SAT process

[g5cubed]

the best option (if u want a US degree, ivy league ones i assume) is go to a reputable university in canada for undergrad, and go to US for a master or phd, that way u save at least $100,000 cad, no jokez

What are the reputable IVY schools in Canada? Is Western U (Richard Ivey SofB) any good, I heard its one of top in Canada? I guess pursueing a US undergrad degree is definately not worth it. I wouldn't even think of going to harvard, more like U Penn or Columbia.

It's VERY hard to get into the top Ivy league schools. I knew a guy in high school who had a 99% average (he won the national millenium scholarship I believe) had tons of after school stuff, scored high on the SATs and still didn't get in. So unless you are tops in your school, it might not be worth the time/effort/stress to try to get into Harvard etc.

How is that possible, are US uni's that harsh. How could your academic standings be any better than a 99%. I also heard, its good to have 500+ volunteer hours, but your friend seems to have that.

Thx for everyone's great advice.

[Ryan]

Ivy league just refers to the sports division they are (were?) in.

American schools will give preference to Americans.

the best option (if u want a US degree, ivy league ones i assume) is go to a reputable university in canada for undergrad, and go to US for a master or phd, that way u save at least $100,000 cad, no jokez

What are the reputable IVY schools in Canada? Is Western U (Richard Ivey SofB) any good, I heard its one of top in Canada? I guess pursueing a US undergrad degree is definately not worth it. I wouldn't even think of going to harvard, more like U Penn or Columbia.

It's VERY hard to get into the top Ivy league schools. I knew a guy in high school who had a 99% average (he won the national millenium scholarship I believe) had tons of after school stuff, scored high on the SATs and still didn't get in. So unless you are tops in your school, it might not be worth the time/effort/stress to try to get into Harvard etc.

How is that possible, are US uni's that harsh. How could your academic standings be any better than a 99%. I also heard, its good to have 500+ volunteer hours, but your friend seems to have that.

Thx for everyone's great advice.

[evman150]

the new sat is no longer 1600, but 2400 (reading, writing, math)

Ya that's right I forgot. It's akin to the PSAT I took in grade 11. I'm glad I didn't have to do that format for the SAT though. Grading an essay can be very subjective. At least I think it has an essay now. The PSAT didn't have an essay, just two different english sections with MCQs.

[Coolin]

I went through all the crap of applying to US universities last year. So I guess I'll share a little bit of general advice on the aspiring Harvardite/Princetonian/whatever.

Take your SATs in the October of your senior year. You'll need at least 1400+ (under the old system out of 1600, don't know how it would convert under the new 2400 system) to have a remote chance at getting in. The higher the better of course. Average for the higher Ivies is about 1500. I only got 1450, which wasn't high enough (I walked into the test never having seen a practice question or knowing what to do), hence my rejection. But my friends were anywhere from 1500 to 1570, and none of them got into the schools they wanted. Although one or two got into Cornell.

Extracurricular activities mean more than academics. Sure, a 99% average will help, but the university has no way to tell if 99% is average for your school or if it's outstanding. Ivy Leagues care about who you are, not just how well you can memorize a textbook. Activities/volunteering makes more of a difference than that extra few percentage points on your report card.

Your essay is important. Unlike Canadian universities, American universities generally require an essay. This makes you more than just a set of numbers, but a real person. Make the essay "you", don't pretend to be some genius academian. Admissions staff read through millions of essays and can see through the BS.

Admissions is difficult. According to my interviewer, Harvard only accepts 2-3 students from Alberta each year. If you translate that population-wise to Canada as a whole, there are slightly more than twenty admitees from Canada. I wouldn't expect things to be much easier for Stanford/Princeton/Yale/MIT/etc. Lower Ivies may be easier. Unless you are sure you're one of the top 20 students in Canada, the chances are mostly against you.

Financial Aid is guaranteed need based for Princeton and Harvard. Maybe Yale, I'm not sure. This means that they will analyze your income and give you a grant (not a loan) to pay off part of your tuition. They will only take what you can afford. The rest of the universities in the United States cannot claim to be entirely need based.

[mrclone]

Hello,

does anyone know the process to applying for US Uni's. I know that SAT's are mandatory, but whats the process? Also, is it worth applying to US uni's.

