Probably the first thing to do is to appreciate the excellent universities that you have in Canada, and specifically in Ontario. Of course the University of Toronto is excellent (although big and academically challenging), but Waterloo is excellent and very well known for CS, McMaster and Queens are excellent, and there are many other very good universities in Ontario and in Canada. You have a tremendous wealth of excellent universities in Canada. The Canadian university system is consistently very good.
Perhaps the next thing to do is to look at the cost of attending university in the US. Do not forget to account for the exchange rate between the US and Canadian dollars. For this coming year (starting in September) there are some universities where the total cost of attendance for one year is getting very close to US$100,000 (or in Canadian dollars, currently about C$137,000 per year).
We live in the US but one daughter attended university in Canada (my daughters and I have dual citizenship). What we paid for a full four years in Canada was less than what it would have cost us for one year at a top ranked LAC in the US (she wanted a small school), and she got an excellent education with very good research opportunities. She is now getting a PhD at a very good and well ranked university (top 30 for her major) in the US.
As a Canadian, assuming that you are not also a US citizen or permanent resident, you would be applying to universities in the US as an international student. Once you graduate from university in the US you would be required to return to Canada. In fact, when you apply for a student visa to study in the US, if you tell them that you would like to stay in the US after graduation, that would by itself be a reason for them to refuse to give you a student visa to study in the US.
However, at least in my experience employers in Canada seem to prefer to hire graduates from the excellent universities in Canada.
In terms of extracurricular activities to apply to universities in the US, I think that you should read the “applying sideways” blog on the MIT admissions web site. As I understand it, it recommends that you do what is right for you. Whatever you do, do it well. This is the approach that my family has taken and it has worked for us at a range of very good universities in the US (and specifically not just for MIT). However, what each of us did was quite different. We each just did what was right for us.
You do not need a long list of ECs. The point is not to create the longest list. Instead, the point is to be genuine, be yourself, and whatever you do, do it very well. If you get into a leadership position remember that leadership is not about getting your way. Instead, leadership is about listening and making the activity, whatever it is, better for everyone who participates.
One last thing: it is entirely possible to get a bachelor’s degree in Canada, and then get a graduate degree (such as a master’s degree or PhD) in the US. I know a number of people who have done this, including at some highly ranked schools. Graduate admissions in the US seems to understand how good the Canadian universities are.
And I do want to ask: Why do you want to attend university in the US?
My understanding, assuming you want to study CS or math, is that CEMC contest performance matters (euclid, COMC, CCC for CS) , especially for Waterloo. Keep doing well on the CEMC exams and maybe branch out into competitive programming to see if that interests you. But most of all, keep your grades very high (preferably 95+ in maths).
For US unis, it’s going to be extremely difficult and expensive, and it’s unlikely you’ll even be able to stay long term. Also, many US/international tech companies hire from Toronto and Waterloo.
You either get involved now - you have plenty of time.
Or you apply to a wide range of schools, including schools that only look at your grades and tests, etc.
What does top 30 mean? Who says it’s top 30? That’s a made up thing to sell magazines.
You’ll find the right school for you.
Plenty of “not” top 30s - whatever that is - produce far more successful grads than “top 30s” - all schools - top 30s or otherwise have their successes and non-successes.
But guess what - you are who you are - and be that person - and then you’ll find the right school for you.
PS - you don’t even know if we’ll be taking international students at that time - so you should focus on being the best you and then in a few years you can build a list.
But don’t force yourself to be someone you’re not. That’s no good either.
Citizenship or money isn’t a problem at all; that’s covered already.
I don’t really care about the prestige of a T30: I want to attend American universities for the financial/career opportunities (e.g. entrepreneurship programs) and alumni.
Another reason is that I’m looking at quantitative finance as a potential career path. Only issue is that the top hedge funds hire from “target universities”, meaning I have to aim for T30.
I’m fine with UofT, McGill, and uWaterloo (aside from Canada, even a few U.K. universities), but the other universities here don’t satisfy me, and I’m not sure about the acceptance chances for those three.
However, at least in my experience employers in Canada seem to prefer to hire graduates from the excellent universities in Canada.
This is a reason to prefer a highly ranked university.
I do not see anything about grades in your post. For a top 30 ranked university, very high grades are pretty much taken as a given. Certainly you would need to do very well in your classes.
If a highly ranked university would be a good fit for you, then you would be the type of person who takes demanding classes not to impress anyone, but rather because these are the right classes for you. However, this is not a race. Take classes at the pace that is right for you.
Quantitative finance is something that I understand to be quite math heavy. I was a math major in university (bachelor’s at MIT, master’s at Stanford). The point in math is not to jump ahead, but rather to do very well in your classes. Math is an area where it builds on itself. What you are learning now depends upon what you learned last year, and what you will be learning next year will depend upon what you are learning now and what you learned last year. You should learn each step very solidly, understand the concepts very well, and specifically do not just memorize and apply formulae.
As I understand it acceptance at top universities in Canada is highly stats based. You will need very good grades to get accepted to any of U.Toronto, McGill, or Waterloo (or UBC or Queen’s). Of course you will also need very high grades to be competitive for admissions to Harvard, MIT, Stanford, or any other “top 30” school in the US that is strong for mathematics. Admissions in Canada tends to be more predictable compared to the top ranked universities in the US. As an example McGill was my safety coming out of high school. At the time it did not occur to any of us (including my guidance counselor and parents) to apply to anywhere that was “safer” compared to McGill. Of course in the US no one would have somewhere like MIT or Stanford as a safety (unless perhaps they have a Nobel Prize to go along with their straight A’s).
