Physics GRE Discussion Forums

Does anyone know something about quality of doctoral programs in Canada?
It sounds like GRE is not required to be accepted, so all the procedure seems to be easier.
In particular, how are UBC and U of Toronto? the research area I'm most interested in is CMT with a bit of AMO, so I'd like to know if in these 2 departments there are strong groups.

thank you

You might want to search the forums as there is plenty of information on both Canadian programs and the two Universities you mentioned.

There are much worse places than UBC and UToronto...

Take a look at the department websites and see if they are doing research that you're interested in. See if there are people that you you've heard of or whose research that you're familiar with at these institutions. Just off the top of my head, Carl Wieman is affiliated to UBC, but I don't know if he actively does research there.

I doubt wieman to be still involved in research...
btw, when you say:

TheBeast wrote:There are much worse places than UBC and UToronto...

do you mean they are good school but not exceptional, or they're top research insitutes?

You do realize it would take less time to obtain world university rankings for these two than to get an answer via these forums, right?

maybe you're right....maybe you haven't considered how reliable world university rankings are.
some years ago a survey was done among some business men or people like that, asking which was the most valuable business school in the USA.
Princeton ranked 4th.
Princeton didn't have a business school.

I trust more personal opinions if someone can give me one

Everyone knows that story here. My frustration comes from the fact that you are asking nebulous questions that lack concrete answers.

do you mean they are good school but not exceptional, or they're top research insitutes?

What does it mean to be a good school versus an exceptional school, and where would a "top research institute" lie in this spectrum? What do you want people to tell you? They're good schools, and well regarded enough to be place in the top 50 universities in the world, Toronto in the top 30, but you should know this. To find potential research groups, one should browse their webpages to find professors of interest and then browse their webpages and citations records. Do they publish frequently in high-impact journals and are their publications cited? Have their graduate students gone on to get postdocs and professorships at well-regarded institutions? If you have already done this, then ask a specific question about a specific professor and just maybe someone here can answer.

Coming onto a forum like this and asking "So uh, what do you guys think of U of T and UBC?" isn't going to be received well. Regardless of whether that's good or justified, it's just not. If you want to get information, you need to a) show the people here that you've done some work on your own and aren't just looking for people to spoonfeed you and b) ask specific questions that people can actually answer.

epitaxial wrote:I doubt wieman to be still involved in research...
btw, when you say:

TheBeast wrote:There are much worse places than UBC and UToronto...

do you mean they are good school but not exceptional, or they're top research insitutes?

Since Grae isn't being very helpful, I'll give my two cents.

First of all, UBC is generally not considered supremely exceptional but rather profoundly adequate in a heightened sort of way. It would be misleading for me to tell you that they stand out in a superlative manor but rather they are distinguished in a preeminent but non-momentous fashion.

UToronto, on the other hand, while not generally as celebrated as UBC is magnificently more phenomenal in a chiefly meritorious form. It's not so much that UBC is inferior or unexceptional but rather that it is predominantly unremarkable in the momentous but not supreme wake of UToronto.

I hope this cleared things up for you.

HappyQuark wrote:

epitaxial wrote:I doubt wieman to be still involved in research...
btw, when you say:

TheBeast wrote:There are much worse places than UBC and UToronto...

do you mean they are good school but not exceptional, or they're top research insitutes?

Since Grae isn't being very helpful, I'll give my two cents.

First of all, UBC is generally not considered supremely exceptional but rather profoundly adequate in a heightened sort of way. It would be misleading for me to tell you that they stand out in a superlative manor but rather they are distinguished in a preeminent but non-momentous fashion.

UToronto, on the other hand, while not generally as celebrated as UBC is magnificently more phenomenal in a chiefly meritorious form. It's not so much that UBC is inferior or unexceptional but rather that it is predominantly unremarkable in the momentous but not supreme wake of UToronto.

I hope this cleared things up for you.

Don't worry, all Canadian schools are perennially extant.

HappyQuark wrote:
First of all, UBC is generally not considered supremely exceptional but rather profoundly adequate in a heightened sort of way. It would be misleading for me to tell you that they stand out in a superlative manor but rather they are distinguished in a preeminent but non-momentous fashion.

UToronto, on the other hand, while not generally as celebrated as UBC is magnificently more phenomenal in a chiefly meritorious form. It's not so much that UBC is inferior or unexceptional but rather that it is predominantly unremarkable in the momentous but not supreme wake of UToronto.

I emphatically, yet half-heartedly, agree.

Both schools that you mentioned are top universities in Canada but generally speaking, the process of research in Canadian universities is somehow slower than the same ranked U.S. universities. I think that's because the process of getting funding is totally different in which they are under less control of funding agencies.

"Just off the top of my head, Carl Wieman is affiliated to UBC, but I don't know if he actively does research there."

He is doing research now in physics education there. Though I believe he is currently away on assignment at the white house...