Wannabe

Porter Airlines has good prices to Halifax from Ottawa - for 2 adults (sorry, can't remember if you have kids...) leaving Fri 13, coming back Sun 15, they quoted $782.

charlie1

I have a BSC (Hons) degree 1st class, but this is not sufficient to secure decent employment, I have to work nights in a local hotel, for little more than minimum wage, most of the other staff I work with also have university degrees.

20 years prior experience also cannot be taken into consideration, as it is not Nova Scotian experience.

Here, unless you have a unique skill, loyalty and long service are the only ways to get a "real" job.

Paul Wildy

Charlie1 - it doesn't sound like you have been given a fair hearing. What is your prior experience in? And what reasons did employers give you for not taking it into account? How long hasve you been in NS?

The situation you describe hasn't been my experience at all and I suspect that some industries/employers are probably more progressive to reckognising overseas experience than others. If I can help put you in touch with someone I'd be happy to

Paul Wildy

Really didn't think I was being "aggressive" - just didn't agree with your argument in this instance.

dbd33

Your list was a bit misleading though (I think everything in Macleans is). What's the point of publishing a ranking of universities that only offer undergraduate courses? Someone considering a first degree wouldn't be interested in looking only at those.

Paul Wildy

Rankings of this kind (whether for Universities, secondary schools, private schools etc) are always highly contentious in my experience and Macleans' rankings are respected by some and dismissed by others - which is to be expected. Thats not really the point though. The purpose behind posting the study in the first place was not to categorically prove that whichever university ranked #3 for example REALLY was the third best - but rather to try and dispell the view help by some that Halifax wasn't really on the map as far as world class education goes. Comments like..."I told my then lawyer that I had a daughter at school there. "The poor girl" he said "in that hole, had she no grades?"." could have caused some people to think that it wasn't one of the top places to study which would have been misleading in my view.

charlie1

My whole career has been spent in the Hotel & catering industry, 16 years management, 9 years spent working up to management. I have spoken with every hotel in town, with the same repsonse from every one, that I need Nova Scotian experience, and will have to start from the bottom and work my way up.

My resume was prepared by nova scotia job search, as well as my cover letter. While speaking with all employers they are very impressed with my credentials but, always come back to my being from overseas, 2 even called me arragant for thinking that as an "outsider" i would be accepted. Most disconcerting was that 3 GM's, that I spoke to were British, they told me they had to start at the bottom so I should too.

The job shop even told me that was the way it is here and to just accept it.


We have been here a year now, & each day I think harder and harder about heading west. Any help you can offer would be appreciated, PM me.

dbd33

At the risk of flogging a dead horse, that ranking makes Halifax look to be a worse place to study than it is; it ranks schools in NS highly by eliminating good schools in other provinces (and one in NS). The most casual observer is likely to think "Oi, where's all the schools I've heard of?".

Really Macleans is only useful if you want to read dreamy articles about Conrad Black's conquests in the board room or limo. He is to Peter Newman as Diana was to Andrew Morton.

Novocastrian

Precisely. The point is that you mislead your readers by stating that "5 of the top 11 Canadian universities are in Halifax".

If you had bothered to actually consult your source (Maclean's, warts and all) you would find that they choose to divide Canadian Universities into three categories, firstly those with Medical Schools, secondly those with no Medical Schools but otherwise offering a full range of programmes including PhD programmes and which are research active, and thirdly "Primarily Undergraduate Universities" to which group all those in Nova Scotia (except Dalhousie), belong.

If you had stated that Halifax boasts 5 of the top 11 in the third category, I would not have taken issue with you, because (at least by Maclean's methods) you would be right.

However, given your misleading approach on this topic, I reserve the right to take all your other points in praise of Halifax with a large pinch of salt.

Paul Wildy

Actually I think I said in Nova Scotia. You are correct of course that the list I used was one of three different categories used in the rankings - there is no "overall" ranking so you would have to choose one of these 3 lists to refer to. I don't see that as material though. I certainly wouldn't agree that primarily undergraduate universities are not "real" universities (referring to your original post on the subject)! I would love to hear what response you would get were you to make that comment to, for example, the President of St Francis Xavier University!!! In case this thread has not entertained readers enough that would surely make for interesting reading.

As for my points of praise of Halifax - don't take my word for it anyone who is reading this - do your own research, visit the place and decide for yourself. I love it but thats just my opinion (to be taken with a pinch of salt until validated by your own research).

Novocastrian

Dr. Sean Riley, President of SFX would certainly agree that his institution is not one of the "top eleven universities in Canada", except in the narrow sense of the categories employed by Macleans. (By the way, I don't like those categories any more than you seem to).

Paul Wildy

All league tables are really a load of crap - but its hard to form an argument about the region having great universities just based on a "my mate went there and he said it was really great" kind of approach. You need to get hold of something statistical in nature to support an argument like that. If you know of a better study we should post that instead.

Would love to hear what other people think of Halifax who have visited or lived here though.....?

Novocastrian

But I contend that that is exactly what you are doing. I, on the other hand, have repeatedly pointed out that Dalhousie, in Halifax, is truly one of Canada's premier universities.

To claim that StFX is the number one university in Canada without suitable qualification of the context, is akin to claiming that Scunthorpe are the best football team in England, just because they won League One last season.

destinationnovascotia

Universities aside. I will vouch that Halifax (and indeed Nova Scotia) is a great place. Clean, beautiful and friendly with the advantage of a great climate (matter of preference I know). Really diverse scenery and wherever you are you are never far fron the sea. Can't wait to be there again!

Paul Wildy

Yes, but otherwise what would we have to argue about all day? Life would be boring. Anyway I see your last para as a challenge - I intend to find some statistical evidence somewhere to show that Scunthorpe is the best Football team in Engalnd (at least in the Primarily Somethingorother Category) - after all you can find anything on the web!