The University of Toronto was granted its charter as King's College, an Anglican institution, in 1827, but did not actually begin operation until 1843 (funding issues). In 1850 it was secularised as the University of Toronto by the provincial government, and John Strachan, at the age of 71, founded another University in 1851, Trinity College, gaining a charter from Queen Victoria in 1852. Trinity College, Victoria College, and St. Michael's College federated with the university in the late 1800s, and new colleges were created in the twentieth century.

Velut arbor aevo

The University of Toronto is the 5th largest university in North America with a student population exceeding 55,000 and a research library ranked 4th overall on the continent (all as of 2000).

The U of T is very much a research-oriented institution, providing world class publically-funded graduate and undergraduate programs--contrary to what some disgruntled alumni would tell you. Because its academic areas of study tend to be quite rigorous and more theoretical in nature, many U of T students intellectually or emotionally unprepared for serious study become frustrated and ultimately feel the need to propagate disinformation about their school.

This noder also knows from personal experience that the U of T has one of the best engineering schools around, as well as a particularly good Electrical and Computer Engineering department (plug plug ;)

http://www.toronto.edu/

"Great Minds for a Great Future" is the current sell-me slogan for our revered university. One of the students' unions, much to my delight, has been printing stickers reading "Great Minds with Great Debts." I think this is particularly wonderful, as osap just recently cut all my funding and i'm a bitter little girl.

U of T is a great place in the winter, where you can tempt fate in crossing the ice field that is front campus to get to your 1500-seat lecture on psychology. You can stare at the Univeristy College building and ponder Elizabethan asymmetry, as it is a vital part of the architecture. And of course, like me, you can get locked into Robarts Library at night with 40 million books, 13 floors between yourself and the sidewalk, and no working elevators.

The University of Toronto also has one of the most prominent psychology departments in the world; its faculty are best known for their work on human memory. Through alliances with the Rotman Research Institute and the Baycrest Centre for Geriatrics, they've produced top-quality research on aging, the function of the frontal lobes, and the neurobiology of memory. If you're familiar with research in this area--or even if you've just taken an intro psych class--you've likely heard of Fergus Craik (who came up with the idea of levels of processing) and Endel Tulving (who developed the episodic-semantic memory distinction). And yes, I would love to go to grad school there.