding professors in the same program, there is no consistency with expectations.

I am currently enrolled at Ryerson University as a fourth-year student. I love the campus life at Ryerson, I personally never lived on campus and had to commute so I made good use of my time and the facilities on campus. There are different floors for studying and each one had its own purpose. If I want to study quietly and have a quiet space around me, I would go to a specific floor, if I want to study with friends, be more casual and social, I could go to another floor that has couches and beanbags and is a more relaxed environment. The student body is made up of both international students and domestic students and I think there is a great balance as I’ve made friends from both groups. I can’t think of any improvements that could be made as far as the school goes, the school is located at the heart of downtown Toronto, so it is a unique environment. I would recommend the school to others, especially if you are looking for a unique university experience.