University of Alberta, Edmonton

Location

The main campus of UAlberta (known as ‘North Campus') is located in the provincial capital of Edmonton, on the edge of the beautiful North Saskatchewan River Valley. UAlberta has four other campuses: The South Campus, Augustana Campus, Campus Saint-Jean and Enterprise Square. Edmonton is known to have the friendliest of the people. The closest major city from Edmonton is Calgary (277 kms). Tourist attractions in Edmonton are the ‘Rutherford House’, ‘William Hawrelak Park’, ‘Winspear Centre’, the ‘Paleontology Museum’ and much more.
Students say that public transport is okay- not that great, not that bad; especially because of the extreme cold temperatures in winter, making it difficult to wait for a bus.

Campus

Sporting ‘green and gold' as its symbol colours, UAlberta’s 230-acres North Campus has 50 city blocks and abundant green patches with over 150 buildings on campus. It is popular for the long walks that are even open for tourists. You may spot some pretty white rabbits too. There are interesting buildings such as the ‘Athabasca Pembina’ and ‘Assiniboine Halls' which are over 100 years old. There are lots of new buildings these days; especially in the Medicine and Science departments. Parking at UAlberta may be limited or costly.

Residing Options

It is very much a commuter school. Although the first year undergraduate students must compulsorily live on campus. Students say the on-campus housing facilities are okayish and are nothing extraordinary. The average monthly expense of living off campus could be CAD 800 to 1000. Food off-campus would cost another CAD 200. Edmonton is a small city and hence, most of the on-campus and off-campus housing is within 20-minute range of the university.

Faculty

Having over 15000 employees, UAlberta is one of the top three employers of Edmonton. It has about 200 undergrad programs and 500 graduate programs with their faculty to student ratio being 1:21. The class sizes at UAlberta are said to be the smallest out of most Canadian universities.Â
UAlberta is particularly known for its spectacular research group on ‘Artificial Intelligence'. The Engineering programs overall are quite comprehensive but you have to work really hard. Some students complain about the faculty of the nursing program is disorganized and uncaring. Other programs that standout at UAlberta are Computing Science, Drama and Nanotechnology.