Canadian thread...calling all Canucks

[dlesk]

@CDN_dancer: Im going to Penn too! What school are you in? How many "congrats on Penn State man" have you gotten?...
@yuying: way to go on Harvard... impressive

I just found this board, im from montreal, 2nd year cegep student...
I have a short list,
McGill - Accepted Arts and Sci and Management
UPenn- Accepted Wharton
Western - Still waiting for Ivey, but obviously going to UPenn

I totally agree, I applied to only 1 us college and it was intense and tiring. applying to mcgill was so easy, you basically just sign up... ouac was easy too


we can all agree, thank god 1USD=1CAD

[I<3Pi]

Congrats on Harvard yuying!

Omg the US applications were SO much more work! And I applied to 10 US schools too... bleh. Thank god it's over now!

Anyone going to Columbia?

[CDN_dancer]

dlesk, I'm in CAS. As for "Congrats on Penn State"... far too many. Haha, eh well, people mean the best, and employers will know the difference (or at least, I sure hope they will)

And while Penn is need-blind, apparently they're not exactly known for their generosity :P

[yuying]

And while Penn is need-blind, apparently they're not exactly known for their generosity :P

Yeah, need-blind is a misleading term at times. I haven't seen my FA package yet, but I know it will be drastically reduced next year (dad just got a new job).

[irutavias]

so any idea on what kind of student visa are Canadians eligible for?
is it the F1 or J1? I'm a bit confused on this issue

[CDN_dancer]

If you're going to the US for college/university, most likely you'll need a F-1 Visa; J-1 are for people in "exchange visitor programs" (i.e. they need a training program which is offered in the US but not in their home country)

My understanding is that as Canadians, we need to apply for the I-20 form through our college, but we don't need to schedule a visa interview with the US consulate; we just need to take the I-20 form with us when we travel to the US, with our passport of course, and they'll issue the visa then.

[vicente]

You also need to register yourself with the SEVIS database at https://www.fmjfee.com/i901fee/

There's a $100 fee. After you pay it they will send you a document called a "I-901" that you have to present when you cross the border.

[irutavias]

So I have to manually register myself at that database as well? I thought I just have to fill out a form with the university. And then get something stamped at the border.

So I need to fill out I20 and get it stamped at the border? When should I do this? I read somewhere that you have to do this ~30 days before attending college.

Thanks for the info guys
And CDN_dancer, i'll probably be seeing you at Penn! =)

[dlesk]

@CDN_dancer
in the states, the vast majority of jobs will know about Upenn,
even the law office i work at in montreal knew that upenn was a sick school and not penn state, and yeah upenn is notoriously worse than the other ivies in term of FA

[vicente]

The school will fill out the I-20 for you, you only have to sign it and get it stamped at the border.

About registering with SEVIS, you'll want to register early enough so that you'll get the I-901 form in the mail before you cross the border. Actually, the border guards will accept a computer printout of the receipt webpage when you pay online so theoretically you could do it the night before.

[362951847]

Just curious:

for those of you guys who applied for loads of unis in the states, did you use the common app. or did you apply for each one individually?

[I<3Pi]

Common app for the ones that use it, college's own app for the ones that don't

[CDN_dancer]

The Common App will definitely help your sanity if you're applying to lots of schools :P It keeps repetitious info down to a minimum (stuff like your address, courses, parent info, etc.)
I was accepted ED so I only had to fill out the Penn-specific forms. I was planning on using the Common App for the other universities though.

@irutavias, great! That's 3 of us in this thread so far =)

@vicente, thanks for the info! I was not aware of the whole deal with SEVIS, so I'll be sure to do that...as soon as I submit my I-20 application :P

[irutavias]

well it turns out penn has it's own little online form. but on one of the pages, you have to indicate financial commitment to penn, by stating where you will obtain the money for the education. In addition type of documents are required to prove that you have enough funding for penn. So how is this supposed to be done online? And how would you know what documents you need to indicate this sort of thing?

Yea it sounds real confusing, even more so when i say it. Does anyone have any clue? I think i might just end up calling Penn's International Student Services office.

[smugg707]

Would I have more chances at top US universities than top Canadian univ if I have low GPA but good ECs and SAT scores? because all Canadian universities look at is averages..