<p>I am considering going to McGill which is really close to the US. The distance is not the problem. They are just worried about what rights I have in another country. My dad is an immigrant from a country not like America or Canada so he is against me ever leaving America. How do I convince them that Canada is not some communist country where random American students get held in prison for no reason?</p>
<p>LOL…</p>
<p>Just ask your dad to find any instances where Americans were held in Canada for such things as political “crimes” or other non-offenses.</p>
<p>Yeah I said that, thanks</p>
<p>Have you tried posting in the McGill forum? It seems to be pretty active and I’m sure there are parents there who could help you. Good luck!</p>
<p>[McGill</a> University - College Confidential](<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/mcgill-university/]McGill”>McGill University - College Confidential Forums)</p>
<p>Good idea PRJ, thanks</p>
<p>Show him this from the McGill Tribune. BTW, nearly 10% of McGill undergrads are from the U.S.:
NEWS ANALYSIS: Americans love McGill
Why more Americans are choosing red and white and leaving blue behind</p>
<p>[The</a> McGill Tribune](<a href=“http://www.mcgilltribune.com/media/paper234/news/2004/10/26/News/News-Analysis.Americans.Love.Mcgill-780458.shtml?norewrite&sourcedomain=www.mcgilltribune.com&page=1]The”>http://www.mcgilltribune.com/media/paper234/news/2004/10/26/News/News-Analysis.Americans.Love.Mcgill-780458.shtml?norewrite&sourcedomain=www.mcgilltribune.com&page=1)</p>
<p>Find out the specific reasons why he doesn’t want you to attend college outside the country and then address those specific reasons with the reality of those areas of concern. If there are specific rights he’s concerned with, find out what Canadian law is regarding those rights - i.e. if the rights are the same or how they might differ in Canada.</p>
<p>You didn’t say, but is there any issue with your immigration status if you leave the US for college? Any issue with your dad not being able to leave the US to visit you in Canada? I am unfamiliar with the current rules, but at one point while my brother-in-law was trying to gain permanent residency, he was told that under no circumstances should he leave the US.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>The ease of border crossing for U.S. and Canadian citizens should not blind others to the need to have their ducks in a row before crossing the border. I grew up on the Canadian border, and used to cross it several times daily during the summer. But a close friend who was a Chilean citizen – sometimes it took hours for him to get across, and more than once he got stranded and needed legal help. And that was all BEFORE 9/11, when border security was much more lax than it is now.</p></li>
<li><p>McGill was fabulous for my daughter’s BFF. An economic bargain, she loved it, great opportunities, loved living in Montreal, and she just got accepted to the top PhD program in her field. Hard to beat that.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Goalsetter:</p>
<p>Is your dad a citizen or a green card holder? Are you a US citizen? It might make a real difference in your ease of travel and indeed your status if you spend 8 months of the year in Canada instead of the US.</p>
<p>Canada is a very safe country. If you are a US citizen, which your post leads me to believe, immigration issues concerning getting a student visa should not be much of an issue. I do know however that the Province of Quebec (where Montreal is located) does require some additional paperwork.</p>
<p>I don’t think your dad is worried about being able to visit you in Canada. It appears more that he is very grateful to be able to immigrate to and live in the US and feels that he should support his country by having you stay in the US. A lot of people born in the US feel the same way too. What many people forget to realize is that Canada is also a nation of immigrants. In fact, there are people who move to Canada first before immigrating to the US because Canada has less complicated immigration restrictions. I have lived pretty close to Canada my entire life and am very familiar with the people and the culture. Overall, it is pretty similar to the US, but it is definitely another country with its own laws, the one most noticeable to college students would be the lower drinking age (18 in Quebec).</p>
<p>I think your dad may be on to something. Here are some real dangers you may face if you go to college in Canada:
- You might begin to think that hockey is better than football.
- You might accidentally eat some “poutine.”
- You might fall into the delusion that there is a sport called “curling.”
- You might develop a verbal tic in which you uncontrollably end your sentences with “eh?”
- You might become so polite that you can never reenter American society.</p>
<p>It can get worse than that. During orientation week at McGill, the aforementioned BFF was briefly a Young Communist, because the Young Communists were the only group that didn’t seem to be completely sloshed all the time. It turned out that, notwithstanding their sobriety, they were boring and strident, so she moved on. She did report that her solidly liberal, mainstream-urban-Democrat political views put her squarely on the right wing of the political spectrum at McGill, which included a bunch of frequencies on the left that are ordinarily off the visible portion in the U.S.</p>