If you asked my 18 year-old self after having finished my first set of major exams (5 years ago?!) if I knew what I wanted to do now that I was past the first exam hurdle, I wouldn’t have been able to tell you.
It wasn’t until my last year in form six (Upper 6, aka the 7th and final year of High school in Trinidad and Tobago) I finally decided that I wanted to go to York University.
The process of choosing where you want to spend the next 3 to 4 semi-crucial years of your life once you're finished high school, if you decide to go onto post-secondary education, it can be a lot of pressure.
- What if you get there and you don’t like it?
- What if you pick the wrong school?
- What if you pick the wrong major?
- Why do you even want to go to Canada?
- What if you don’t even get accepted?
- What do you do next?
All these questions and more were going through my mind before I could even make my first decision: whether I would prefer to stay home and pursue post-secondary education there, or if I wanted to go abroad for my studies instead.
I'm very grateful I even had these two choices before me.
Around September/October, there’s a big college fair hosted back home where representatives from some major universities and colleges from America and Canada come down to basically tell you why you should go to their school.
If you're unfamiliar with how a college fair works, it's like a big conference room packed full of people from different cities, states and provinces who are representatives of a number of post-secondary institutions, and this is a perfect time to ask questions about the schools you're interested in going to, to people who work for these schools.
It took me attending college fair for three years in a row to finally decide where I wanted to go.
The first year I just wanted to go because friends were going and it seemed cool to see what options were available, but I still had 2 more years of school to finish. By the second year I'd become more serious and actively went from table to table asking a few questions to get the ball rolling.
I don’t really know what it was that initially pulled me to the York table. Probably because for the first two years I went I couldn’t even make it to the table to talk to the representative because of all the schools being represented at the college fair, the York table always seemed to have a crowd surrounding it, making for quite a wait time if you were genuinely interested.
But by the third time, my third (and final) year attending the college fair (they do say third time’s the charm) my head was saturated with YorkU related information from the intense research I'd done the weeks leading up to the college fair, so I had all my questions on my notes app, ready to be asked.
The enthusiasm I was met with by the representative when answering all my questions just made me feel even more excited to want to attend York.
In addition to that, having done "advanced" foreign languages in high school, I was interested in pursing languages further, mainly French.
After finding out York had a bilingual campus, Glendon, AND finding out that one of the majors I was interested in: International Studies - had a mandatory international exchange as part of the degree requirements, in my heart I was basically sold.
Another reason why I picked York? Honestly speaking, it just looked like a fun place to be. (Of course there was no mention of strikes anywhere so I learned about that the hard way, but hey, everywhere has it's ups and downs)
Once my mind was made officially made up, I found myself watching York University related YouTube videos religiously.
I don’t know if it was my increasing daily excitement paired with crippling anxiety and uncertainty about the new journey I was about venture on, but every one I watched made me feel more and more prepared.
And I watched a lot of videos.
Like, A LOT.
If I could pull up my search history from 2017, I'm pretty sure all I ever watched on YouTube from say April to August 2017 were just York videos, and university preparation related videos (lots dorm room hauls and dorm room tours of course.)
If you're similar to me and also gather your information about the school you want to attend through YouTube videos, it’s good to not only watch the videos posted by the educational institutions themselves on their official pages, but you'll also get more honest reactions and advice by watching the personal vlogs and videos of people who are actual students at these schools, both current and graduated students. This can help you get some better, all-rounded insight.
Personal videos also help give you that added real feel of the place you’re willingly applying to go to for a significant portion of your life.
It's much easier to imagine yourself in the shoes of someone who looks like you, or is experiencing things you're about to experience, and was once in the position you're in now. That way you can better determine if that university or college is the place for you.
From videos like dorm room tours, campus tours, a day in my life at *insert university/college name here* and more - the video possibilities are endless.
Think about it this way; it’s one thing to pursue your dream degree, or a degree that interests you, but you wouldn’t want to do that at a place in which you don’t feel comfortable in, you know?
The overall environment of an institution is arguably just as important as the degrees, diplomas and certificates it offers.
As a black student for example, I wasn't as drawn to universities that didn't have a mixed racial demographic.
Coming from the Caribbean, I'd hoped to still be in a space surrounding by different races, as that's just what would make me more comfortable personally, but at the end of the day, you're the main person who can decide what factors are red flags for you, which factors you're willing to settle for, or not.
