Which school will be best fit? Any chance for Stanford or Brown, Cornell? [international]

[NiceUnparticularMan]

@univ_chance

my profile is supporting physics plus piano more although i prefer to do engineering more than physics

This is fine in the US. Many engineering programs will happily accept kids who are really good at Physics and Math, also at least very good at other core academic subjects, and then having other interests like piano can really be a plus.

Of course you might want to have some sort of explanation of your interest in engineering, and actually I think it is good advice to see if you can do something where you get to see real engineers at work as a way of confirming your interest. But you do not need engineering-specific courses or competitions or so on.

But as others have suggested–if your only concern was getting a good engineering degree, maybe Toronto is just not possible for a US college, any US college, to really beat. This happens in the US a lot too. If you are a resident of Michigan and are interested in engineering, it is really hard to beat going to Michigan. Same with California, and many other states.

On the other hand, if you want to actually get an engineering degree in four years and study music . . . that is not an easy combination, but as noted it is actually at least possible at Rochester, because of how their curriculum is set up. Same with Brown. My understanding is some people also do this at RPI, Case, WUSTL, and Lehigh.

[SJ2727]

@DadOfJerseyGirl

Second, a majority of roles for physics majors require US citizenship because they are with government agencies, defense contractors, research labs, etc.

Good point. Even when we moved here with green cards (permanent residents with work authorization), certain industries/employers were non-starters because they required citizenship.

[blossom]

And even if you are a citizen- getting a security clearance (necessary for many research roles) becomes more complicated and time-consuming the more time someone has spent overseas.

[aunt_bea]

Along with everything else wisely presented here, you really need to brush up on your written language skills because you’ll be required to complete a number of essays.
I understand if you’re a second language speaker and maybe the French is dominant?

I know that my husband and my daughter interview engineering candidates and read through their resumes/vitaes. You have to be able to write fluently for proposals and contracts.

If your English written language is not on par with other candidates, then your admission essays could be an issue for being admitted to a university.

[DadTwoGirls]

@univ_chance

my profile is supporting physics plus piano more although i prefer to do engineering more than physics

If you are strong in physics, and strong in math, then this is a very strong start for a high school student applying as a potential engineering major. Most students do not actually get to do anything directly involving engineering when they are in high school.

Also, you are an exceptionally strong candidate for the top Canadian schools. Some of the top US schools such as Stanford, MIT, and Harvard do not consider your major when deciding who to admit among high school seniors applying to be a freshman in university. MIT for example allows you to pick any major that you want at the end of your freshman year of university. This impacts who you have as an advisor for your sophomore year. I am pretty sure that Stanford is the same (I was however at Stanford as a master’s degree student, and for a master’s degree of course you are admitted by major). I thought that Waterloo was similar in Canada, but it was quite a while ago that I looked (and I do wonder why I forgot to add Waterloo to the list of universities in Canada with strong engineering and a good music program).

In most cases (other than schools that require an official minor) I do not think that there is any value in having music as an official minor, compared to just taking the classes and/or having lessons on the side (to the extent that your expenditure of time and effort permits this).

[thumper1]

@univ_chance

My mom told me certain positions such as director will required at least master degree.

Director of what?

[MMRose]

Brown’s ABET engineering program requires 21 courses. That leaves 11 courses of the student’s choosing where they can take advantage of the open curriculum.

For comparison, a bachelor of science in physics at Brown is 17 units, as are most of the other bachelor of science degree.

A BA in engineering or physics would have a lot fewer requirements, leaving more room for exploring the open curriculum .

[DadTwoGirls]

@NiceUnparticularMan

On the other hand, there are kids in the US who would strongly prefer an LAC to Michigan or UCLA (to the point they do not apply to such universities), and a similar kid in Canada could conceivably prefer an LAC to Toronto.

@univ_chance

What is LACs?

A “LAC” in the USA is a Liberal Arts College. This is basically the name that we use for small schools that offer bachelor’s degrees. They might or might not also offer graduate degrees. Many are focused more on bachelor’s degrees than graduate degrees, but many do offer some graduate degrees. Mostly the distinction is over the size of the school. Also, in the US the terms “College” and “University” are not clearly different. There is some ambiguity regarding what the difference is, although colleges are usually smaller.

Here in the northeast of the US where we live there are quite a few very good LACs. Bowdoin College, Colby College, Amherst College, and Williams College are some examples in Maine and Massachusetts. I think that Wellesley College also counts as a LAC. There are a large number of LACs elsewhere pretty much throughout the US, and the best of them are excellent. I personally feel that the quality of undergraduate education that you get at the strongest LACs is comparable to an Ivy League or other “top 10” or “top 20” university in the US.

Most of them do not have engineering degrees, although some do, I think.

There are also some very good small universities in Canada. A “small primarily undergraduate university” in Canada is the closest thing that Canada has to a Liberal Arts College. Acadia, Bishop’s, Mount Allison, and St. Francis Xavier Universities are somewhat similar to what the US would call a LAC. There are also UNBC and Lethbridge out west, and some others in Ontario. Again, I am not sure how strong these schools are for engineering.

[circuitrider]

As far as I can tell, there’s no music minor at Brown:

Performance ensembles and individual lessons through the Applied Music Program can be taken for half a credit per semester. Up to four half-credits in performance (i.e., two course credits) can be applied towards the ten credits required for the Music concentration. Concentration | Music | Brown University

[Justamom23]

Brown doesn’t have minors at all - so you’re correct.

[SportyPrep]

You have a great applicant profile as long as your essays and recommendations are strong. Assuming you are from Ontario?

We know a lot of Canadians with strong STEM backgrounds who have done their undergrads in Canada and then pursued graduate degrees in the US. Employment in the US hasn’t been a problem for them due to NAFTA visas and employer sponsorship.

Their aggregate acceptance rates to top US grad schools (at least one offer) is 100%. Stanford, Berkeley, USC, Northwestern, Chicago, CMU, Michigan, Ivies, MIT.

They have studied in Canada at UBC, Alberta, Western, Queen’s, Toronto, Waterloo, McGill, Dalhousie, Manitoba, among others.

Based on your stats you are guaranteed admission to Waterloo Eng/CS/Math, and its co-op program has ridiculously good job placement and work experience (better than UT IMO). If you don’t want to deal with the gigantic time and hassle of applying to US schools this Fall, then Waterloo will get you exactly where you want to go. Just bear in mind the quality of life there isn’t great, as it is an extremely competitive environment in Math/CS/Eng.

That having been said, if you are thoughtful in your applications, your chances of admission to at least one top US undergrad programs are reasonable.

Would look at Stanford, UCB, USC, Northwestern, Chicago, Michigan, CMU, MIT, Columbia, Duke, Purdue, Cornell (not Brown IMO), other Ivies. Might be wrong, but I don’t see you at a LAC.