Hey Canadian Escapists, is it all it's cracked up to be?

[irishda]

I always liked telling people "Canada is like the U.S. except everyone's much nicer, nobody talks about politics nearly as much, there's no such thing as a gun-nut, and milk comes in bags."

I may just be a man from the Soo, but I still curse the day my parents got rid of their dual citizenship because they thought they had to.

Also: Lester "Mike" Pearson and John "That dude's crazy" Diefenbaker are like the Tupac and Biggie of Canada.

 

[zHellas]

Few questions:

1.) I plan on going to a University here in the U.S. (hopefully shit won't fuck up during the time in between me going there and my 4 years there) for a Computer Science degree. If I do move to Canada hopefully after I get it, would I be able to use the degree to get a job in Canada?

2.) How exactly do I get dual citizenship for Canada & the U.S.?

3.) How much does it cost to go to a University in Canada?

1)Depends where you go and how good you are. Montreal has a growing circle of game developers and IT companies, but I'm not sure what the market will be like here in 4 years. I'm not sure about the rest of Canada, but my Brother in law has a masters in computer Science and he actually left the country to work in the states, so not a great prognosis for the jobs here. Then agaiin he got an offer from microsoft and that can be hard to turn down.

2) I know there is a citizenship test for Canada, much like the US, and as long as you can become a naturalised citizen you can hold both citizenships with little or no problems.

3) University costs will depend on the province. In Quebec our rates are stupid low (I'm paying about 4000$ a year) but as an out of province student your rates will be a lot higher. I think its like that for most Universities here, unless you are a citizen born in the province you are studying in, they can charge you more than the locals, since the Universities are largely funded by tax dollars.

Okay. Any good places in Canada to learn Computer Science that aren't in Quebec? No offense, but I'm not really interested in learning French.

 

[zHellas]

cheaper education (It costs me 6k a year to go to a Large Univercity, and that is including books.)

That sounds REALLY good to me, I plan on going to collage, but I didn't think I would be able to afford going to anywhere fancy because of my crap ACT scores, anyone know exactly how you obtain a student's visa in Canada?

I would also like to know this, though I have apparently good SAT scores.

 

[phatty500]

I'd personally say stay away from the prairie provinces. We've got alot of crime and not much else to be worth it. All my freinds who come from British Columbia tell me its quite nice if you were going to move to canada id say go there.

 

[Kanatatsu]

Also I find Canadian girls to be some of the hottest out there. You the girls from California in the states and it makes you shudder they look so fake. Now obviously not all American girls are like that but you get quite a few fake ones, and we do have those in Canada as well. I just find Canadian girls to just look better and healthier.

Is this a good time to mention that I'm a Bisexual male with a strong male preference?

Speaking of which, how's the LGBT community doing in Canada? Is it better up there or is there just as much homophobia as there is down here?

Okay then you need to go to Toronto, Montreal, or Vancouver, in that order.

Toronto is by FAR the most LGBT friendly community outside of San Francisco (yes, anywhere in the world).

 

[LITE992]

There's free healthcare

 

[Pinkamena]

Why not scandinavia?
Just kidding, Canada seems like cool country too. I've always wanted to visit it.

 

[Sight Unseen]

Few questions:

1.) I plan on going to a University here in the U.S. (hopefully shit won't fuck up during the time in between me going there and my 4 years there) for a Computer Science degree. If I do move to Canada hopefully after I get it, would I be able to use the degree to get a job in Canada?

2.) How exactly do I get dual citizenship for Canada & the U.S.?

3.) How much does it cost to go to a University in Canada?

I don't really know much about the high tech industry since that's not my field at all, but I live in Ottawa, and I think that we used to have a very strong high tech/telecom presence here. I'm not sure what the state of it is now though.

As for universities, my tuition fees (university of Ottawa) have been about $5,000 a year or so, but my girlfriend who lives in the states has looked into trying to transfer to my university, and the tuition fees for her would have been nearly triple, I think around $15,000 a year, since she is not a Canadian citizen or a resident of Ontario. Add to that living expenses, books, and a mandatory bus pass included in your school fees, and it gets expensive.


OT: I personally love Canada and there's no place I'd rather live. Yes are politicians are just as horrible,but usually I just ignore them. the one downside to me is that almost every product here is a) more expensive and b) harder to obtain than in the states. Espescially if you want to order something from an american website, DO NOT have them ship it across the border with UPS or Fed Ex, you'll regret it.

 

[Sight Unseen]

Few questions:

1.) I plan on going to a University here in the U.S. (hopefully shit won't fuck up during the time in between me going there and my 4 years there) for a Computer Science degree. If I do move to Canada hopefully after I get it, would I be able to use the degree to get a job in Canada?

2.) How exactly do I get dual citizenship for Canada & the U.S.?

3.) How much does it cost to go to a University in Canada?

1)Depends where you go and how good you are. Montreal has a growing circle of game developers and IT companies, but I'm not sure what the market will be like here in 4 years. I'm not sure about the rest of Canada, but my Brother in law has a masters in computer Science and he actually left the country to work in the states, so not a great prognosis for the jobs here. Then agaiin he got an offer from microsoft and that can be hard to turn down.

2) I know there is a citizenship test for Canada, much like the US, and as long as you can become a naturalised citizen you can hold both citizenships with little or no problems.

