<p>Here's my story, I'm from Edmonton, Alberta. My final grade 12 transcript grades which are relevant to engineering are as follows:</p>
<p>Physics 30 - 97%
Chemistry 30 - 100%
Math 30 Pure - 95%
Math 31 - 100% (Calculus)
English 30-1 - 80%</p>
<p>I have applied to the University of Alberta for engineering to start in September of this year, and should get in since they have a cut-off of 80% based upon the courses I listed above.</p>
<p>I don't want to go south of the border unless it is to attend a top school such as MIT, Stanford, Berkley, etc. since the UofA has a good engineering dept. and is close to home. </p>
<p>Would these schools take my high school grades into consideration at all or would they only care about my SAT score? Also, how tough is the SAT on someone from Canada? Have I missed the window of opportunity to even write it/apply to the aforementioned schools for September 2011 admission? Will my weakness in English nix any chance at admission to these schools? </p>
<p>Go to the UofA, it’s better than any US school anyway. But seriously, why are you only considering a top US school or else UofA? Why not apply to Waterloo or UofT? And I don’t think you have much of a chance at those schools simply because you have high marks. High school kids with a 95 average are a dime a dozen. I can only assume you have to have something that separates you from the pack in order to get into some of the worlds top ranked engineering programs.</p>
<p>I thought about Waterloo a good deal earlier this fall while deciding on which Canadian schools to apply to besides the UofA. Waterloo’s co-op program looks top notch but the prospect of having to move across the country for an education which is comparable to what I would receive at the UofA (from what I have heard) has me shying away from it.</p>
<p>Well good for you. I wouldn’t do it either. The UoA is a well respected engineering school and you won’t have trouble finding a job at any Canadian firm provided you have the marks. So if you want to work in Canada, and you want to do engineering, I really don’t see why you would consider a top ranked US school considering how much extra money the degree is going to cost you. Couple that with the fact that you will probably get a nice scholarship from the UofA. Unless money isn’t a factor I guess. But it’s tough to quantify the value of a name brand degree in engineering. For some jobs a brand name degree is almost required, but you don’t see much of that in engineering.</p>
<p>Don’t mind onecircuit, he feels the need to trash the UofA on here for some unknown reason. Just read some of his posts and you will learn to discredit anything he has to say.</p>
<p>Yes, the cost of tuition as well as living expenses at a top US school is a major deterrent for me. I am in all probability going to go to start at the UofA next fall, I’m just probing the possibility of going to a top US school. Do you think the UofA will offer me a scholarship on top of what I will receive in default from them? On their website my entrance average falls in line with an automatic $5,000 entrance scholarship but will they offer anything in addition? Thanks in advance.</p>
<p>Ah I’m not really sure about that. I went to highschool in NS and attended a University there for a year prior to transferring to the UofA. So I don’t really know anything about the highschool entrance scholarship scene in Alberta. My sister had marks like yours and got a full ride (40k+) to a school in NS so I would think with your marks you should be able to get more than $5000. She was ranked 2nd or 3rd in her graduating class though. I think rank has a lot to do with it. Apply to everything you can.</p>
<p>That sounds good. The thing is my grade 10/11 marks are, for the most part, nothing to write home about. I looked at all of the scholarships the UofA offers and from what I can tell I only qualify for the one I previously mentioned. Are there other scholarships outside of the ones that the UofA has listed that I can apply for?</p>
<p>I can’t give you names of specific scholarships because like I said I have no idea about that kind of stuff for Alberta. However, there are always scholarships you can apply for that aren’t awarded by your specific University. A lot of companies/organizations/families have scholarship funds and award scholarships/bursaries annually. I’d say talk to your high school and the UofA about that, someone should have a list of stuff you can apply for. One thing is for certain, you won’t get anything you don’t apply for.</p>
<p>Canadians are not prestige obsessed like Americans are. Nobody jerks it to the name of their school. When you think about it what does getting a top ranked undergrad degree mean? It means you were academically driven as a 16-17-18 year old. Who cares. It’s nothing to prance around and talk down on other schools about. Especially when that school has alumni that have no doubt achieved things you can only dream of (Dean of Harvard Med school, President of Stanford, Canadian Prime Ministers, billionaires and Rhodes scholars). What is it you do? [Take</a> yourself down a notch big guy.](<a href=“http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0_5jwOFet0&feature=related]Take”>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0_5jwOFet0&feature=related)</p>
<p>Stay in Canada you won’t have the same network i guess as top American schools but you’ll be paying much less here then there. Also if you plan on staying in Canada after uni IMO theres really no advantage to going stateside…if you your looking at schools in ontario check out queens as well</p>
<p>If you plan on doing any engineer jobs in Canada, do not go to US universities.</p>
<p>After you graduated from a canadian university you will automatically become a EIT in your provincial engineering organization where as if you are in the US then you need to take the FE exams.</p>
<p>To top that off, I got a few buddies that are in universities such as UCLA that graduated from engineering with a 3.6 to 3.8 GPA and could not find a job in Canada for 8 months now.</p>
<p>Before deciding to come to a US school take a close look at the school’s program requirements. Even in the top US programs students are usually required to take more non-engineering courses than they are in Canadian schools. It’s a different approach, and I know that having to take eight (or more) non-STEM classes may not be what some engineering students are looking for.</p>
<p>you_eh, Your attitude towards attending a college in order to learn the material that you are being taught and your thoughts and knowledge of the top Universities in the world is now becoming more and more clear.</p>
<p>you_of, was it not you that stated that you go to college to get a degree in order to get a job and not to learn the material? - that learning is second fiddle as long as you just get that degree?</p>
<p>and</p>
<p>was it not you that stated that a student at a lowly ranked University would learn the same as one at a top ranked university with the top professors in the world, the brightest students in the world and the top resources in the world?</p>
<p>U of Alberta is a really well known and well regarded Canadian engineering school. I know a few extremely brilliant students who chose to go there. Onecircuit’s opinion is not relevant- you simply can not apply the American metrics to the Canadian system (even the grading system doesn’t translate well). </p>
<p>Anyways, it would be a great way to start an engineering career, and last time I checked, the Canadian economy (esp. in the west), was doing great by comparison to the US (of course time can change all things economic but something to think about).</p>