As an international student (Canadian), what are my chances?

Chance Me / Match Me!
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<p>YOU GUYS ARE WRONG! Toronto is NOT LIMITED IN EC!!!
It's a total misconception! if you are able to take all the advantage UofT has to offer you won't miss out on your experience here!
My friends actually gave up Duke, Upenn, Cornell and Brown to come here
In fact they think they made terrific decisions, they have learned and experienced so much in toronto that they found their time here to be the best years of their lives.
However, it is hard to excel at UofT, because the course load can be hard and the atmosphere is a little bitter.
But if you are serious about your EC, this is the best place to be. with over 50000 students, there are students of different background, no matter how esoteric your EC may be, there will be people in that field.
UofT has more opportunity than probably some ivies
again i am not saying you should give up upenn/cornell/brown to come here just for your ECs, but don't think so low of UofT, because once you come here and actually get involved, your views WILL change!</p>

<p>btw, your stats are amazing, congratulation on all your achievements :)</p>

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<p>To illuminar,
No, I am not joking. Just look at the summer camps available here, they are nothing compared to those offered in the states. The competitions are not as vigourous, etc etc.</p>

<p>Can you please name some of the opportunities? I would REALLY like to know. thx.</p>

<p>To Newbyreborn,
I think you are mistaken. I am not saying that U of T is a university without ecs or it is "low". I think it is wonderful. I will definitely go there if I don't make it to any of my top ten colleges in the states. There are plenty of oppotunities in U of T, no doubt about it. Many of my friends go there so I know. And I think your friend had mad an excellent choice too. The best university or college is the one that suits you the best, right?
What I am saying is that there is a limited amout of opportunities for those of us in highschool in my opinion. If not, then I think I have missed out on many of them.
Thank you for your compliment. Do you have any suggestions in which aspect to improve on? It would be greatly appreciated.</p>

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<p>I don't know about specific opportunities, but there are definitely ways to get in even from here. Off the top of my head, I can think of in Halifax and Cape Breton:</p>

<p>One guy at my school accepted to MIT the other day.
One at Columbia
One at Princeton
One at Yale
Two at Harvard
One at UNC - CH
+ more I'm unaware of.</p>

<p>Four of them go to public schools, and I'll note that the guy from my school didn't have access to AP or IB classes.</p>

<p>How did they get in? I'm not going to quantify their life story because they're all exceptional in some way. Two were world class debaters (one went on to win worlds public speaking at Yale), one was extremely good at Tennis, one went to the Canadian Physics Olympiad, two were great at soccer, and all were incredibly smart.</p>

<p>Point is, the opportunities exist even in "impoverished" areas of Canada. It's about making the best of what you have, not trying to make a list for the sake of getting in. Truth be told, the opportunities here aren't better than anywhere else, nor are they unique, but they're not bad by any means.</p>

<p>There are plenty of opportunities to volunteer. At the hospital, at youth shelters, animal shelters, sports clubs, and other various charities. A lot of kids are involved in sports, from soccer to rowing to tennis. Academic opportunities are available through the school. There's debate, math club, robotics, GSA, multicultural club, student government, Model UN, poetry club, the improv team, yoga club and so on. </p>

<p>If you're truly exceptional, I'm sure a school will recognize that. It's about making the best of the opportunities presented to you, rather than worrying about whether or not your application will compare. I'm only a sophomore, so perhaps it's not my place to judge, but my philosophy is that I'd rather see how my achievements stack up rather than tailoring my high school experience to getting in. If I don't get in, I have nothing to lose except the application fee. I think I'd stand to lose a lot more by padding my application, personally.</p>

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<p>There are ways, I am sure. </p>

<p>I would not necessarily say that Halifax and Cape Breton are "impoverished" areas of Canada. Most of the competitions, contests and opportunities in general take place in those areas. On a side note, I personally feel that you have a better chance to do well in them due to the less amounts of competition (since a lot the of the contests are divided up into regions).</p>

<p>I totally agree, it is what you make best of it. However, I think that I would do a lot better/more if there were more opportunities that suited me, that I am more passionate about, you know what I mean? So IMO, the states offer more opportunities, not necessarily better ones in general, but better ones for me in particular =). I think that by doing extraordinary in an area that I am not passionate about is really padding my application.</p>

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<p>Excellent post illuminar, but blue_sky does make a point when he brings up that there may be an element of regional affirmative action coming from Nova Scotia. That in itself could've tipped the scales. I don't know much about accomplishments relative to debate and athletics, but I can tell you that I've seen Canadians who had more than just "Canadian Physics Olympiad" not get into the aforementioned schools. Being from Halifax certainly would help.</p>

<p>I would disagree with the notion that most opportunities come out of Halifax - Toronto is by far the place with the most opportunities. As Newbyreborn has stated, you have to go out and seek for those opportunities yourself!</p>

<p>Rather than hoping for adcoms to sympathize with your situation - actually, the converse will happen. Adcoms know that the GTA is extremely competitive. You will get no slack for "lack of anything."</p>

<p>blue_sky might been on to something. Granted, most extracurriculars here are very mediocre "resume padder" types. Model UN, community service, <insert name=""> club - to me at least - are all very mundane accomplishments that just about anyone can start up. </insert></p>

<p>I wish I could give you a straight answer regarding "what ECs to look for" blue_sky. But it's really difficult for me to do so. I can't really put a frame on college admissions, and expect others to achieve a certain bracket in order to get into certain schools. That's probably one of the nicest things about high school - there's just so many things to do and so many ways to express yourself. I think it's more or less a personal thing - you will have to find out what you excel at. I could literally give you a list of things I'm currently doing, but that would come out extremely awkward and the things I'm doing may or may not fit you well. Same with college apps - it's about finding a good fit.</p>

<p>But some key things are to emphasize your passion and definitely elaborate on your activities so that they're not just merely one liners on your application. Besides, I am sure that all the effort you've put into your activities cannot be trivialized into a single phrase :).</p>

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<p>hmmmmm</p>

<p>good points!</p>

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<p>I wasn't saying that most opportunities come out of Halifax, I meant most of the competitions, contests and opportunities in Toronto also take place in those areas.
Thank you very much for your advices. I will definitely elaborate on my activities in the app. I am happy with what I am doing as ecs now, so I think I'll keep it up and show the adcoms who I really am.</p>