Institut universitaire de technologie de l'Ontario - Oshawa, Ontario

Muhammad T.

Ontario Tech University, also known as Ontario Tech, is a public research university located in Oshawa, Ontario, Canada. The university's main campus is located on approximately 160 hectares of land in northern Oshawa, while its secondary satellite campus is situated in downtown Oshawa.

NINA S. (.

Very beautiful school, very organized, people are friendly.

E T.

Though I never had any in-person courses here during my time as an OTU undergraduate, I did come up to visit this campus location for their library (as a DC student because Durham College is lacking lol), events and activities that occurred here as it is the main building. A few of the professors and staff I have encountered here are all friendly and informative in helping guiding all their students here. There was an annual Lanwar-X for gamers, and workshops for first-years orientation that I recall going to. I remembered fondly of the tables set up at the huge field, that were introducing the various clubs and events for students to engage in. I recall attending the medicine pouch workshop, to make my own. That was a culturally eye-opening experience for me. There are many assistances, such as finances, career, and other advisors that are available here both in-person or virtually to assist. The building itself isn’t difficult to navigate either, as each section is categorized with a letter. Outside of classes and other commitments, their student association is great at managing events, and you can always check their social media (FB, Twitter, etc.) for future events! Hope you enjoyed this school to graduates, and may you have a joyful program to first-year students!

Jessica V.

The university has great academic programs and professors. They have made this their focus. However, campus life for students is pretty much nonexistent. The residents are owned by a separate company and they do absolutely nothing to engage students, provide activities etc. they don’t even have a resident don. This is probably the worse university in Ontario for campus life. There is absolutely nothing that the campus offers the students. Most of the resources that they say are available are way overbooked because the university has grown so quickly. I would caution any parents to not bother with residence or having your child live on campus…they are isolated and discouraged from meeting each other. For example, the only orientation activity they offered was a dance were students had to wear headphones and listen to the music in their ears. How crazy is that? You can’t talk to anyone or meet people with headphones on. It’s really difficult to describe how completely out of touch they are with what a university should offer their students on campus
Again their programs are great, but they have a long, long way to go to offer a university experience 🥴😒

NoNomx15 O.

I went to this university for my first year and I was a forensic psychology major. I can't speak too much about other programs, and I'm not sure if everything I'll say can apply to later years. However, I can say a bit about engineering/stem (since I knew a good number of people majoring in those and I can recall what I heard from them) and social science and humanities since that's the faculty forensic psychology is in.

Pros:
-Environment: The people here are generally very friendly, including the professors and advisors: This was probably my first school year in a long time where I had no issues with any of my teachers whatsoever. The advisors were very friendly and helpful, along with the other staff such as the registrar office.

-It's a new school: some may see this as a problem but I think the school takes advantage of this well. A smaller school helps them to be more open and understanding of changes and areas of growth, so the school makes important changes rather quickly. They've also manages to develop connections with employers such as Tesla despite how new of an institution it is. I'm not too knowledgeable about their reputation with employers for social science and humanities though.

-leniency: this connects to my last point a bit, but the school is easy to reach and will listen to you. So, if you are a student who's struggling with mental health problems, your needs will be met. The professors are very understanding and willing to help, and you don't need to fight too hard for things like exam deferrals or extensions. I'm not sure if this applies to programs like engineering, but it definitely applies to social science and humanities.

-Quiet environment: If you don't like party schools you'll like this place.

-Campus: The north campus looks very nice and it isn't hard to get around the place. There are many residencies and place to eat nearby.

For engineering/stem: They have developed connections with employers in a short amount of time and there are many opportunities for networking.

Cons:
-location: It's in Oshawa, which is one of the ugliest and most boring places in all of Ontario. The north campus is fine and it has some nice places to eat nearby, but good God the downtown campus is awful. I seriously don't know why they chose to build a campus in the most ghetto part of the city. If you are taking anything in the social sciences, you'll have to commute (25 mins by bus) to the downtown campus often.

-leniency: I know I said this was a pro, but there is a downside to it. The school lets you get away with a bit too much. I felt that my classes were way too easy and the professors were lazy at times.

-social life: Most people who complain about this just need to realize that its possible to make friends anywhere; you just need to try. I will agree though that there aren't many events on campus, and there should be more variety in the clubs and societies. It is a commuter school, so most people just go home, and even people who live on campus go home over the weekends. Since it's close to a lot of cities, many people from the same high school go here, so you'll see that a lot of people know each other even on the orientation day. Otherwise, I think the lack of activities just makes living on campus boring. I wouldn't say that it's impossible to meet people, you just won't be given that many opportunities like other schools.

-Social science students get the short end of the stick: I noticed that social science students are more detached. Since a lot of classes are downtown, anyone who lives nearby simply just goes home. There are other things as well, such as how the engineering students have a whole floor in the residence building that is almost completely dedicated to them, and the stem students are overall able to network more easily because they are mostly together. Also, social science students don't have too much freedom when deciding the timings for their courses.

Overall, it isn't too bad of a school and it'll be even better in the future, but other schools are still a better option.

Jasmin T.

Anytime I've called or sent an email to inquire about the Bachelor of Education program, I have had a sub-par experience. People on the phone interrupted and spoke over me. Emails were vague, didn't answer my questions, and redirected me to the website (which I've already been over 10 times with a fine tooth comb). No idea what this school is like beyond these experiences but they were off-putting. I'm seriously reconsidering applying here.

Tafan Y.

After waiting for 9 months applying for A master degree at Ontario university, despite having a supervisor approval and recommendations in Canada. They rejected my application without giving any explanation or shedding a light on any specific reason.

Dan A.

It may be disregarded by people in Toronto, but it's actually a great local university for Durham Region that keeps expanding and gaining a substantial reputation as one of Canada's best university's for Engineering and Technology related programs. My son will be going there starting next year, and we couldn't be happier knowing that he, along with most of his friends will be going to University so close to home. It's also an easy and safe transition from high school to university, knowing how much trouble there can be for kids out there these days.