MacEwan University

Great school, love it! Warm, open learning environment. Teacher seem to actually care about your learn in process!
Side note, the lady who works at the coffee shop in building 5 is rocking a permanent nasty attitude. It’s a huge disappointment that the coffee shop in that building is over priced, terrible coffee (terrible being an understatement, and her attitude is sub-​par. A shame really. but this doesn’t affect my thoughts that Macewan is amazing!

I have visited the campus a few times over the years, mostly to attend lectures and other public events. I find the campus relatively easy to navigate, although I was suprised to enter the Robbins Health Centre and not find a sign saying where the Kule Theatre is (which is where I needed to go). Thank you to the astute student who immediately pointed the way. It is also tricky getting a cab, as the main entrances are right on the busy 104 Avenue. However, the architecture is unique, there are lots of places to hang out with coffee, and there is a very relaxed feel.

Compared to it’s tower-​loving sister across 109^th, this side of GMAC is sleek, modern and looks like it was designed and built in modernity.
The main floor has a wide cafeteria/​hangout area with some classrooms and lecture halls facing south on the main floor and the levels above you. There are microwaves available on the main floor near the vending machines and the cafeteria has half decent options. There is a water fountain near the microwaves, but the water here always seems to emit a cloudy substance-​of-​death with it. I don’t know what it is, but years of evolution have moulded my senses to avoid something this gross. The washrooms are spacious and always clean.
The classroom here are just spectacular. Clean, spacious and minimalist. I could, and have, spent hours in them. A wonderful building!

The Professional Writing Program that I’m in is ending and they’ve moved us down to the City Centre Campus for our 3^rd and essentially final year on campus (since our fourth year is an internship and off-​campus).
A lot of people were kinda upset to be moving, but I was actually glad. Getting to CCC is much easier commute for me — taking about 20 minutes less than it did to get to the west end campus. It will probably suck have to walk four blocks from Corona station to campus in the winter, but it won’t be any worse than waiting outside at the bus stop for 20 minutes like I used to.
The cafeteria is pretty great as far as food options go. There’s a campus market which sells soups, sandwiches, muffins, etc. There’s a Fat Franks, Pizza 73, Booster Juice, Grillworks (burgers, and the like), a Tim Hortons, and a pub (Towers) in the main cafeteria. I do find that the cafeteria is always busy, and it can be hard to find a place to sit and eat. Also the tables and chairs are always dirty. Even at 7:30am — a half hour after the campus opens — there’s garbage sitting all over the tables. It really makes me wonder if the janitorial staff clean up the cafeteria, and if the other students ever put their own garbage away.
There’s a Treats Café on the 2^nd level between building 5 and 6 — which is great for grabbing a coffee on the go. There’s also another Tim Horton’s and a Fillistix apparently in building 8 (where the Robbin’s Health Centre is). Plus the campus is close to other dining options if I have a break in between classes.
I like the building itself, the color scheme, the large windows in the front of the building. The library is pretty awesome as far as books and such go. There’s also more group rooms to book for projects. The computer lab isn’t as good as the other campus. It’s not that I don’t like PC’s but the Dells on campus are slow, and logging into the network and just loading up windows takes about 6 or 7 minutes. I do miss the Macs on the westend, but there are a lot of places to study. I wish more of the individual study desks had plugins. I’ve heard good things about the gym as well, but I haven’t check it out yet.
My classes are a little sporadic so I do have to hike over from one building to the next, but it really hasn’t been an issue. Most classes let you out a few minutes early to make it over to your next class. There is a pedestrian bridge on the second floor between each building (the one for building 6 to 7 is through the library) which means you don’t have to walk outside to get to classes if you don’t want. Sure in the fall and spring it can be nice to get some fresh air, but during a –30 bout in January I’ll be quite grateful for these bridges.
Parking is pricey. I usually take the bus but I did drive in a couple times and it’s costs $ 9 to park from 6am to 5pm. Relatively speaking I’m sure there’s much worse prices you could pay for parking downtown.
I do miss the artsy feeling of the west end campus, hearing music when I walked in, and witnessing spontaneous performances from the theatre students. Still I like the downtown campus and there’s enough benefits to being here for my last year on campus that it’s worth the trade off.

This is the best of the Grant MacEwan campuses.
I have to start with the cafeteria because it is phenomenal. There is a grill, a Booster Juice, a Burger King, a Subway, and more! It really is amazing. This campus also has two Tim Hortons which is fantastic in my opinion.
This campus is great because it is huge and it is professional. I love the look of the building, the feel of academia, and the buzz of students running around.
The only problem with this campus is getting from class to class. For the most part, the University tries to put program specific classes in the same building, but when you throw electives into the mix, it can get tricky. The different buildings of this campus are easy to navigate once you know how the room numbering works. But, like I said, if you have a class in the 105^st building and then in the 107^st building, you might get in a good jog in between classes.
This campus is also home to the MacEwan Centre for Sport and Wellness. It is a great place to work out.
I love this campus. I wish I had more classes here.