Montreal has long had a reputation as one of Canada’s best student cities, thanks in no small part to McGill, but it’s far from the only university town Canadians will cross the country for. My friends scattered to schools from coast to coast, which meant I got to sample multiple Canadian university experiences without actually enrolling at all of them.
I’ve done the house parties, the pre-drinks, the club crawls and the pub crawls. I’ve slept on dorm-room floors and even sat through a lecture, extremely hungover, at a school I wasn’t even enrolled in.
So, armed with those experiences, I’m ranking Canadian universities, McGill included, based on one very important and extremely unacademic question: How fun would it actually be to go there?
That means weighing the city, the nightlife, the student culture and the overall campus experience, but mostly the party scene. And, spoiler, some of Canada’s top-ranked universities didn’t even make the cut.
Here’s my completely subjective ranking of the most fun universities in Canada, from the party schools I’d barely survive at to the one I’d pick if I could do it all over again. McGill fans, you’ll want to keep scrolling.
University of British Columbia
UBC in Vancouver might be the one Canadian university that rivals McGill when it comes to international appeal. I’ve lived in the U.S. for 10 years, and I’m still surprised by how many people I’ve met here who considered UBC when they were weighing a university abroad.
It’s not hard to see why. The campus sits out on the Point Grey peninsula, with the ocean on one side, the North Shore mountains across the water and beaches just down the hill.
Ask any Vancouverite what the appeal is and they’ll tell you it’s the outdoors. Or the robotics program. Or Wreck Beach, the clothing-optional stretch below campus, if they’re being honest. Nobody, however, will say it’s the Greek life.
Full disclosure: I went to a handful of UBC parties back in high school (we’ll keep that between us), and none of them were especially memorable. Bimini’s Wednesday College Night, on the other hand, was the peak of the Vancouver club scene, and nothing compared to the first week back after winter break, when the drama, the drinks and that damn club photographer were all out in full force.
Ultimately, it’s a school on an absolutely gorgeous campus in one of Canada’s most beautiful cities, with the ocean, mountains and beaches basically in your backyard. There are certainly worse places to spend four years.
University of Guelph
The University of Guelph, in Ontario, makes this list because I’ve decided every ranking needs at least one wholesome entry before things start to go downhill.
One of the University of Guelph’s biggest campus traditions involves “Old Jeremiah,” an antique cannon that students sneak out to paint after dark. The catch is that once you’ve painted it, you’re expected to guard it until sunrise so nobody comes along and paints over your masterpiece.
That’s just so delightfully “university” to me.
Will it compete with the absolute degeneracy waiting higher up this list? Probably not.
But if you want the kind of university experience where you make friends in residence, take part in weird traditions and somehow end up guarding a painted cannon at 3 a.m., Guelph seems pretty damn cute.
Dalhousie University
My best friend went to Dalhousie University in Halifax — which, at the time, I thought was absolutely insane. We were Vancouver kids, so I just could not fathom why on earth she’d move all the way to Nova Scotia.
Still, once I got a proper window into what student life there looked like, it clicked for me. She had an amazing friend group, including plenty of locals. Halifax has a genuinely fun bar and pub scene, and there’s something about being on the East Coast that feels like its own little university universe.
My issue? Every time we FaceTimed in the winter, my reaction was: “Absolutely not.”
If I’m going to spend four years going out, I want to be able to dress cute. And if you’re wearing a short skirt in Halifax in February, you’ll need the most opaque thermal tights possible underneath it.
Maybe that’s superficial, but getting dressed up is half the fun of university. I’m standing by it.
Queen’s University
Kingston, Ontario, feels like a proper mid-size university town. The Queen’s campus and the student neighbourhoods around it make everything feel concentrated (in a good way), and there’s enough school spirit that it seems like the kind of place where you really do make “friends for life.”
I like the slightly ridiculous, all-consuming experience where your friends live down the street, everyone goes to the same places, and the cool letterman jackets are actually worn by the engineering students. It’s giving “the limit does not exist.”
