i'd say there are many that have very good science faculties. Western, Queens, Waterloo, Mac, Ottawa, UT, Guelph, McGill and probably some more. Each has their own perks i suppose. Waterloo has co op, UT the profs, Guelph has the lead in microbiology, and some of the others have excellent facilities (though often many of these are used by senior students as opposed to freshman and sophomores). For the most part i think you could get an excellent education at any of these places in the sciences.

I'd have to say the University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT) and U of T. The former because it's got all the latest equipment and plenty of opportunities for students to participate in reasearch projects with the faculty, and the latter because of its rich history and variartion of offered courses. I personally go to UOIT and am studting the Sciences, though with a medical background, and have found the integration of technology (every student has a laptop) into the curriculum a real advantage when collecting and analyzing data from experiments (plus you will have to use technology in the industry anyway). ;)

To be honest, I don't think it matters. U of T probably attracts the best researchers, but it does not necessarily attract the best lecturers. Chances are you will be continue your schooling after undergrad; most of those schools don't care about the reputation of the school you did your undergrad at and employers won't care much about where you got your bachelor's either (if you hold a higher degree). Any advantage gained by that reputation will likely be destroyed by the fact that more reputable schools tend to be more difficult to get high grades in. So reputation shouldn't matter too much either. How good a particular program is really depends on the program, not the university, and on what interests you. Things you might want to look for are methods courses. It is great to be able to recite all the molecules in the citric acid cycle, but it doesn't mean much if you don't about the scientific process. Methods courses are great for teaching the true fundamentals of science. Class size should also be a factor (that's for you, Kaylya; if you are reading). It doesn't really matter where you go, class sizes are going to be large in first-year life science. Sure, smaller schools will probably have first-year bio classes with 200 students, whereas bigger schools will have the same classes with 700 students. Either way, the prof isn't going to know you; in fact, I feel I learn better in an environment with 700 students vs. 200 students because it is just more intense (think of a hockey game with 20 000 fans vs. one with 5 000 fans). As you venture into upper-year courses, class size does decrease. Third-year life science courses range from small (<50 students) to large (~400), depending on the course, in large schools, but you are unlikely to find a third-year life science course in a small university with greater than 50 students. With less than 50 students, the prof can get to know you (and you can get to know the prof), he or she can assign reports and ask short answer questions on the exam, and you are more likely to ask him or her for help. However, small universities do tend to be less reputable, and where they really fail is course selection.

To reiterate: there are pros and cons of every university. It is extremely hard to say which university is best, especially considering the fact that the universities Maclean's says are great are generally the ones that are rated poorly by their own students.

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Honours BMSc Specialization in Medical Science UWO '09
Bachelor of Pharmacy Alberta '13 ???

So far my top school choices are Laurier, Nipissing and possibly Guelph. Any ideas on which has the better Biology program or has the highest number of graduating students who get into med school?

From what I've heard U of T, Queens, Guelph and McMaster have really good science programs.