Western University — Attraction in Ontario

Well oh boy this University won the award for the most depressing experience of my entire life. Instead of graduating with "the happiest day smile on my face" I was rather full of regrets and depression. Fake smile is all I could do for the camera on graduation day following all of the time I have spent in this University.

Never felt so isolated, alone, depressed. There is literarily nothing engaging about this University outside of labs. Labs were honestly the best experience I've had. Don't get me wrong. They were rare. And I say rare rare. This is the only time you had the chance to apply the knowledge you learned in a self regulated manner. This was the most engaging and fun part about University because I got a chance to talk with other students, develop methods, test hypothesis. Outside of labs there was nothing engaging at all about this place.

I woke up, had breakfast, went to boring plain lectures. Didn't even get a chance to talk to anyone or get engaged in any activities. Close my notebook and go home. Most of the time the material taught in class was as poor as it gets. 80% of the courses I had to self teach because I got nothing out of lectures. Almost half of the time the lecturers couldn't even properly speak English for me to even understand the material. I guess the hiring is done via connections rather than actual proficiency in teaching.

Most of the profs are extremely hostile, rude and arrogant towards students and unwilling to help. I was so excited to be there and the first few times I stayed to ask questions after lecture I had a first year prof tell me I shouldn't be in his class (Tom Haffie). But there were few, rare amazing gems that made the experience slightly better such as Michelle Belton, Mark Bernards, Tim Hain, Denis Maxwell, Vera Tai, Greg Thorn, Peter G. Brown, Felix Lee, Mostafa Milani and Sarah Gallagher. These people were truly amazing. Not to mention everybody in ANATCELL classes were also passionate about what they taught and made the classes extremely engaging and fun to learn.

Even though there are a lot of good people here, its only a small fraction of what is behind administrative curtain at Western and not even close to being enough to fix what is wrong with this University.

On multiple occasions I've experienced racism from a professor, mostly in computer science and math courses. I've had professor deny a request for extension for me due to a valid reason, and then grant that request on the same assignment to another student for no reason at all, just because they were from the same country of origin, middle east.

The administration/counselling doesn't care about a single thing you say or do. The are all on the power trip and try to find any way to show you that you are nothing and they have all of the power. Few times I was really sick and when I brought a note from a doctor stating that, the office administration was telling me which symports I can have and which I can't to have the form approved even though the doctor openly stated that I couldn't have written the exams due to the condition. Most, actually all of the time I walked out of the counselling more depressed than I walked in.

Lost of teacher students who have no idea what they are doing. You end up relearning everything at home and wasting time.

Books are overpriced and designed to last only 1 term after which the code or whatever is void so you cant buy used books and forced to buy brand new and overpriced every time.

Beware of 5 star google reviews. Most of the reviews are bots giving 5 stars when in fact its far from reality. I've went though some reviews saying "amazing looking campus", "great place to be, my daughters goes here", "Great", "Great place to have a drink" etc. Most of the 5 start people who leave review shouldn't even have the ability to leave a review. Its a university, it should be rated for quality of a university not a walk in the park.

I regret 95% of my time here besides the amazing people I have mentioned before. I thank you guys, you were...

The University of Western Ontario (UWO), branded as Western University as of 2012 and commonly shortened to Western, is a public research university in London, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on 455 hectares (1,120 acres) of land, surrounded by residential neighbourhoods and the Thames River bisecting the campus's eastern portion. The university operates twelve academic faculties and schools. It is a member of the U15, a group of research-intensive universities in Canada.

The university was founded on 7 March 1878 by Bishop Isaac Hellmuth of the Anglican Diocese of Huron as the Western University of London, Ontario. It incorporated Huron College, which had been founded in 1863. The first four faculties were Arts, Divinity, Law and Medicine. The university became non-denominational in 1908. Beginning in 1919, the university had affiliated with several denominational colleges. The university grew substantially in the post-World War II era, and a number of faculties and schools were added.

Western is a co-educational university, with more than 24,000 students, and over 306,000 living alumni worldwide. Notable alumni include government officials, academics, business leaders, Nobel Laureates, Rhodes Scholars, and distinguished fellows. Western's varsity teams, known as the Western Mustangs, compete in the Ontario University Athletics conference of U Sports.