Western University
Everything I just said about Queen’s applies to Western University too, only turned up a notch. Located in London, Ontario, Western has pretty much everything you’d want from a classic party-school experience: a massive student population, big parties, serious school spirit and the kind of social scene where something always seems to be going on.
My friends who went to Western always, without fail, had a house guest. There was always somebody crashed on somebody’s couch, even on a random Tuesday.
For me, though, the Western lifestyle is just a little too grimy.
A long-weekend bender? Absolutely. Four straight years of it? I’m not so sure.
Western gives me the sense that your kitchen counter will be forever slightly sticky, permanently stained with the ghosts of spilled vodka crans past. Some people will read that and immediately decide Western deserves the No. 1 spot. I understand those people. I’m just not one of them.
Bishop’s University
Bishop’s University, tucked away in Sherbrooke’s Lennoxville borough, about two hours from Montreal, probably has fewer students than some Vancouver high schools. That means there’s one major advantage, and one terrifying disadvantage, to going there: everyone knows everyone.
At 18, though? That’s FUN.
You show up to a party and actually know half the room. Your friends know your crush. Your crush knows your ex. Your ex probably knows what you did last night before you do.
At a massive university, you can make a terrible decision on Saturday and vanish anonymously into a lecture hall on Monday. At Bishop’s, there’s really nowhere to hide. The person you made out with last night lives there, and unfortunately, you’re probably going to see them at breakfast.
Throw in Quebec’s drinking age of 18, and suddenly this tiny school starts making a lot of sense to me. By fourth year, I’d probably be desperate to escape to Montreal, where nobody knows my name. At 18? Sign me up.
McGill University
McGill University isn’t necessarily going to out-party Western on pure chaos, but that’s exactly why I’d rather go there.
Set right in downtown Montreal at the foot of Mount Royal, McGill gives you a rare blend of a genuine university experience and living like an actual adult in one of Canada’s coolest cities.
You’re not stuck choosing between frat parties and somebody’s questionable student apartment in Milton-Parc. You’re in Montreal. You can hit the bars and clubs on Saint-Laurent, try a new restaurant every weekend and catch festivals like Osheaga, Jazz Fest and Igloofest.
One night you’re doing something deeply university-coded, and the next you’re pretending to be an impossibly sophisticated 19-year-old who simply lives in Montreal now.
And thanks to Quebec’s legal drinking age of 18, you can actually take part in the city’s nightlife for basically your entire time at university.
For me, that’s almost unbeatable.
Almost…
St. Francis Xavier University
You weren’t expecting that, were you?
If I were ranking the best cities to go to university in, McGill and Montreal would win, hands down. But I’m not. I’m ranking where I think it would be most fun to go to university, and for that, the crown goes to StFX.
St. Francis Xavier University, in the small town of Antigonish, Nova Scotia, is basically the opposite of my own university experience. I went to school in London, England, and while I loved living there, part of me regrets missing out on the full-blown party-school experience in Canada.
Luckily, I had friends at universities all over the place, so I spent plenty of weekends visiting them, couch-surfing and catching little glimpses of that world. And there’s something you can get away with at 19 or 20 that becomes significantly less charming as you approach 30: being a complete sh*thead.
Stay out until some ungodly hour. Sleep on your friend’s floor. Eat garbage. Go to a ridiculous house party. Wake up and realize that, somehow, everyone is doing it all again the next day.
StFX takes my No. 1 spot because it seems to offer that experience in its purest form. Antigonish is tiny, the university basically runs the town, the school spirit is huge, and StFX has built a serious reputation for knowing how to party.
Will you leave with the sophisticated big-city experience you’d get at McGill in Montreal? No.
But you have the rest of your life to be sophisticated.
You only get a few years where being a complete mess with all your friends is practically part of the curriculum.
The opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Narcity Media.
This article’s cover image was used for illustrative purposes only.