<p>I am a Canadian student wanting to attend a university in the United States. I have recovered from my "immature" past in grade nine and ten. I was not focused on school then but I made a huge recovery from that and I personally think that is a wonderful thing. I told some of my friends and even family members that I was planning on going off to University in the United States, either a top school or a school just as good as UofT. None of them think I have a chance. I would also love to attend UofT but something keeps telling me to give the U.S. a shot. Right now I feel completely hopeless, nobody has any faith in me and how do you keep going on with your dream when nobody believes in it but yourself? I know I'm not the smartest person out there and I know I just recovered from a bad past, even teachers have been commenting to me of my well performance in school and changed character traits. I am going to do the SAT's next year and I feel like I shouldn't even shoot for the states because I feel like I might have no chance at all! I keep telling everybody they do not want some robot perfect person and they keep telling me, "They do want a perfect kind of person with top grades and is good at this and that and whatever. They start from before their freshman years to plan for their university." Basically nobody even thinks I have a shot, and I am starting to loose faith in myself and I know I shouldn't but what do you do when nobody believes you have a shot? I thought that maybe the colleges would be happy that I made an excellent transition from bad girl to good girl. Can anybody give me some advice? Thanks.</p>
<p>You cannot be accepted if you don't apply :)</p>
<p>I truly believe that you should not fall prey to the discouraging criticism tha tyou are getting. Firstly, colleges understand that people change, and it is important to address things like that in applications. Secondly, you don't have to be "the smartest person", as far as I know, to attend a college in the US. Unfortunately, I don't have any more specific advice for you on that, but perhaps you have a college counselor at your school who can help with choosing US schools to apply to, or someone else on this forum can give advice. I definitely believe in doing what you feel is best, so if you think that studying in the US would be a great experience for you, by all means do everything you can do achieve it! Search online, talk to people... I am sure that if you want it badly enough, you can find some good match schools in the US. Don't give up on yourself.</p>
<p>P.S. It's ridiculous to say that the "perfect kind of person" starts "from before their freshman year to plan". Don't believe that. What an awful misconception. People change and mature, much as you have. Colleges recognize that. It's life. The wonderful thing about my college is that people have different backgrounds and interests; I really love the diversity. There is no "perfect kind of person."</p>
<p>I am a freshman attending a Canadian HS that dosen't offer any AP courses. My dream is to one day attend an Ivy for my BA, but I'am afraid I wouldn't get accepted. Right now I'am taking the highest level courses my school offers, but will it be enough?. Loves, I completely understand your position but UT is an extremely good university, better than many U.S. universities.</p>
<p>As a canadian high school student, I know how it feels when everybody around you is telling you that you're better off here in Canada than going to the States. </p>
<p>Do not give up your dream of moving down there. No matter what other people say, if you keep on going after that dream then somehow somewhere you'll get it. </p>
<p>I actually applied to an american university last year but unfortunately couldn't afford the tuition fee. I've met with the admission reps of some of the schools I wanted and they seemed quite receptive. It's so frustrating though how you know you're so close but then so far because of variables you can't control. </p>
<p>You just have to hang in there. We make mistakes and I think colleges will see that in your transcript w/ your upward trend grade-wise. As long as you're not relapsing from your old habits or have learned from mistakes of the past, there's nothing to regret. </p>
<p>And... if you can't get in after high school, don't give up. Take two years of university then transfer to the place you've wanted to go to. I'm doing the latter since I can't afford the tuition right now but really will not let anybody get in the way of me actually moving down south to study. lol.</p>
<p>Be stubborn. That's my advice I guess. Be stubborn about your dreams.</p>
<p>Canadian Universities are just as good if not better than US ones and they're oh so much cheaper.</p>
<p><33 deff gonna go to Queen's or in New Zealand.</p>
<p>Thanks everybody for your help. I'm going to work harder for my goal to be accomplished and keep listening to my heart instead of others' opinons.</p>