University of New Brunswick

Location

Fredericton is small and cozy and has a crowd of incredibly polite people. There’s much happening on the campus but apart from a few Jazz and Blues fest, there are not many events happening in the city. To overcome its downside, the campus is nicely located because 7-hour drive from Boston, 3-hour drive from Halifax, maybe 4–5 hour from Quebec, and 1-hour from Montréal. The Saint John campus is in the small, port city of Saint John. It is home to Canada’s biggest national park. Most residents speak English, a few speak French. This one is a little inconvenient for students as it is outside the main city area.

Campus

Located in Fredericton and Saint John areas of New Brunswick, UNB provides a diverse experience to its students. The Fredericton campus is situated on a hill, overlooking the Saint John River. This campus is known for its colorful outlook and Georgian style buildings. Few of the buildings on campus were designed by the famous architect: Ernest Fairweather in the early 90s: the Old Civil Engineering Building and Gymnasium. The Convocation Hall was also designed by another famous architect. The campus has a War Memorial and a Centre for the Study of War and Society. The Old Arts Building and an Observatory on campus are two of the buildings recognized as the National Historic Sites.
The St. John Campus, located in Tucker Park, several kilometers from the city's business center, this one is comparatively smaller. It has the view of Kennebecasis River and Grand Bay. A subject of novelty is the Hans W. Klohn Commons here, which is Canada's most environment-friendly building. It is also home to New Brunswick's largest hospital and a medical school. Both campuses have world-class athletic facilities such as fitness classes and outdoor activities such as kayaking.

Residing Options

A noteworthy difference between the Fredericton campus and the Saint John campus is that most students in the former live on-campus while the latter is more of a commuter campus. Saint John is in a rather remote location and hence one can't live near the campus. There are 13 available residences in Fredericton and 2 in St. John. A few years back, one of the residences at Fredericton was chosen as one of the most partying halls of North America.

Faculty

Faculty to student ratio is 1:16 and class sizes are generally small. UNB is top tier in Forestry and Engineering faculties. Even the liberal arts studies are taken with a practical approach. The course on “Venture Start-Up & Entrepreneurship” is really good and recommended. There are co-ops available for bachelor programs. Popular faculties are Martin Wielmaker (Entrepreneurship), Valarie Reeves (Chemistry), Sean Kennedy (History), and Michael Fleming (Computer Science).