The University of Western Ontario is in the city of London, Ontario, in the southwestern end of the Quebec City–Windsor Corridor. Most of the campus is surrounded by residential neighbourhoods, with the Thames River bisecting the campus' eastern portion. Western Road is the university's major transportation artery, travelling north to south. The central campus, which includes most of the University's student residences and teaching facilities is approximately 170.8 hectares (422 acres).

Student residences make up the largest part of Western's building area, with approximately 31 percent of all building space allocated for residential use. Teaching and research facilities take up the second largest portion of building space, with approximately 28 percent of all building space allocated for that use. Most of these facilities are used for research, with 48 percent of all teaching and research facilities allocated for that purpose. Approximately 27 percent of all teaching and research facilities is made up of classrooms, with the remaining 24 percent made up of instructional laboratories.

The development of Western's present campus began in the 1920s. Many of the University's earliest buildings used Collegiate Gothic designs, a characteristic confirmed in Western's master building plan in 1934.[26] As the campus expanded in the late 1960s, the university abandoned earlier commitments to Collegiate Gothic designs in favour of brutalist and modernist architectural designs. In 2000, planning for Western's central campus was re-conceptualized, with the core devoted for only academic buildings. The plan saw University College Hill as the focal point, linking the lower portion of the campus with the South Valley The 2006 campus master plan called for the protection and renewed emphasis on Western's Collegiate Gothic buildings. The University's boiler room/power plant is the oldest building on the University's central campus, opening in 1922. The oldest academic buildings within the central campus is University College and the Physics and Astronomy Building. Groundbreaking for both buildings began in 1922, and were both completed in 1924. The Amit Chakma Engineering Building is the newest academic building on campus, opening in September 2018. The Western Interdisciplinary Research Building, or WIRB, is the newest building on campus and houses state-of-the art research facilities for the study of cognitive neuroscience as well as the Brain and Mind Institute, BrainsCAN, and the Rotman Institute...

We all know about the beautiful campus and outstanding campus life, so I'll focus on what matters most at the end of the four years, the academic side. I did my chemistry degree at Western and because I've also worked there doing summer research, I know the internal workings. If you don't have time to read this full review my opinion is I can't recommend the chemistry department and UWO. Now if you have time to read more, I will split my comments into fact versus opinion to the best of my ability so you can come to your own conclusions.

Opinion: The entire school including the chemistry department is a big money grab and is financially corrupt. Fact: The president accepted double salary of about $1 million and then Western spent another $100,000 hiring a public relations firm to rescue his and the university's reputation. Fact: In first year chem, students must buy $300 of photocopied nearly black and white lab manuals and work books, and my research boss told me the money goes to pay for parties, social events and renovations to research labs that bring no benefit to first year students. Opinion: The quality of instruction varies from poor to excellent depending on the prof but mostly poor to average. Fact: One prof vaped e-cigs during an exam. Fact: Many classes are spent listening to profs read off powerpoints. Opinion: Most profs do not care about teaching because they're too busy with research or pretend to be so. Fact: It is impossible to contact a prof outside of class if you got questions, especially in first year, so you go to the resource room where a TA gives you wrong information. Fact: It does get better in the smaller classes, but you won't see that for a few years. Fact: The department just wants more enrolment, or what they internally call bums in seats, so they can get more money, but the same can be said of every department at Western. Opinion: Some profs have high standards, a good thing, but so high that any humanity or compassion is out the window. Fact: "Too bad" or similar is a common answer you'll get from profs. Opinion: If you take chemistry at Western be ready to be a bum in a seat and get a big line of credit because OSAP won't cut it. Opinion: Go to McMaster instead if you want to do chemistry or any other science. Opinion: My sister just finished second year in chemistry at McMaster and thought the profs were genuinely interested in her success and well being, and she has not experienced anything I told her. Fact: My parents are both well-accomplished chemists and my sister and I both love chemistry to death, so it's not like we have anything against the subject. Despite my poor experience taking chemistry at Western, I am still very fond of the science and am currently doing my Master's another school where the attitude is...