A number of CMA’s grade 11 & 12 students recently went on a university tour of SFU, UBC, and the University of Victoria. The value in going and seeing for yourself is immense. On a website, almost every school appears the same, albeit with different colours and a different crest. But in person schools feel incredibly different, and as our students near graduation, getting a sense of what their life could feel like for the next 4+ years is invaluable information.

Students were asked to reflect on the tour and discuss some of the factors they will consider while making their post-secondary decisions. Here is what a few CMA students had to say:

Some of the external factors that are important to me are campus appearance, food options, dormitories, amenities offered, location, environment and the culture of the campus. Campus appearance and the quantity of environmental aspects within campus are really important to me, because if I am going to spend 4+ years in one location, I would like the campus to be somewhere that I love. Personally, because I grew up with an abundance of trees and mountains around me, I do not want to move somewhere that is completely built up with minimal to no trees or natural aspects around me. The culture of the campus is also extremely important to me because I’m not a hugely social person and so if the feel of the campus is full of parties every night I don’t think that campus would be the best fit for me.

Some internal factors that are important to me that might help guide my post-secondary decisions are my interests, passions, values, skills, personality, if I feel comfortable at the campus, if I like the program and the education level offered versus desired. My passions would help guide my post-secondary decisions because my passion might be travel so I might go and take a gap year before going to university. Something else internally that would affect my decision would be my interests, personally I am very interested in dogs and being outdoors, so it would not really matter how good any one university is if it doesn’t appeal to my interests. What I learnt during this university tour that is important to me is that it matters how many students there are, how the buildings look and if there is a makerspace/creative area open to students. I did not realize how important the building’s style and environmental aspects are to me. 

When it was announced that this university tour was happening and that we were touring SFU, UBC, and UVIC I was excited. Visiting the campuses gives you a great idea of the location of these campuses, programs, size, climate, and culture. While visiting the SFU campus their programs are great, I believe they had a strong university community. While I was there I thought to myself I can’t imagine being here at this campus. I strongly agree that having a university feel makes the experience great. While touring UBC the location was perfect as it was close to home, the program is astonishing, and an amazing culture. I enjoyed my time being there as well as taking in new information about the clubs that I had never even heard of. UVIC is my top choice. It was really helpful that we were touring UVIC as this gave me good insight about this school. While visiting this campus I loved it. Victoria for me personally reminds me of home which is a key part, and it’s an amazing city. The weather in Victoria is quite similar to Squamish which is great. Also, the gym in UVIC is great as it has a climbing wall which intrigued me because I am a climber. The campus had a modern feel to it, and the people attending the school seemed to be great. This tour helped me a lot in clarifying my decision to university. Deciding for post-secondary is not easy, there is a lot of time, effort, and thought to put into this. That means I am fortunate for this university tour to happen. The experience helped me expand my post-secondary awareness of the environment, program, amenities and location. These factors are important so having the clarification from the tour is amazing. I am excited for my post-secondary future and see where it takes me.