Hi! Could you explain how your college choice matters if you’re not in residence? Also, I keep hearing that scholarships can be divided by colleges. Which college is the best for scholarships? Thanks!
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hi!
so sorry it took me a while to get to this, my ask box is filled with students in distress right now and i’m the very slightest bit worried and overwhelmed lol.
college choice does still matter, to a certain extent, if you’re not in residence. your college will determine things like which registrar’s office you go to, which clubs you’re most likely to join (since colleges have clubs), and what your most immediate community is at u of t. think of a college like your university home base.
your college will also run your orientation, if that’s something that matters to you. innis is a dry orientation, whereas there’s plenty of drinking that happens after-hours during trin’s O-week. different colleges just have different character, y’know?
of course, if you’re not on res, you don’t technically have to interact with your college very much at all. you could totally carve out your own path and make, i don’t know, the biology student union your home base. if you’re a victoria college student, you don’t need to join vusac. and you don’t need to be a victoria college student to write for the strand. in other words, you can join a college club without being part of the college.
what i’m trying to say is that yes, colleges do kinda matter, but overall you’ll get to shape your own experience with how a college affects your university experience.
aight, let’s talk money now.
many scholarships are indeed divided by colleges. from what i’ve heard, trinity and victoria are the best for scholarships, since they tend to be more “prestigious” colleges with more donors, i guess? i’ve heard that st. mikes isn’t particularly great, scholarship-wise. but most colleges do have some kind of college-affiliated scholarships, whether those are in-course academic scholarships or leadership scholarships.
if scholarships are a major area of concern for you, i’d recommend that you look up the two or three colleges you’re most interested in and compare their info on scholarships. for example, here’s the vic page. you should be able to find the others by googling “[college name] u of t scholarships” or something along those lines. you’ll quickly be able to get a sense of how much money is offered at different places, and what you have to do in order to qualify for those funds.
i hope this answer finds you in time for your applications! wishing you all the best with uni apps, and i hope you have a wonderful (or at least tolerable) holiday break.
be Boundless,
aska