G'day guys,

I'm Blake, i'm 19, male, i study commerce (just finished first year) in Adelaide which is in South Australia.

I play cards, go out to nightclubs on the weekend , go to the gym, bit of an xbox 360 player.

Halfway through '09 i plan to do my study exchange, and i'm pretty certain i want to study in Canada for six months, the question is... do i study at McMaster or Guelph?

I know McMaster is specific for commerce exchange, which is why im leaning towards it - so i thought i'd say hey and hopefully meet some people who can convince me and maybe hang out later next year when/if i come down.

Hope to hear from you all,

I've got a facebook if you want to add me > here

Thanks

Umm I'm still a first year student so my knowledge is rather limited however I could think up of a few point of the top of my head:
1) Mcmaster is one of the only 4 canadian universities in the world top 100 ranking(apart from uoft,ubc,mcgill)
2) Waterfall capital of the world(Unofficial)
3) Half way between Toronto and Niagra/buffalo usa so its pretty well developed/modern compared to guelph which is more into the countryside/village like
4) Guelph is more known for life sciences

Albeit I'm biased considering I go to Mac, but I definately think you should come to Mac. I have friends that go to Guelph, and it seems like there isn't much to do around the city.

Hamilton is a medium-sized city of 500,000, Guelph is a smaller city of 120,000.... depends on the environment you are looking for I guess.

Guelph gets a LOT more snow than Hamilton as it is farther north. That could be good and bad depending on how you look at things.

Ahh i've never seen snow before

Thanks for the replies, it's okay i expected bias commenting on a Mcmaster forum

I'm definitely leaning towards McMaster though. I'll send my exchange advisor an email to get some more information and get this ball rolling.

Dvvy88, i'd love to visit the country but i had a city scene in mind - lots more to do . What do you guys do for fun?

P.s , if anyone wants to chat on msn, add me! [email protected]

Originally Posted by Blake

Dvvy88, i'd love to visit the country but i had a city scene in mind - lots more to do . What do you guys do for fun?

McMaster is located in somewhat-suburban Hamilton. The area that Mac is in (Westdale) is really nice, and has a bunch of shops/restaurants/cafes. However, to be completely honest, Hamilton isn't perfect at all. Downtown has been suffering from urban decay for a while now (however it seems to be improving slightly now)... so if you are looking for a city scene, Hamilton would be better than Guelph, but a step down from Adelaide I presume. However, the upside is its proximity to Toronto (approximately one hour by bus). Random things you can do for fun: drink (there is an abundance of pubs/bars in the city), hike (there are tons of trails in the outskirts of the city and lots of waterfalls), watch movies, shop, etc. (the usual). Shopping isnt too great here because the largest mall (Limeridge) is pretty far away... but again, this is where Toronto comes in. We also have a small arts community just north of Downtown with a few art galleries, and there are a bunch of festivals held within the city thorought the year.

Hey Blake

I'm on exchange at McMaster right now from Sydney so if you want a bit of outsider/Aussie perspective on things...

1) Hamilton isn't great, but it isn't bad either. There's a decent clubbing area here and there are some nice walks you can go on through the forest, and when you get sick of it all, Toronto is only a $9 bus ride away. And then there's the Outdoors Club that organises trips and random activities every now and then - so far I've been canoeing with them, gone to Niagara Falls, Montreal, New York and Canada's Wonderland.
2) The coffee here sucks.
3) Expect to make friends with a lot of other exchange students. Especially with the Poms. Canadians tend to study a lot more and party a lot less than us.
4) Mid terms start around week 3 and continue pretty much right to the end of semester. You get a lot more assessments and exams here than at home but the coursework's easier and they also don't mark as hard so it evens out.
5) The gym here is SO BLOODY CHEAP!!! $56/semester!!

That's all I can think of for now but if you have any questions, you can email me or whatever at [email protected]

Cheers
Miriam