Each year, Options Solutions team members visit many, many post-secondary institutions. These visits allow us to learn beyond what is readily available on the internet and in print materials. While on campus, we often meet with admission staff and Options alumni who attend the institution. We love learning about the nuance and vibe of each place and about all the hidden opportunities that exist there.
Our Options on Tour series highlights some of our recent adventures and shares them with you. We’ll feature what we saw, who we met, and what neat things/hidden nuggets we learned.
University of King’s College – Halifax, Nova Scotia
The basics:
- Canada’s oldest chartered university
- King’s has had 32 Rhodes Scholars (the most per capita in the world)
- 95% of King’s students receive a financial award
Featured academic programs:
- King’s Foundation Year Program. Students attend lectures with the entire first-year class and then tutorials led by a faculty member with between 10 and 15 students. The curriculum is a chronological study of great books and is influenced by student feedback. Students write papers every two weeks and complete oral exams in December and April.
- Bachelor of Journalism Honours
- Cinema and Media Studies
- Contemporary Studies
- History of Science and Technology
- Law, Justice, and Society
- Music History
- Bachelor of Music
- Certificates in: Medical Humanities and Art History and Visual Culture
Most interesting things I learned:
- 80% of first-year students are in the Foundation Program.
- King’s has an articulation agreement with NSCAD, allowing students to take courses there.
- King’s students can use all of Dalhousie’s services, except they have their own residences, athletic teams, and meal hall.
- Their campus used to be Columbia University’s campus.
- Foundation year students are provisionally pre-admitted into the University of Calgary Faculty of Law.
- The Signal is the School of Journalism’s media outlet.
- They have Lunch and Learns to meet with president, William Lahey, (who lives on campus in the Lodge), an annual President’s skating party, and a popular President’s hike.
- Students have a formal meal once a month when they wear their academic gowns and enjoy a guest speaker.
- Students join King’s through a matriculation ceremony. Students wear the same academic gown to matriculation and graduation. Since 1803, matriculating students have signed the College’s register or matricula.
Vibe words:
- Creative
- Supported
- Focused
- Progressive and open-minded
- Inclusive
- Clever
- Socially conscious
Thank you’s:
Kimberly Gosse, Alumni Relations Manager (Thanks for the great lunch in the meal hall and for the ride so I wouldn’t be late for my St. Mary’s appointment.)
Check out our Admissions category for all our Options on Tour posts!
