University of Calgary

Location

The main campus in the North of Downtown Calgary, near Bow-River. It is just a one-hour drive from the Rocky Mountains. There is a smaller campus located in the South of the city. The closest major city to Calgary is Edmonton (277 km). There is a light bus transit is provided to the university. Some of the places to see in Calgary are Dinosaur Provincial Park, Calgary Fort, Heritage Park, Military Museums, etc. With a small population of 1.4 million, it is one of the friendliest cities in Canada.

Campus

The campus spread over 530 acres, has a combination of Brutalist and Postmodern buildings. It has a large park in the centre of the campus that contains old oak trees. Apart from this, U of C houses the nationally popular Jack Simpson Gymnasium (volleyball, basketball), McMahon Stadium (football) and the Olympic Oval (speed skating). The Rothney Astrophysical Observatory is one of the best in Canada to learn and observe astronomy. The Nickel Arts Museum is a must-see place.
Students complain that parking is not for free and has surge charges in the night. Usually, students who cannot afford a car, take the C-train to campus.

Residing Options

Over 2000 students live in 8 residencies at U of C but essentially, it is still a commuter campus. Structurally, Rundle Hall and Kananaskis Hall are the traditional residencies. Other newer ones are Glacier, Olympus, Norquay, Brewster, and Castle Halls. Yamnuska Hall is open to upper year, international and transfer students. A new building called the Dr Fok Ying Tung International House houses 200 international students. Crowsnest Hall is a new, on-campus housing for graduate students. Off-campus living may cost you around CAD 750 to 1200 a month, depending on what facilities are you looking at. Douglasdale is one of the affordable localities in Calgary for a student. One must avoid living in North East of Calgary for it being high on criminal activities.

Faculty

Having over 1,800 academic staff actively engaged in research, scholarship and teaching with faculty to student ratio being 23:1, the class sizes are not too big. U of C prides in having over 110 new inventions in its name in just 2015-16. Some of the most preferred courses at the University of Calgary are energy, human dynamics, engineering solutions for health, earth space technologies, infection, chronic diseases and brain and mental health.
Top professors (and the most mentioned names) at University of Calgary could be Hua Jackie Song (Engineering), Seyed Jazayeri (Engineering), Joe Kadi (Women’s Studies) and Peter Tracey (Economics). However, in general, students don’t seem that happy with the professors. Students suggest that you research and find the right professors for yourself before you choose random courses.