Choosing the Right University: Experiences and Suggestions

[Minwell]

Hello everyone. I am currently a senior in a high school in Canada and I am deciding on which university to go. I now have offers from University of Toronto, Waterloo, and probably British Columbia and McGill. Although my preference is Toronto, I am still wondering if anybody else in this forum has ever attend to any of these institutions and would like to share their experiences and suggestions?
By the way, I have self-studied both Physics C exams and got 5 on both last year, multi-variable calculus, differential equations, and physics of waves on mit ocw, and am currently studying electrodynamics using the book written by Griffiths. I expect to finish electrodynamics and analytical mechanics before entering university in this September. The problem is I don't want to take and pay extra money for these classes since I have already finished them by my own. Is there a way to avoid this? Thank you all very much.

 

[Choppy]

Those are all good schools. You might want to consider other factors such as campus facilities, cost of living, specific research that's going on in each department, volunteer opportunities for undergrads, etc. to figure out which school is the best one for you. These factors will vary from student to student.

As for your other question, there isn't a much of a way to get out of core courses simply by having read the textbooks. Nor would you want to. A lot of students make the mistake of believing they understand the material because they've read it only to have this notion shattered when they have to apply it to a situation that hasn't come up in the textbook. And even if you really do truly understand the material already, that's great. You'll be able to devote more time into other pursuits like getting involved in research.

 

[Dr. Courtney]

List your debt free options and pick from those.