International Student in Canada - Why Canada?

As you might have heard there are many ways to immigrate to this country. Maybe, one of the fastest way to settle down and get acquainted by how things work here would be the "international student" way!

To make things easier. Here is a list containing questions prepared by younger students from my country of origin and answers written by me regarding my experience as an international student in Canada and how things got sorted out here :)

Related Posts:

1. Why study in Canada? (New)
2. Admission requirements (New)
3. Student Money & Housing (New)

Why Canada:

1. Why did you choose Canada to study in? And what other countries do you recommend?

Canada is a country where it is easy to move to and be a part of. The immigration to Canada is pretty high and it is a quite easy process once someone goes there as a student. Another similar country would be Australia.

2. What are the pros and cons of living and studying in Canada?

pros and cons are different depending on which city.
Example: Toronto
Pros: good services (health, medical, education, transportation, ....), easy to find friends at university...
Cons: very cold weather and somewhat expensive

3. What factors made you chose the universities you applied for or corresponded with? And why did you settle for the one you are studying at now?

Ryerson University had a specialized program in Computer Networks (www.cn.ryerson.ca) and it was the only university that had admitted me for graduate studies.

4. At which point in college should we start considering and planning for studying abroad?

It is better to graduate. Fourth year

5. Is there any kind of discrimination against international students?

No, it never happened to me but it could happen to any international student at a certain point of time. But all sort of communities in Canada exists so discrimination started to decrease.

6. Would you name some good universities that readily accept international students and have both a good quality of teaching and reasonable fees?

As for international students, the fees are expensive in all Canadian Universities. Some good Canadian universities would include: McGill University & Concordia University (Montreal), Ryerson University, York University and University of Toronto (Toronto), McMaster University (Hamilton), University of Ottawa, University of Guelph, University of Waterloo, University of British Columbia (Vancouver), University of Alberta,....etc...

Maher.