The University of Toronto- Harvard of the North

When you were applying to university you had a 90% average. You got into every school you applied too, and were offered an array of fantastic scholarships from every school, except U of T. Your friends received colorful packages filled with information on academic planning, student services and course calendars; you got a letter saying you got in and had to go downtown to pick up your own course books. As a naïve first year, you spent hours flipping through the godforesakenly confusing calendar on your own, using excel to create a pseudo timetable, only to later find out that half the courses you selected aren't actually offered this year at all (I question the logic of why then, are they even in there in the first place). Your name at the University of Toronto is 996254176, your 'advisor' is a generic mass email sent out to all A-F students; you've never met her and find it ridiculously difficult to get an appointment, probably because she died in the trenches of WWI. But hey, for all that money you're spending you're earning a degree at the most prestigious university in the country, which will guarantee you the job of your dreams and a lifetime of security! WRONG. I don't know what U of T is thinking, offering 800 person courses on philosophy, history, women's studies and any other subject for which it is impossible to find a secure job. They are puffing us up with elitism, booking us a one way ticket to homelessness in 4 years time.

Being a third year university student I have had a variety of experiences with various Profs. I love most of my professors; they're wonderful people who have made my experiences here great. They keep you engaged in the classroom, allow for much discussion and critical analysis, tolerate a variety in opinion and are always willing to speak with you about a grade, assignment or anything else. On the other hand there are the ones, who are so consumed by research that they read drearily out of a book, spew mumbled garbage that leaves you more confused than when you entered, and are so completely doused in arrogance that they don't even take the time to acknowledge your feeble minded questions. Whoever is in charge of hiring at the University of Toronto needs to seriously reevaluate their criteria when granting tenure to these emotionless androids. JUST BECAUSE YOU HAVE A PHD DOESN'T MEAN YOU ARE A GOOD OR EVEN CAPABLE PROFESSOR! Yes, they are smart. Yes, they are extremely knowledgeable in their field of study. And yes, they have put in 4 years and countless hours of work to get their PhD. NONE of this, however, has any remote connection to their effectiveness as a professor. As an undergraduate student, you have little to no appreciation for these facts; all you know is that you aren't getting what you paid for. Why pay upwards of $5,000 per year only to sit in a class and be lectured AT (monotonously) by a professor who clearly doesn't give a shit about you, your future or the profession of teaching; they're probably only doing this to pay the bills while researching or because they couldn't get any other job with a PhD in botany. As a future teacher it is even more irritating to watch people like this rape, pillage and debauch the pedagogy of education.

The sad thing is that none of this matters. U of T is going to suck tens of thousands of dollars from me only to present me with a piece of paper saying, 'On behalf of our administration who could care less about your future (and the few that actually do), a school that treated you like a number would like to thank you for casting yourself into a canyon of debt. Good luck with all your future endeavors. See you in graduate school.'