<p>I live in Alberta, and I’m curious to find out what people here think about Canadian Unversities for undergrad. </p>
<p>I’m thinking of applying to Harvard (I have some really cool and unique ECs, but I want to boost my SAT score a bit), but I’m not 100% sold on the value of going to someplace like Harvard, when there are other great schools in my backyard. I live 5 minutes away from the University of Alberta, which is one of the top 5 in Canada, and tuition for me would be about 5000.00 per year max, including entrance scholarship monies I’d receive. I obviously save money by living at home, but this is essentially one tenth of what it costs to go to a school like Harvard. </p>
<p>Part of the reason I’d like to get into a school like Harvard is that the focused, academic environment really appeals to me, since in Canada, education often caters to the lowest common denominator, as opposed to creating super academic environments where already motivated and studious students can thrive. That being said, at around ten times the cost, I’m doubting that a basic Harvard undergrad degree is going to be significantly better than one that I could get at the University of Alberta. Also, putting a lot of focus on an American University application would limit my time to apply for Canadian scholarships, which is why I’m still on the fence over whether or not I should apply.</p>
<p>Any advice?</p>
<p>By the way, one random question - do schools like Harvard curve grades?</p>
<p>If you look, both in the Harvard forum and, especially, in the Parents forum, you will find dozens and dozens of threads which are essentially about the choice between elite private colleges like Harvard and excellent public universities, with people arguing passionately for the superiority of one or the other. That’s essentially what you are asking, so you should try to read some of those.</p>
<p>Part of the question relates to what you want to do with your life. If you plan to live in Edmonton or Calgary (or, for that matter, Saskatoon) and be a petroleum engineer, a teacher, an accountant, or a physical therapist, then the University of Alberta will serve your needs far better than Harvard ever would. If you see yourself doing mergers and acquisitions on Wall Street, or producing films in Hollywood, or running an art dealership in London, Harvard might give you a better shot at your dreams than UAlberta.</p>
<p>I would second gibby’s suggestion, too. The University of Alberta may be top-5 in Canada, but there’s a big dropoff between the top 2 or 3 and anything that comes after them. Toronto, McGill, and (maybe) UBC are clearly world-class institutions that attract students from all over the globe (as does Waterloo in some fields), and none of them is five minutes from your parents’ house. They would probably be more expensive than UAlberta for you, but still a huge bargain compared to most U.S. colleges (unless you got a lot of financial aid). If you aren’t interested in any of them, I don’t understand why you would be interested in Harvard.</p>