University Ranking
By Eva Gao
Raw Data
Admission Average:
The admission average is the average of all the subjects that were taken in Grade 12 and it is directly relates to the admission process. This is really important to me because I want to know whether the admission average is realistic and could achieve within my capability. The admission average also demonstrates the academic capability of the student body at that university. I am investigating art programs for these 6 universities I chose, and I would love to study with students not only have strong art skills but also strong academic skills. Based on this, I set 87 as my ideal average, and because of its importance I weighted this 40 %.
Tuition Fee:
Tuition fee is the money that I need to pay for entering the university, which does not include residence and meals. This criteria makes me to consider whether my family or myself could afford the cost of going to that university. Personally, I really want to be independent so that I would like to pay off my tuition fee myself by working at my free time, or pay back the bank after borrowing the loans. Thus tuition fee is really important because it helps me to estimate my ability of going to that university other than academic average. My ideal tuition fee for universities in Canada is 6500, and due to its importance, I assigned 40% for this criteria as well.
Residence Fee:
By knowing that some of the universities require students to live on campus for the first year, but others don't. Thus residence fee would be another important criteria that needs to be considered. If the university I chose is far away from my house but in the same city, by comparing the price of residence at the university and that of renting a condo besides the university, I could know which way is more economical. If the university is outside of Toronto, I would take the price of residence and renting a condo account as well, but living in a strange city, I would consider more about the safety issue. Thus, I would probably choose to live on campus even though it is a bit expansive. This criteria is important to me because I want to know if I am able to afford the cost of tuition, residence or renting a condo for four years or even more years of a higher standard of education. Because of its important, I weighted it 7%.
Residential Spaces for Freshman:
Due to the reason that not every university requires freshman students to live on campus, thus there might not be enough spaces for first year student to live in residence. This also indicates that for those freshman who can't live on campus, they need to rent apartments or houses. Therefore, for those students who encounter such problems, by knowing this information they could prepare the fee for renting ahead other than tuition fee. For me, my primary university in Canada is OCAD, but there is no residence for OCAD, but they do share residences with Ryerson and U of T. Since it is going to take a while walking to OCAD from these 2 universities, I would rent a near by condo, especially in winter when I have to carry lots of art supplies or pantings, it is going to be really terrible. Due to the importance of this criteria, I assigned 5%.
Scholarships:
Scholarship is a grant or payment made to support a student's education that is awarded on the basis of academic or other achievement. For me, it is considered as a special type of honor. Getting a scholarship is an encouragement and an improvement for me. Therefore I will have the motivation to do my best, and prove myself. 4 years of university is probably going to be my last few years staying in school, doing homework and getting involved in the school, so I really want to do good and cherish every second I study and every moment I spend with my peers. Due to it's function for me, i weighted it 5%.
Total Population:
The total population indicates the amount of staffs and students, including those who are half days. The total population would also give me an estimation of the class size for certain programs. Very big and famous universities would have more students. Personally, I prefer a study environment where there is less crowded. Because that way, I could focus on my academics more and get less distractions. I assigned 3% for this criteria.
Manipulate Data
Weight of Criterias
University Data Ranking
Conclusion:
As result, the top 3 universities are Ryerson, York and Guelph, which was different from what I predicted. This could result from listening to my parents and my peers opinions and my own biased perspectives on these universities. I compared Ryerson's fashion design program and OCAD's Jewelry Design program, I thought that OCAD might have a higher ranking, however to my surprise Ryerson's is better. To my surprise, UBC is the lowest. This probably resulted from the underestimation of some information.