U.S. versus Canadian Universities

[JasonRox]

Because they coundn't get into any Canadian universities? Or because they wanted to go to school in the U.S.?

Both, and because of scholarships.

 

[leright]

I remember in my Canadian high school we would always say to one another, 'oh don't worry if you can't get into the Toronto, Ontario university, you can always get into the state's.' It's well known among students and parents that there is always the easier option of going to the U.S. for university and getting a nice scholarship. Lots of students who get rejected from Ontario universities flock to the American ones so they can complete their degree.

Well, sure, there are many more lower end schools in the United States willing to accept less than stellar students, but this is certainly not a bad thing. It just shows that the US higher education system has a higher capacity. IMO, the more people able to get an education, the better.

Also, I doubt the top of the line US schools are easier to get into than the top of the line Canadian schools. AFAIK, U Toronto just requires at least a 90% average in HS. This is nice because there is a concrete requirement to get in. The top US schools don't have such concrete requirements. You could be a straight A student, have good ECs, a solid ACT scores and still be rejected by MIT or Harvard.

I'm not sure if this is 100% accurate information, but this is what I have heard in the past. I'm just baffled how people can claim the US schools are worse than the Canadians schools. Sure, it's true that the US might have many many more lower end schools willing to accept more people, but the high end schools in the US (MIT, harvard, stanford, yale, UChicago, princeton, UC Berkeley, UMich, Cornell, Dartmouth, etc etc) are definitely no worse than the best Canadian schools.

 

[neurocomp2003]

the 90% GPA requirement doesn't guarantee a spot in UfT...it means that they will look at your application and that they will not accept students below unless special circumstances are involved.

 

[CPL.Luke]

interesting that nobody has answered the OP yet...

In case he has not abandoned this thread yet here is what he would probably go through. In the US your "year" is calculated based on the number of credits you are able to transfer. however if there was no calc 2 or physics 2 or anything like that than you won't be considered a 3rd yaer engineering major. But, you will be able to take a lot more core classes this way.

 

[mathwonk]

i think it is well known that the further north one lives, the smarter he is, so all Canadians are smarter than americans, hence their universities have to be harder with higher admission standards, except for the token spots they leave for us US applicants. e.g nunavut arctic college or medicine hat college are much better and tougher than princeton or harvard, as any fool can plainly see.

 

[oedipa maas]

i think it is well known that the further north one lives, the smarter he is, so all Canadians are smarter than americans, hence their universities have to be harder with higher admission standards, except for the token spots they leave for us US applicants. e.g nunavut arctic college or medicine hat college are much better and tougher than princeton or harvard, as any fool can plainly see.

This must explain how I wound up in New Zealand.

 

[budala]

i think it is well known that the further north one lives, the smarter he is, so all Canadians are smarter than americans, hence their universities have to be harder with higher admission standards, except for the token spots they leave for us US applicants. e.g nunavut arctic college or medicine hat college are much better and tougher than princeton or harvard, as any fool can plainly see.

Americans are showing signs of allergies, probably weather to be blamed

 

[renigade666]

You could be a straight A student, have good ECs, a solid ACT scores.

What are these? Do your 'SAT' scores not matter so much for MIT/Harvard etc. schools or did you just not add them in?
As for the other universities, how much does the SAT scores matter vs high school grades?

 

[CPL.Luke]

the ACT is another test that is equivalent to the SAT, from what I've heard west coast schools tend to prefer the ACT while east coast schools care more about the SAT. however top schools in the US tend to take pride in taking in the whole package, analysing the essay, GPA, and test scores.

I remember back in high school I was in a psych class where we looked at a series of real applications to UC Berkely. There was one student who had a C average and 500 sat scores, he got in because he worked in a lab during high school. there was another student who had straight A's near perfect SAT scores and a laundry list of extracurriculars, She didn't get in because she worte a perfect essay about how she got her drivers license.

 

[mathwonk]

the best way to get admitted to a school is to be a member of an under represented class currently under focus by that school. for example, when i was a high school student i was helped by the fact that many top schools were looking for stupid, naive, poorly educated boys from backwards southern states, with low standardized scores, mediocre grades, questionable morals, pimples, and bad breath. of course things may have changed.

 

[CPL.Luke]

hey the supreme court did just rule that schools could not use racially basoed admittion parameters

 

[marcus]

I got into a few American schools (including Princeton, for those who care about 'big names') but chose to go to the University of Waterloo in Ontario. Three years later, I'm confident I made the right choice. I can't imagine a better place for undergrad math.

People in Perimeter Institute (at Waterloo) seem pretty happy about it.
Scott Aaronson praises the place.
Bee Hossenfelder turned down a prestigeous Noether fellowship to go there and seems pleased about everything except the weather.

Of course you are the judge, but I expect you did make the right choice.

 

[neurocomp2003]

but do they actually live in teh city of waterloo? it seems rather dead the last time i visited...but i guess its a good place to raise a family.

 

[mathwonk]

yes cpluke, but nothing about bad breath yet.

 

[machivelli314]

Institutions like Harvard, John Hopkins, MIT, Stanford, Berkley etc. carry allot more weight than any Canadian university.

I got accepted to a few top Canadian schools, but I'm trying to figure out whether it is worth it for me to cross over to the US...

Does anyone happen to have a copy of 'curious Canadian guide to US colleges'? I heard it was pretty good but they seem to be sold out everywhere. I'd be interested in buying a used copy.

 

[kramer733]

=/ Why'd you choose to head towards community college? I don't know if it's true but i always believed that people who head onwards to community college were rejects who never made it to university. You can't dispute that university needs a rigorous amount of work. I know some people who are in community college. They party like mad and still get 70s-80s in their classes. Then there are these people who were considered "smart" in high school and never complained about anything. Only now are they finding that university is a whole new different ball game. It needs hard work and dedication.

And as for your question topic creator, i kind of doubt you'll be granted entry as a 3rd year student in university if you came from a 3 year college program. I know it's harsh to say but that's my view. Do you kind of really expect business students of college programs to really compete with commerce students of 3rd year ? My friend who recently finished community college (with business diploma) can't even do calculus.