Canada physics university

Well it's probably between McGill and UofT I think.... I'll say McGill but I am biased because I go there.

 

As a student of UMontreal, I would say that, but it's francophone.

UBC has a great reputation. McGill too, as much as UToronto. I would suggest you check out the course list of each universities and see what you like the most.

 

UBC science cut-off marks when I applied (2005) were 88%. I would imagine that other universities are similar, but don't quote me on that!

edit: That is not last year, but I noticed universities don't post their cut-off numbers publicly anyway. The number is from the letter of acceptance.

 

Waterloo is most known for its quantum physics. The perimeter institute for theoretical physics is right off campus and has a boatload of funding with brilliant minds giving free seminars and lectures. They are also building a new quantum computing and nanotechnology building.

They are not so strong in other areas I believe, though I don't know a lot about it since I am an engineering student.

 

I go to UT and I agree McGill is probably better.

 

Hi. I'm from India and I'm looking at some of the Physics programs in Canadian universities and 3-4 of them sound good to me. I have a question about the eligibility for a Masters in Physics from Canada. Is a Bachelors Engineering degree going to qualify me for the Masters in Physics? I have also done an MBA post my BE - will that help at all? And most importantly will I be offered financial aid for the MS program?

 

Generally yes, you can be accepted in a physics programs with a bachelor's degree in engineering. That being said, the university you are applying to needs to recognize the institution you studied at - you have to check with the individual school to see if they do. An MBA is an unrelated degree - so it likely won't help, nor will it hinder you.

Also, it's important to check out the financial aid available for graduate students within a particular program. In general, most programs have some kind of financial support either through teaching or research assistanceships if you do not have external scholarship funding. Keep in mind this is not a lot of money, but can allow you to survive without going deeper into debt if you can accept a freugal lifestyle. However, not all programs guarantee finding for incoming students - so be sure to read the fine print on any offer of admission.

 

I checked on U Toronto and McGill and on paper it seems I qualify. But that's just the basic eligiblity - since I haven't pursued Physics in my undergrad I really have no projects or research or any kind of additional activities in the field of Physics with which I can impress the college. I'm guessing this could be a drawback for my application? Do these universities accept such students?

 

Yes, I know someone in my class at U of T who had a 3.8 GPA but no research experience and he was accepted back into the Master's program.

But it might have helped that he did his undergrad there. So you better have a good GPA and good recommendations. If you had engineering projects/research experience, don't forget to mention those, they do count.

 

Science watch recently showed that Carleton has the highest average citations per paper. The physics program at Carleton also has connections to CERN, SNOlab, and the Canadian Nuclear Research lab.

In relation to the question about the engineering degree from India I doubt that the degree will be worth much in Canada because the CEAB (Canadian Engineering Accreditation Board) does not recognize engineering degrees from India.

 

What kind of theoretical physics?

 

What about Memorial University of Newfoundland for theoretical condensed matter physics (superconductivity research)?

 

Hi Bright Wang,

if you're looking for theoretical physics, I would certainly go with U of W who has a graduate program in connection with Perimeter Institute http://www.perimeterinstitute.ca/en/Scientific/Applications/Graduate_Student/ [Broken] if you haven't checked this out, I would. They currently have 6 research areas: Quantum Gravity, Quantum Foundations, Quantum Information, Superstring Theory, Cosmology, Particle Physics. The idea too is to not segregate the different research areas at PI but to have dynamic interactions between the different areas. The research faculty both permanent and visiting are pretty astounding. You can also sample some of their seminars, talks etc on their Archives site PIRSA.ca Good Luck.

 

Bright,
I would agree with other comments made here that perhaps U of W may not have the strongest theoretical physics but they do have a brilliant Quantum Information group (IQC). The connection between PI & U of W is incredibly strong - in fact, there's a shuttle bus that links the two sites (the shuttle also goes to Western and McMaster). U of T is somewhat affiliated as well with PI. There's a new effort to have joint faculty at all the surrounding Universities to PI (Western, Guelph, McMaster, U of T & U of W). For instance they just announced appointment of Luis Lehner in joint effort with U of Guelph. Whatever school you decide to go with make sure they have strong ties with PI.

If you're doing an undergrad, I would check with a site http://www.qsnetwork.com/ which ranks the universities in the world. If you're not sure which area of research in Theoretical Physics is of interest to you - U of W does have a good general overall undergrad program that allows for learning all the modern physics research areas before deciding which area to pursue for graduate work.

Good luck.