Western vs. UBC

[illegallyblonde]

I know this may seem silly but I am STRUGGLING out here and any help would be appreciated. I have firmly accepted an offer to Western, as I needed to by April 1st to secure my scholarship, and was prepared to go there (parents even updated their facebook status!). I was pretty sure I would be rejected from UBC, waitlisted at most, but somehow I was accepted and I now have no clue what to do! Western has given me a large enough scholarship that it makes tuition about the same at both universities, the main difference is cost of living which I know is crazy high in Vancouver. A couple areas where I seek guidance though:

1. How hard is it to make friends at UBC? I have heard horror stories about the competitive atmosphere at law schools and while it doesn’t seem like an issue at Western, UBC seems like another story. Any UBC students have experiences with that? 

2. How have people fared with not seeing family for long stretches? It seems very appealing to start in a big new city right now, but I’m scared the appeal will wear off over the three years I am there. I am from NB, so while Western is far, UBC is FAR!!

3. Given the distance from my home province, I probably will not stay in BC after grad, if that is where I go. Leaning more towards Ontario. Does this make getting jobs much harder? 

Any help would be much appreciated! I was shocked that I was actually admitted and not prepared to make this decision, especially when they only give 2 weeks to do so.

[MapleLeafs]

If you want to practice in Ontario, choose Western especially since the tuition is the same after the scholarship. I would only choose UBC if I wanted to practice out in BC or in the West generally. 

[MissRepresented]

Go where you think you'll want to practice. Since you're from out east, if you go to UBC and look for summers/articles/jobs in Ontario, you will likely be considered a flight risk by potential employers as you'll have no ties to Ontario (unless you have ties I don't know about). If you at least go to school in Ontario for three years you'll have a foundation there and can tell potential employers that you came to Ontario for school because it's where you want to build a career.