For me personally, York just felt like the place I wanted to be compared to other options I'd been weighing.
I was sold early.
Maybe because I felt like I was running out of time initially when I began applying and had an "I'm probably settling" mindset, but I can say now after about 3 years, I haven't entirely regretted my decision. (We've all experienced doubt and the desire of dropping out of university from time to time)
![Deep in the heart of the YU jungle. – First year orientation week [2017] with the then YU mascot.](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/9719e5_0501b97382524f2297b96a9de8371a3d~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_147,h_370,al_c,q_80,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,blur_2,enc_auto/9719e5_0501b97382524f2297b96a9de8371a3d~mv2.jpg)
The pros while attending York have outweighed the cons so far for me;
Mainly I've enjoyed aspects such as:
↠↠ Support for international students (primarily through clubs and campus involvement)
↠↠ A free shuttle for York students between the two campuses (Glendon and Keele.)
Once I was travelling within the shuttle availability times, I never had to pay any fares to get from one campus to the other. Plus it's a direct trip, so barely even 40 minutes if so much.
↠↠ Lots of academic and cultural clubs, with a lot of support.
↠↠ Diverse campuses, where there's always some event going on.
Diversity, and representation was important for me as I mentioned.
York has quite a large black student population, so as a black female Caribbean immigrant, I felt right at home once I discovered the black community at York - A community that is so strong and welcoming, people often joke that if Canada had HBCUs, York would be one, and having experienced it personally, they aren't far off.
Also a pleasant and unexpected surprise for me was finding out about the size and support of the Caribbean club, and just how much Caribbean culture was appreciated and celebrated.
I didn't even find this out till I actually got to Canada and started getting involved on campus.
In terms of the academic pros, Glendon (the second, smaller, bilingual York campus) always boasts about being the smaller campus with smaller class sizes, therefore providing better hands on, and one on one interaction with professors, which is good for people who rather not get lost in those classes with hundreds of people.
I do feel like I benefitted from those smaller class sizes, especially when some of the information in some of my classes was quite heavy and I felt like I wasn't really grasping the topics as easily as everyone else.
The bilingualism at Glendon is also great practice for those looking to improve or learn French while still in Toronto. (If you're like me and still aren't as confident in your French ability to the point where you'd rather study and/or live in Montreal).
In terms of social life, there are some pretty fun trips and events as well, like weekend Montreal trips, pub nights, formals, club events happening on campus on a weekly basis, and just in general, there was always something happening on campus.
Whether it was free food being handed it out in celebration of an event or a holiday, free items being handed out by the student federation, or groups of people getting together just to dance (we black folk at York love a dance session, any time, any place.)
The professors I’ve had so far have also been some great people.
That’s just to name a few pros.
All in all, I’m still pretty glad I decided to go with York, it’s been an interesting experience so far to say the least, and I’m excited to see how the rest of my time here is going to be.
I would say, when you're considering schools you want to go to, sure some schools carry a certain idea of grandiose, and being a student of those schools does carry a high rank, but my advice is don't just choose a school based on the school's popularity.
Consider aspects like the cultural environment at that school, what's been the experience of international students at the school, what support is there in place for students, especially international students.
Compare the tuition fees, the location - is it in the city? Is it within a populated area with easy access to transit? Or is it far off and secluded (or behind God Back as we would say back home).
So many factors are to be considered when deciding on a school, that the school's name is arguably one of the lesser important things when you really look at the big picture.
At the end of the day, no matter what school you attend and degree you pursue, the work and responsibility falls on you to get that degree, diploma or certificate.
Really try and envision where you see yourself being the happiest not just with academics, but in your social life, and in terms of your mental health!
That's how I ended up choosing York.
Great cultural environment, high tuition fees as an international student yes (as it'll be for any school,) but lower compared to other schools in the GTA (Greater Toronto Area).
My experience as an international student hasn't been too bad, plus the location of both campuses is also close to transit lines, so commuting isn't as much a headache on a good day.
While York does receive quite a bit of slander and jokes from people who go to other schools, namely around the strikes, and the ever common phrase, "If you can hold a fork, you can go to York," again, you're choosing a school based on what works best for you with the factors you've decided are most important.
I can hold a fork, I go to York, and I've been having really the best time, probably better than I think I would've had if I went to another school.
I'm a York Lion, what can I say.
Any questions about Woo woo, YU YU?
Feel free to reach out at any time!
Thanks for reading!
- Maya 💛