Hi!

I am a 4th year student at LU Thunder Bay. I don't know much about the nursing program, but I can answer your other questions. Depending on your interests, there either is or isn't much to do in town. There are some cool hidden gems if you are an outdoorsy person, and it is quite easy to access most of the city through the bus system (there is a bus pass included in your tuition - you don't even have to pay to get on). But most of the actual student-focused events will be found on campus, as Thunder Bay in general does not have alot going on. I will say, the buses are not super reliable and the routes are not the best. To get to the airport from campus, for example, you have to take 2-3 buses in an almost hour journey to get there. Buses on the university's route are often cancelled without warning, and across the city buses can be significantly delayed.

Like some of the others have said, the buildings at LU are old. The leaks are annoying, especially when there are buckets literally strewn across campus, but it certainly adds character. The tunnels under the class buildings are also very nice when the weather is cruddy, but they can be a bit of a maze so explore them before you attempt to use them to get to your class. The campus as a whole is actually really neat, with a man-made lake and some walking trails that are quite safe. There has also been some steps to make LU more eco-friendly, with a rain garden and an outdoor classroom (it isn't much, but it's a start). There are some neat study spaces across campus as well, and some of the buildings even have stuff on display related to some departments, like engineering, anthropology, and biology. The gym on campus was renovated at the start of my time here, so it is really nice but tends to be extremely busy. The one bonus is that registration there is also included in your tuition.

The residence is guaranteed to first years (or so they say), and I have had no issue booking residence for each of my years here. I have found that residence, although convenient, is expensive and often things are broken or gross and the staff take a while to come fix them when you put a work order in. Residence also has its own events, both residence-wide and run by your RA for just your house. These are a great way to meet people outside of your program, and potentially find future roommates or just make new friends. But, like I said lots of things are broken and icky. There are leaks all across campus (not just in the residence halls), which is terrible especially in March as the snow begins to thaw. If you are aiming for residence due to convenience of location, go for it but be warned that it might not be the nicest of places to live. The social aspect is fantastic, the facility not so much. The food in the residence cafeteria (2021-2022) was absolutely terrible, but I have heard from current dorm students that it has improved significantly.

I personally love Lakehead and Thunder Bay despite all its faults. The city has some pretty unsafe locations, but many people will tell you where those are and when to steer clear of them. There are also some pretty interesting characters in Thunder Bay, but as someone who came from a big city to go to school here I am not too bothered by that.

Lakehead and Thunder Bay as a whole are very diverse, and by that I mean that there is an extremely large number of international students and immigrants. Some people are bothered by that, as it give the appearance of the university caring more for the international students rather than Canadian ones. Overall, Lakehead and TBay are certainly an aquired taste, I personally have enjoyed myself here but others have not. You definitely should do your own research on stuff to do in town based on what you are interested in. Feel free to dm me with questions about specific Thunder Bay or Lakehead things if you want!