In this article let’s take a look at all the pros and cons of studying in Canada to understand whether it is worth it or not to study in this country.
This is the most comprehensive article you can find online on this topic so I would recommend you to bookmark and share the article.
So without any delay let’s dive right in.
Table of Contents
Is Canada a good place to study and worth it?
Yes Canada is definitely a good place and worth studying because it has one of the best universities in the world which are funded by government, It has great infrastructure and facilities and amazing research opportunities,
It has one of the best education systems in the world, You can also get many employment opportunities in Canada, It is also one of the safest countries in the world with many tourist places and obviously located very near to America which is the land of dreams and you can easily migrate to America for working after you study in Canada.
Now let’s take a look at all the advantages and disadvantages of studying in Canada to understand if this is really worth it or not.
Pros and cons of studying in Canada
Pros of studying in Canada
- World-class universities
One of the main factors students consider when visiting any country for education is the availability of world class universities and if you take a look at the situation of Canada no doubt there are some world class Universities where you can study.
Some popular universities of Canada are University of Toronto, University of British Columbia University of Micgill, University of Montreal University of Waterloo and many more and all of this universities are not only most popular and top universities of Canada but also rank among top 100 universities of the world and of North America as well.
What makes this Western University so amazing to study is the fact that we have excellent research facilities, They have great infrastructure and facilities, great faculty and professors, lots of student clubs and societies, lots of sports and events, It happens because Canadian government is very serious about the education and it invests billions of dollars every year in
primary and secondary education and it is approximately 5% of the GDP which the government spends on education so you can clearly see that Canada is one of the top places for studying and it has a great education system in the world because the education system has both practical and critical learning with lectures and tutorials along the way.
- Earn while study
Another advantage of studying in Canada is you can get a chance to earn money while you study in the University.
Students who get visa to study in Canada are given permission to work for maximum of 20 hours every week both on and off campus to make some money during their education in the universities, depending upon the type of course you are studying in Canada the maximum hours of external work will vary and in order to work in Canada as a student obviously you need a student visa and without it you cannot even study in Canada.
Apart from getting some financial independence and cover up some expenses you also get other benefits of working while studying like you get practical experience and learn to work hard, your skills will develop etc and some of the jobs you can do in Canada as a student are working as a librarian, working in administrative office tech support campus guide cleaning kitchens utensils bathrooms etc and working in cafeteria and all of this are on campus jobs and you can work off campus like,
And After you complete your post graduate education you can get additional 3 years to work in Canada by the government so that you can get enough work experience and increase your skill set.
Retail outlets, Customer service, Cashier, Personal Tutor, Translator, Freelancer, Babysitter, Driver, Dog walker, etc.
You can easily make a couple of $100 every week As a student by working on the side in Canada.
- Employment opportunities
Another advantage is that there are many employment opportunities you can get in Canada.
Canada has the employment rate of 62% and it is one of the largest and stable economies in the world in terms of GDP per capita ratio, the GDP per capita is around 46000 dollars in Canada and there are many high tech companies and businesses established in this country like royal Bank of Canada Toronto bank Shopify Thomson Reuters Canadian national resources BCE CIBC etc.
And obviously Canada has many top cities in the world like Vancouver Toronto Montreal Ottawa Quebec City etc and some of the most highly demanded jobs you can get in Canada are related to tech field such as information security analyst data scientist artificial intelligence engineer and many more.
- Lots of tourist places
Another advantage is that there are many tools places you can visit in Canada like, Niagara falls Toronto tower Whistler, Bay of Fundy, Canadian Museum for Human Rights, many national parks, mountains, stadiums, etc.
More importantly if you look at the map of canada then you can see there are many water bodies in the country and it is true that 9% of the countries land is water bodies and lakes and there are more than 500 lakes in the country, so whenever you are stressed out and want to relax you can visit anyone of those lakes and obviously you can visit many tourist places of Canada.
All the cities and states of Canada are interconnected with each other with great transportation system and some of the facilities of transportation are buses taxis ferry boats, cars Subway trains street cars & cycles.
- Multi cultural country
Canada is also a very multicultural and welcoming country for international students and immigrants.
Even though Christianity is the largest religion in the country other religions are Muslim Hinduism Sikhism Jainism Buddhism jew are popular in the country.
Canadian government has adopted the concept of multiculturalism in the country in 1970’s period and people from various ethnic backgrounds and religions live in the country so you can have various cultures and festivals celebrated in the country like Christmas Diwali and others, Canada is also rated as top country when it comes to welcoming & friendly people.
So if you visit this country you can get exposure to various cultures people and different mindsets and ideologies of people, This can have significant impact on your career and personality because you will get new experience and a good network of people in your life.
- No language barrier
Another advantage is that there is no language barrier to study in Canadian universities because the official national language of Canada is English and French and even though if you don’t learn French language but English is considered to be a global language
because it is spoken in many countries like India Pakistan Sri Lanka and many other Asian countries and also in many European and African countries, English is also a national language for over 90 different countries & you don’t have to learn any new language to communicate with people in Canada because you can do it in English language there.
- Scholarships & Health care
Another advantage is that you can get many scholarships to study in Canada for international students depending upon where you are coming from you can have some scholarships, You can check out all the scholarships here for the international students.
If you want to study in top universities of Canada like Toronto and Mcgill University’s then you can get various financial assistance like need-based and merit-based scholarships and you can also get student loans to fund your education both for national and international students.
Apart from scholarships the country also has one of the best infrastructure and facilities for healthcare.
