Colleges vs. Universities: The Obay Ad Campaign

February 25, 2008 - For those that travel on the TTC on a regular basis, you might have seen these strange ads for a pill called "Obay" - designed to make teenagers listen to their parents. Obviously the ad is tongue-in-cheek, but it totally made me question what the ad is about and who is behind the ad.

Well the speculation is over - apparently "Obay" is the Ontario Colleges Association's (OCA) new campaign to tackle the majority of parents' attitudes towards colleges. The OCA claims that the majority of parents would rather their children attend universities, and not colleges, as colleges are deemed as more "second-class" post-secondary institutions. Obay is designed to encourage students to not overlook the opportunities that colleges provide based on parental stereotypes.

My opinion is that it's definitely a clever campaign (any ad campaign that generates buzz is awesome) but how effective it is in changing this decades-long stereotype of universities are better than colleges remains to be seen. Personally, I think my parents would have flipped if I had told them that I would rather go to Seneca College than U of T. For people in my parents' generation, universities are more of a prestige thing - mainly because not everyone got to go. For people my age, universities, especially undergraduate studies, is simply an extension of high school. You go to university and get your degree because it's now a basic requirement to get a job.

What is probably not discussed widely is that the chances of you getting a job after a college diploma in a specialized trade is probably HIGHER than getting a job with a BSc or BA from U of T. Sad, but true. What do you do with a life sciences degree after graduation (if you're not going towards professional school or grad school?) or a degree in history, or a degree in English? Yet, the benefit of having a college education is that it teaches you the technical skills you need to know to get a job and make a living.

I don't regret getting my universities degrees, but now that I'm looking to upgrade my skills, I don't even hesitate but look into college programs. Both colleges and universities have their own merits, but you gotta admit, sometimes, you just don't know why you're spending so much time/money/energy/stress on things like optimization in calculus or organic chem mechanisms when clearly they don't contribute to your job search, your salary, nor the skills you need to land a job and be good at it one tiny bit.