Thanks in Advance

My Harvard interviewer (aside: I got the big fat rejection letter ) gave some good words of advice: It doesn't really matter so greatly about where you go for undergrad, in terms of quality of teaching and education, it's all fairly similar, but it's about the undergrad experience. So you need to choose the right school for your undergrad years.

Keep in mind LOTS of students go to tier 1 US schools at the undergrad or graduate/professional level. What you need to consider are the type of grades you'll get at the undergrad level. While it's great to study at Harvard or Yale, if you don't manage to get the grades to get into your graduate or professional (med, dental, etc.) program at the school you want (assuming you plan to go onto to further studies), then you wouldn't have made good use of your top-quality undergrad education.

My suggestion would be to apply to all the schools you'd like to go, but apply to a few tier 2 schools as well. I think if you look at much of the faculty that serves many of the big named schools, you'll find that aside from a few faculty that received all of their education at one school, many of them do their undergrad at a relatively less famous institution, then move on to do bigger and better things at a top level school. ...Of course, we'd all like to say we were once a Harvard undergrad

Extracurricular activities mean more than academics. Sure, a 99% average will help, but the university has no way to tell if 99% is average for your school or if it's outstanding. Ivy Leagues care about who you are, not just how well you can memorize a textbook. Activities/volunteering makes more of a difference than that extra few percentage points on your report card.

The same goes for any school. I know a few 99%-ers that didn't get into the Harvards, Yales, Princetons, etc., probably because there wasn't much beyond the grades. (of course if you're a child prodigy, there might be some exception...)

Financial Aid is guaranteed need based for Princeton and Harvard. Maybe Yale, I'm not sure. This means that they will analyze your income and give you a grant (not a loan) to pay off part of your tuition. They will only take what you can afford. The rest of the universities in the United States cannot claim to be entirely need based.

There's a difference in the Financial Aid offered by private universities versus public universities, depending on the endowment size. I can't remember the details on how they assign the Aid, but unless you're filthy rich...I don't think most people could afford a 35-40K USD a year tuition without some dent in their wallets. So don't let the tuition deter you, and most definitely don't let it deter you from APPLYING!

[mrken]

Thanks for all the great advice!

The IB Diploma is not a ticket out of a Standardized Test. As far as I know, you'd still have to take SATs regardless of your IB diploma, hell I'd even wager most US schools don't even know what it is, hell even most Canadian universities don't know what it is. It's far more well known outside of North America. I personally thought it was a waste of my time, and dropped it, also, if you want to go into Engineering drop it, most councilors will tell you that, mine did, since you can't focus on science/math courses as much since you've gotta use up timetable slots for all the social sciences and whatnot.

--Mark

Perhaps it is different in Ontario, but in BC, one can only take 8 courses in one year, and social studies, English, a second language, (and now P.E.) are required courses for graduating. IB only adds an extra course to the mix (TOK). And for sciences, there is only Biology, Chemistry, and Physics. Anything else would be considered an elective.

Your essay is important. Unlike Canadian universities, American universities generally require an essay. This makes you more than just a set of numbers, but a real person. Make the essay "you", don't pretend to be some genius academian. Admissions staff read through millions of essays and can see through the BS.

Do the universities actually read all of the essays? How long are they (on average)? How many people do they hire reading essays?!!

Financial Aid is guaranteed need based for Princeton and Harvard. Maybe Yale, I'm not sure. This means that they will analyze your income and give you a grant (not a loan) to pay off part of your tuition. They will only take what you can afford. The rest of the universities in the United States cannot claim to be entirely need based.

Does this apply to Canadians too? My parents' business is currently running in the red.

There's a difference in the Financial Aid offered by private universities versus public universities, depending on the endowment size. I can't remember the details on how they assign the Aid, but unless you're filthy rich...I don't think most people could afford a 35-40K USD a year tuition without some dent in their wallets. So don't let the tuition deter you, and most definitely don't let it deter you from APPLYING!

I never knew there were public and private universitys! What are the differences? How does one tell whether a university is public or private? Are universities in Canada public or private?

What are the reputable IVY schools in Canada?

I thought the only Ivy League schools are in the US?
EDIT: They are listed along the horizontal bar at the top of this page: http://www.ivyleaguesports.com/