Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Big Three (Canadian universities)


 * The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed deletion of the article below. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review).  No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was delete. Spartaz Humbug! 09:03, 21 May 2018 (UTC)

Big Three (Canadian universities)

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The creator of this article appears to have also created the term "Big Three". The only source cited in the article to actually use the term "big three" is the first source cited, a blog post. After creating the term "big three", the author then goes on to provide a history of these three universities, along with their rankings. Magnolia677 (talk) 21:35, 13 May 2018 (UTC)
 * Delete - As nominator said, there was only one reference provided in that article that uses the phrase "big three," and its from a post on the College Confidential forum (not an encyclopedic source). There also is no postsecondary association known as the "big three" (like Canada's U15, or Australia's Group of Eight). I don't even think "big three" is a thing, colloquially speaking. Leventio (talk) 21:59, 13 May 2018 (UTC)


 * Page creator here. This name is pretty commonly used on college forums and Canadian media. Especially commonly used on sites like College Confidential, YConic, Reddit, etc. and I thought it might have been a bit spammy to link all of them. I originally created the page but didn't know how to rename it -- just figured it out just now. Also on Canadian news sites (Globe & Mail, TorStar & National Post), the three schools have been referenced as the Big Three and Canada's Top Three for the last decade in passing -- "Canada's top three" have been what I've been able to find within news of the last few months. (It's not easy to dig through news articles month by month just to find this term, given that Google ranks the news chronologically). Anyway, I updated the name to what the cited articles use -- "Canada's top three"; I've seen a lot more but again, they mentions the name in passing and I'm not sure how to incorporate it. Any input is appreciated. U423310 (talk) 22:01, 13 May 2018 (UTC)
 * Note: This discussion has been included in the list of Education-related deletion discussions. cinco deL3X1  ◊distænt write◊  22:07, 13 May 2018 (UTC)
 * Note: This discussion has been included in the list of Schools-related deletion discussions. cinco deL3X1  ◊distænt write◊  22:07, 13 May 2018 (UTC)
 * Note: This discussion has been included in the list of Canada-related deletion discussions. cinco deL3X1  ◊distænt write◊  22:07, 13 May 2018 (UTC)


 * @Leventio, Big Three is not a formal organisation, such as U15, in the same sense that Big Four accounting firms aren't an organisation. It is a colloquial name for the three schools in Canada that are often referenced together in regards to ranking. — Preceding unsigned comment added by U423310 (talk • contribs) 22:10, 13 May 2018 (UTC)


 * Delete. I'm not finding any reliable sources using that term, nor have I ever heard it "in the wild" myself. "Canada's top three" is not the same thing, nor is it any more significant or noteworthy than "Canada's top ten". Clarityfiend (talk) 23:00, 13 May 2018 (UTC)
 * Delete "Big Three" or "Top Three" are neologisms or convenient verbal shorthand for describing three Canadian universities. None of the current sources discuss this as a topic. There is no significant coverage of this topic in independent, reliable sources that I can see. The sourcing now in the article is terrible. We've got blogs, Reddit, and primary university sources. All the material about the history of the three universities is extraneous and irrelevant. Cullen328  Let's discuss it  23:03, 13 May 2018 (UTC)
 * Delete Yes, you can find mentions of a top three, a top four, a top five, a top six, a top ten, a top twenty Canadian universities, and so on. I found all of these phrases by searching online, and none of them are notable. There's no particular reason to stop at three. The most common phrase seems to be "top 10 Canadian universities" with "top 3 Canadian universities" a relatively uncommon phrase. Jack N. Stock (talk) 23:06, 13 May 2018 (UTC)


 * Keep. Hey sorry for commenting twice. I found an article dating back to 1945, having President of UBC announcing that UBC joins the big three in the headline -- I included a photo in the history section. I believe this warrants reconsideration. U423310 (talk) 23:33, 13 May 2018 (UTC)
 * Firstly, the article you found is a primary source WP:PRIMARY. Also, the phrase only occurs in the headline, not in the text, and headlines are not usually considered accurate. This is certainly not a WP:RS. Secondly, it refers to UBC being second or third in terms of total enrolment, which is not how you are representing the meaning of the term in the WP article, suggesting this use of the term is irrelevant. Thirdly, did you also search for "big two" or "big four" or any other phrase involving a "big" number of Canadian universities? Jack N. Stock (talk) 23:59, 13 May 2018 (UTC)
 * primary sources not verboten cinco deL3X1 ◊distænt write◊  00:48, 14 May 2018 (UTC)
 * Primary sources not verboten for supplementary verification of stray facts unimpacting upon notability, such as a company's name and address or a person's educational background, after notability has already been fully covered off by WP:GNG-eligible reliable sources. Primary sources are verboten as support for notability in and of themselves, however. Bearcat (talk) 00:07, 15 May 2018 (UTC)


 * Delete. The term 'big three' appears to be that of the point of view of the article creator. Otherwise sources don't establish any notability of this distinction, as most of them are unreliable. Ajf773 (talk) 01:27, 14 May 2018 (UTC)
 * Delete. I'm not going to gainsay that those three universities are Canada's three largest and most prominent, but I am going to gainsay that this is the standard or reliably sourceable term used to express their trinitarianness as a concept — usage on "College Confidential, Quora, Reddit, YConic, Student Awards Forum", etc., is not reliable sourcing for the purposes of Wikipedia content. I can think of no significant or reliably sourced context in which these three are isolated as a group separately from the rest of Canada's most prestigious and elite but technically smaller universities, such as Queen's and Dalhousie and Laval. If there's a Canadian "Ivy League" at all, it's the "big three" and the three others that I just named in the preceding sentence, and I know of no context where the "big three" are isolated as a separate grouping in their own right from the other three. Bottom line, this is original research that synthesizes a bunch of statistics — it is true that stats can be found to support that these are the three big kahunae, but those don't reify "Big Three" into a name for them as a group. Bearcat (talk) 00:05, 15 May 2018 (UTC)


 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.