Summer 2007 we took a family trip to Nova Scotia, having never been there before and decided on a whim and in part due to help from this site to tour Dalhousie University with our then-17 year old son. We learned yesterday he has been accepted to Dal and plans to go there Sept. 2008!!!!!! so, we look forward to many more visits to NS! By the way, we did take him back there in November for a campus visit, again, with help from posters on this site. Thank you! And, just to point out, my child ischoosing to go to a Canadian school just when the dollar tanks!

Congratulations to your son! Dal is a good school. My next-door neighbour's son is there and he's enjoying it very much. And what a lovely part of the country, too!

I did my first 3 years of uni there, before completing my degree at Carleton (with courses at Concordia and McGill thrown in for good measure).

Dal is a great school! My son did a Bachelor in Computer Science there and he is now completing a Masters in the same field.

My husband is a graduate of the Engineering School. . .

Love Halifax! There is much to do and many places to eat.

The dollar may be low, but so too are Canadian tuitions.

Our daughter graduated as Valedictorian of her class at Dal last year. We are BIG fans and if anything we said here helped with that decision, I am pleased as punch. If you or your son needs any specific assistance as time gets closer, please do return here and I will try to help.

Just one thing I should share, DH met her special young man at Dal and now both of them have found great jobs in Halifax and the chances of her ever 'coming home' again are slim! We decided to accept this with good grace and have opted to buy a home in Lunenburg (about an hour away from Hali.)!

BTW, reports are that our dollar will tank again in the next year so this might be good timing.

You guys are so great and I probably will post here in the months ahead looking for help! My one disappointment so far is that I have repeatedly asked Dal to give me a contact with an American parent of an upperclassman and so far that hasn't happened. We will have questions about banking, cell phones, practical things....that it would be helpful to have someone who has mastered it all. LJ, I don't know if you are American or not, but if you could let me know, I may need to direct such questions to you. And we spent 3 nights in Lunenberg on our visit last summer and enjoyed it very much. It's too far north for us to think of buying property, I fear...our son is probably trying to escape his mother's southern accent.

One of my grandfathers -- the one who was a judge -- went to Dalhousie, as did one of my uncles -- the psychiatrist -- as did one of my combination business partenrs / clients.

All turned out to be fine folks.

And one of my best friends from grade three is a theology professor at Dal right now. A fine folk, too.

As for Halifax -- a fine city, I believe, for a student. Big enough that the university does not dominate the community, but small enough that the school, and students, are important parts of the city.

So, congratulations.
bak

No, Peggionthego: sadly for your purposes (!) we are Canadians,though we lived abroad for a great deal of DD's university career and so dealt with many of the same issues. On the more positive side, I am sure the Orientation session will answer all his questions: it is very thorough.

What I do know is: you can pay fees through VISA.

Cellphone plans are pretty much the same everywhere: easier to acquire new in the city of his (new)residence, than try to switch plans. After all for 3-4 years, its worth it.

Your son can open a bank account in Halifax with his passport/student ID and should if he will be taking a part-time job or cashing any scholarship/bursary cheques: otherwise ATM's with Interac access are ubiquitous and he can get his cash in Canadian dollars from his account. We had an automatic monthly transfer set up to do this for our daughter when we were overseas.

Dal has an excellent health clinic, covered by student fees.

I hope the transition goes well. DD is still very involved with Alum. events and, who knows? they may meet...but certainly there will be many fellow students there to answer his questions.

It's official in that he paid the deposit, so I guess it's Nova Scotia here we come. When we visited summer 2007, we concentrated on the southern part...we hope to go the week before he starts and will tour the northern part. We're very happy he's picked such a beautiful place to go to school. Now, as American parents, we just have to get over the fact that he won't be home for "our" Thanksgiving.