The University of Wisconsin is by the way highly ranked for mathematics, and is something that some people might not think of. If you are coming from Ontario, then the winters in Wisconsin should not be all that wildly different from what you are used to. I have no idea whether quantitative finance companies recruit there.
In terms of ECs, what you listed in your original post looks like a good start for me. Sailing was by the way one of my main ECs in high school, and did most likely help me to get into MIT out of high school. I had won a few minor local awards.
If you do well at golf or sailing that can be a good EC. If your CS passion projects end up producing something that is useful to someone, that can be a good EC.
The point is not to have the longest list of ECs. The point is not to have impressive sounding awards or positions. The point is to show commitment to something that matters to you, to do well at whatever you do, and to work with people in a productive way.
I will mention another story that relates to what a good EC might be. At the beginning of my senior year of high school the president of the chess club announced that he didn’t want to do it anymore and was resigning. I was the only person who was willing to do it, so I became president of the chess club. There was one problem: I had absolutely no idea whatsoever what I was supposed to do as president of the chess club. I was clueless. Therefore I did the only thing that I could think to do: I asked people for suggestions. A variety of people provided a variety of suggestions. We started a chess ladder (you could challenge the person ahead of you on the ladder, and if you beat them you switched places). We started playing a home and home series with the chess club at a nearby high school. We started a tournament towards the end of the school year. None of these were my idea. They were all someone else’s idea. All I did was ask a question, listen to responses, and then help the people with the best ideas to put their ideas into practice. Years later I figured something out: This is what leadership should be. You listen and you help other people. Be reasonable. Be genuine. Just be a decent human being.
And as of the end of my freshman year of high school, I had almost nothing in the way of ECs (although I was sailing, playing chess, and of course since this was in Canada I was skiing in the winter).
You are young. You are only going into your second year of high school. You have a lot of time to sort this out.
I could not agree more with looking at that piece from MIT and really absorbing what they are saying.
The bottom line is your life has already started, and you don’t want to waste it. So you should be active, and you should choose activities that actually mean something to you. Maybe they are fun, or interesting, or involve shared experiences with family or friends. Maybe they will help you explore various interests, or otherwise help you develop physically, intellectually, creatively, emotionally, socially, ethically, and so on. Maybe you can be a productive employee and make some money. Maybe you can contribute time and energy to helping others in need. And so on.
You should be doing these things because doing such things is generally a big factor in leading a happy and fulfilling life. Of course you can’t do everything, but you can explore around a bit, and then focus on the things that mean the most to you.
And then doing such things will also be helpful for college admissions, at colleges which consider such things in their admissions process. Not as a coincidence, but because they want their students to thrive in college, and they recognize doing stuff like that is part of thriving at every stage of life, including college.
So live an active life, on your own terms, for your own reasons. And then when applying to colleges, tell them about what that meant for you, proudly and with vivid detail. And that will work out well.
You have listed both ECs (that are fine) and some awards. Many many kids get accepted to colleges without big time awards.
The strength of your ECs and awards (unless Nobel Prize or Olympic level) will not likely move the needle for most Top 30 colleges IF your grades and test scores (where required) don’t meet their bar.
And for colleges with less than 20% admissions, it’s really not possible to chance you and especially as an international student.
What does “citizenship already being covered” mean? Do you have US dual citizenship.
By an immediate family member?
Have you checked processing times? In many cases it takes several years to get a green card via this route (in other words, beyond your graduation date).
My understanding is it depends on who in the immediate family. With a sibling, it could be a VERY long time. Even with a parent, it could be 2 years…or more.
Do you really want to wait that long to go to college, especially when you have fine choices in your home country?
You don’t need a green card to study in the U.S. though. You just need a student visa.
Either way, my intention is to study in the U.S. and return to Canada.
I understand you don’t need a green card to study here. BUT your chances for acceptance as an international student are roughly half the %age of accepted domestic US students. And you won’t qualify for the same need based aid at many places. Other posters can verify. @MYOS1634@DadTwoGirls
Maybe @Catcherinthetoast can comment about international folks and their job prospects here in the U.S. in the field of finance.
But to your subject question. Do what you love and love what you do. Don’t do things just because you think they will impress the adcoms at top 30 US colleges.
Get engaged in a hobby or two - walk dogs at the shelter, play sports, get a job, join a club at school or do something of interest in the community if you want to enhance your out of school profile.
At application time - and #1 doesn’t really impact this, ensure you apply to a school that you can get into and can afford. If your ECs aren’t robust, there will be plenty of fine schools that will love to have your money. Note - many a state flagship (very good ones) don’t care if you have ECs at all - and many private schools as well.
Best of luck.
That’s really the answer to your thread - forgetting visa issues and other things such as careers.
Congrats on the Pascal - keep doing these, it’ll be useful regardless of what college you attend.
You can try and be excellent at golf - you can look at highly ranked D3 colleges and see what their golf team does, whether you’d be recruitable. (Fewer colleges have sailing but if it’s a strength you can also look into it).
If you plan to return to Canada, attending a Canadian university may be a better plan.
Am I correct to assume that you care about the pedigree of the school because it matters back in Canada? Would make perfect sense to care about such things in my opinion given your circumstance. Ultimately where you are going to seek employment matters.
For example a kid in my local northeast community can’t find a job consistent with his communications degree from a huge southern school. People view the school as a “cliche “sports” school with no local connections. He is for now basically stuck checking members in at the local gym. His brother who graduated a year earlier from an Ivy is working for a prominent consulting firm.
As others have said I would be true to your interests in pursuing extracurriculars but nothing wrong with seeking out schools that have cache back in your local job market.
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