3) University costs will depend on the province. In Quebec our rates are stupid low (I'm paying about 4000$ a year) but as an out of province student your rates will be a lot higher. I think its like that for most Universities here, unless you are a citizen born in the province you are studying in, they can charge you more than the locals, since the Universities are largely funded by tax dollars.

Okay. Any good places in Canada to learn Computer Science that aren't in Quebec? No offense, but I'm not really interested in learning French.

I don't know much about where would be good to learn computer science, just want to point out that you shouldn't rule out quebec necessarily because of french. In montreal at least, I think there's a strong english community, and McGill University, one of the best in Canada, is in Montreal and I think it's mostly english.

 

[Stoic raptor]

One word.

Poutine.

That is all.

 

[Guffe]

I'm quite interested in the responses too, it's one of the few places in the world I would emigrate to

Check out loads of places in Europe!
Mostly great countries here, and you survive with english in many parts.

 

[Karl AMD]

I live in BC and its pretty awesome. Our government is a raging bunch of morons and the taxes and costs of living are ridiculous. Traffic is awful especially in the lower mainland (basically Vancouver for those who don't know.) But past all that its beautiful and the greatest place to live(also Canucks rule)

 

[keneth231742]

cheaper education (It costs me 6k a year to go to a Large Univercity, and that is including books.)

That sounds REALLY good to me, I plan on going to collage, but I didn't think I would be able to afford going to anywhere fancy because of my crap ACT scores, anyone know exactly how you obtain a student's visa in Canada?

I would also like to know this, though I have apparently good SAT scores.

for most universities in Alberta and BC at least they do not care about you SAT or spesific test scores all you need is good grades and your set.

 

[Commissar Sae]

Few questions:

1.) I plan on going to a University here in the U.S. (hopefully shit won't fuck up during the time in between me going there and my 4 years there) for a Computer Science degree. If I do move to Canada hopefully after I get it, would I be able to use the degree to get a job in Canada?

2.) How exactly do I get dual citizenship for Canada & the U.S.?

3.) How much does it cost to go to a University in Canada?

1)Depends where you go and how good you are. Montreal has a growing circle of game developers and IT companies, but I'm not sure what the market will be like here in 4 years. I'm not sure about the rest of Canada, but my Brother in law has a masters in computer Science and he actually left the country to work in the states, so not a great prognosis for the jobs here. Then agaiin he got an offer from microsoft and that can be hard to turn down.

2) I know there is a citizenship test for Canada, much like the US, and as long as you can become a naturalised citizen you can hold both citizenships with little or no problems.

3) University costs will depend on the province. In Quebec our rates are stupid low (I'm paying about 4000$ a year) but as an out of province student your rates will be a lot higher. I think its like that for most Universities here, unless you are a citizen born in the province you are studying in, they can charge you more than the locals, since the Universities are largely funded by tax dollars.

Okay. Any good places in Canada to learn Computer Science that aren't in Quebec? No offense, but I'm not really interested in learning French.

Montreal is pretty Anglo friendly actually, and we have some good English Universities in the city. French is an asset for jobs/getting to know people here, but its not required. Although I can understand your point. Not that familiar with the quality of some of the other Canadian universities and their computer science departments, so you will have to ask around or google it.

 

[viranimus]

So if you happen to be a raging Alcoholic, don't move to Vancouver I guess.

Wait, I thought people moved to Vancouver for the weed and hookers. Perhaps thats why alcohol is so expensive, to give other vices a shot to compete. Or Perhaps I am just regurgitating misinformed statements about Canada. At least they had nothing to do with pork products, hockey, mounties or igloos, right?

 

[JCBFGD]

So my plan is, after I graduate from high school and college in the 'States and get some experience at other developers, to get a job at BioWare in Edmonton and live in the city. Ignoring the admitted unlikelihood of this (which gives me a =( ), would living in Edmonton be a good idea?

 

[tippy2k2]

Not to burst your bubble, but isn't moving to a new country kind of a pain in the ass? As in, if you even want to be considered you need some pretty good skills and reasons for why they should accept you to their country. It's not about what you want, it's about if they want you.

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/immigrate/skilled/assess/index.asp

Since you talked about wanting to go to college, I am under the assumption that you are in your late teens, which would mean you would have minimal skills. The grass probably looks greener everywhere because you haven't been everywhere. EVERYWHERE has bullshit problems, that's not exclusive to the United States. This reminds me of that "Move out and get a job teenagers while you still know everything" t-shirt. Maybe Canada would be better, maybe not, but it's easy to paint a rosy colored picture of everywhere else and paint where you're at as a hole in the ground.

 

[Riddle78]

We're more stable than the rest of the world,right now,by the looks of things. Although,I'd avoid military bases and communities if you want employment outside of the Forces,as employment otherwise in such places tends to suck big time. However,as far as how the government acts...I can't really tell you,because I don't exactly pay attention to the news. Maybe I should.

 

[sharks9]

Yes it is! I live in Ontario in a very nice town(Oakville) and it's fantastic living in Canada. If you moved to Ontario you'd definitely want to check out the Muskoka region(Northern Ontario) because it has some of the nicest scenery I've ever seen.

Also, if you're a fan of hockey you can cheer for the Montreal Canadiens!

 

[sharks9]

Okay. Any good places in Canada to learn Computer Science that aren't in Quebec? No offense, but I'm not really interested in learning French.

From what I've heard from my friends the University of Waterloo has a really good Computer Science program. One of the best in the country for sure.

It's in Ontario if you didn't know.