For Canadian citizens and residents of Canada you can get public health insurance at almost free public health care by the government and for non-Canadian citizens and immigrants who are studying in Canada, You are also available for healthcare but it may be sometimes free and sometimes you need to pay the premium amount yearly for the facilities.
As an international student you can get basic health coverage and some basic health studies from the Canadian government for free but for this you need to be eligible for it by enrolling in any full time studies for at least 12 months of period in any Canadian University apart from that it is always advised to have health insurance covered if you want to study in Canada because of the expensive health costs, and since you are not the citizen of Canada you will not be getting free health care facilities like you would get as a Canadian citizen.
So even though you get basic health insurance cover as international student but all the health facilities are not completely free because you are not Canadian citizen if you are studying in Canada as international student Which is quite bad.
- Amazing food
another advantage is that the country has amazing foods like,
- Butter tarts.
- Montréal-style bagels.
- Montreal-style smoked meat sandwiches.
- Nanaimo bars.
- Tourtière.
And because it is located very next to America so many popular food chain restaurants like McDonald’s KFC Subway Tim Horton Pizza Hut Starbucks New York Fry’s, Mary brown and Swiss chalet.
- Safe country
If you are visiting any country to study in that country then the number one priority has to be of your safety in that country because you are visiting every strange place that you have never visited before and when it comes to visiting Canada for studies in my opinion it is one of the safest countries in the world and the data backs it up.
According to the data Crime rates in Canada are 5,334 incidents per 100,000 inhabitants, and it is no surprise that Canada is one of the top 10 safest countries to visit in the world and since a couple of years the crime rate in Canada is decreasing a lot, there are multiple reasons like people are getting older in Canada, increase in police services, more security cameras,
better crime laws and regulations, whatever the reason maybe it is always good to have low crime in the country because that increases safety of the people and creates more employment opportunities and more businesses established and it is a no surprise that Canada is one of the highly developed countries and has high standard of living in the country.
These are all the major advantages of studying in Canada.
Cons of studying in Canada
- Climate
One of the main disadvantages of studying in Canada is obviously the climate.
We can divide the Canadian country into parts as north and south and the climate in North Canada is like very cold in the winter and rainy season like you can see a lot of snowfall in this period and in southern part of Canada it is not as much cold in winter and rainy season but hot summers.
The average temperature of summer season in Canada is around 20 to 27 degree Celsius and in winter it can go up to -5 to -15 degrees Celsius so it is freezing cold in winter and quiet warm and hot in summer season.
Many students find it very difficult to live and study in especially winter season because it is freezing cold outside you will have ice and snow on streets cars roads, many road accidents occur due to this.
- Home sickness
Another disadvantage of studying in Canada as a foreign student is the feeling of homesickness especially for Indian and Asian students.
It is reported that 50 to 70% of the international students feel home sickness at some point of their studies in the country and because of home sickness and staying away from family in a strange country you have never visited before and new people it can lead to various mental health issues like depression and anxiety and it can also disturb your sleep cycle focus levels productivity in general.
The only solution for home sickness is to immerse yourself in education and work, You can meet new people by participating in various university clubs and societies and also get some work and occupy your mind with some activity so that you don’t have the time to feel lonely and alone.
- Education and living costs
Another disadvantage of studying in Canada is the education and living costs is quite high because Canada is a developed country.
Let’s take a look at the education costs first, and comparing with other countries like UK and USA Canada is actually a very affordable country to study because the government also invests a lot of money in education and if you take a look at the top university which is Toronto University of Canada and the tuition fees is around 20 to 30,000 Canadian dollars per annum for international
students, on top of that you also have to include accommodation and living costs which will be a few thousand dollars more so it will easily cost you around 40 to $50,000 to study in Canada for every year including the tuition fees, healthcare, food and clothing, rental fees, transportation & communication fees etc
- Tough to get admission in the universities
Another disadvantage is that it is also very tough to get admission into the universities of Canada for example the acceptance rate of Toronto University is around 45% which means out of 100 students 45 can get admission and 46% is acceptance rate of McGill University, 52 for British Columbia University of Canada.
If we compare this with top universities of USA or UK like Harvard University has acceptance rate of 5% or Princeton has 7% and universities like Oxford in England has 17% acceptance rate and 21% in Cambridge University so comparing with other Western universities the acceptance rate is slightly higher but still it is quite difficult to get admission and it can be a lot more hard for international students especially for medical schools and MBA courses.
- Visa requirements and rejections
Another disadvantage is that the country has tough visa permissions and many requirements.
Apart from the work visa even you have strict and tough requirements to study in Canada which you can check it out here and you need to fill all this requirements of long list for visa approval.
It is estimated that around 30% of all the student visa applications in Canada are refused and rejected every year and one of the main reasons for such high rejection rate is because of the tough requirements, one of the requirement is that You need to prove you have the money to afford your education in Canada like tuition fees leaving expenses and transportation fees, You also need to have acceptance letter from any Canadian University and you should be academically brilliant to get the visa.
So before you apply for any scholarships and loans you must prove that you have the financial capability to study in Canada and pay the tuition fees and living expenses excluding scholarships and money you will be earning by working in the side in Canada, if you don’t prove that you have the financial capability then most likely your visa will be rejected as you can see it is 30% Which is definitely quite high.
Apart from this I have not found many other disadvantages of studying in Canada.
With that said let’s end the article.
Conclusion
These are all the pros and cons of studying in Canada.
Do comment on what are your thoughts about studying in Canada in the comment section below share the article and subscribe to my blog to receive notifications as whenever I publish a new article in future.