Trent University tops Maclean’s undergrad rankings for 7th year

For two third-year Trent University students, it’s easy to see how their school ranked number one in a recent Maclean’s magazine survey.

Celina Brule and Brodie Buchner-Duby weren’t surprised to hear that Trent took the top spot for undergraduate universities in Ontario in Maclean’s 2018 rankings.

The north-end institution has held the number one position for seven years now.

Trent also ranked third in Canada for undergraduate universities out of 49 universities across the nation.

Buchner-Duby is taking biology. She’s from Guelph, where her hometown university is known for its biology program.

“I feel like it validated my coming to Trent,” Buchner-Duby said of the rankings.

The 19-year-old said she liked the idea of having smaller classes at the Peterborough university.

“We had a mid-term we did yesterday, we got it back in five hours – that never happens,” she said.

Brule is studying forensic science and chemistry. She’s from the Ottawa area.

“It helps support why I like being here. I tell people I like it because I like Peterborough and I like Trent and there’s only so much you can say,” said Brule, 20.

Trent also earned first place in Ontario and Canada in a handful of other fields in the undergraduate category. The city’s university was number one in province for extracurricular activities and student awards. It was also first in the country for scholarships and bursaries and academic staff advising.

Both Buchner-Duby and Brule have been recipients of school bursaries, which have helped immensely they said.

Buchner-Duby has maintained an 80 per cent average since she started at Trent. That garners her $1,500 a year.

“It helps a lot,” Buchner-Duby said.

Brule went into Trent with a 90 per cent average, so she got full tuition her first year. Since then, she’s held an 87 per cent average, which gets her a $2,500 bursary each year.

“It’s almost half my tuition covered, so it definitely makes coming to school a lot more affordable,” said Brule.

Brule, who is co-president of Trent Writers Society, a club on campus, said there’s many clubs at the school.

“I find a lot of students are involved in some club because if it’s not there, it’s really easy to start one up,” said Brule, touching on extracurricular activities.

Trent was also ranked as the number one primarily undergraduate university in Canada for producing the leaders of tomorrow as well.

In addition, Trent also moved up in several other categories, such as overall education, highest quality and most innovative.

Leo Groarke, president of Trent, thinks the results confirm the transformative learning experience at Trent’s Peterborough and Durham GTA campuses.

“Our jump to number three undergrad university in Canada and our position as the number one university in Ontario for the seventh year running highlights that a Trent education is widely respected and deeply valued by our students across the country and worldwide,” Groarke stated in a press release.