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Originally Posted by 10023
I’m sure it has nothing to do with this. The reputation and esteem in which a school is held has nothing to do with the population of the city it’s in. Boston has more highly regarded universities than NY or LA and that might always be the case. McGill is just a more highly regarded university than the University of Toronto, and I’ve never even heard of UBC (presumably University of British Columbia).
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Many rankings place the University of Toronto neck-and-neck with McGill now (and the race has been close for a decade or two now, especially as the University of Toronto started getting better funding and resources). But the truth is McGill dominated in almost all the 20th century so that's fair, but it's not so clear cut who's the winner now. The other thing is UofT's rise is mostly in fields like STEM, engineering etc. and more "practical" fields, which may explain why the perception seems that it punches under its weight in "image".
Interesting that foreign students like Chinese, Indians are more aware of Ontario universities like the U of Toronto, Waterloo etc. because of this focus (since many of their students study these subjects when they come as internationals) than Americans.
I think the University of Toronto has "caught up" in image in its own country, for those who are deciding between Canadian schools in Canada, but McGill's has still the longer, richer, history, pedigree and reputation to outsiders.