<p>If you're going to the US for college/university, most likely you'll need a F-1 Visa; J-1 are for people in "exchange visitor programs" (i.e. they need a training program which is offered in the US but not in their home country)</p>
<p>My understanding is that as Canadians, we need to apply for the I-20 form through our college, but we don't need to schedule a visa interview with the US consulate; we just need to take the I-20 form with us when we travel to the US, with our passport of course, and they'll issue the visa then.</p>
<p>So I have to manually register myself at that database as well? I thought I just have to fill out a form with the university. And then get something stamped at the border.</p>
<p>So I need to fill out I20 and get it stamped at the border? When should I do this? I read somewhere that you have to do this ~30 days before attending college.</p>
<p>Thanks for the info guys
And CDN_dancer, i'll probably be seeing you at Penn! =)</p>
<p>@CDN_dancer
in the states, the vast majority of jobs will know about Upenn,
even the law office i work at in montreal knew that upenn was a sick school and not penn state, and yeah upenn is notoriously worse than the other ivies in term of FA</p>
<p>The school will fill out the I-20 for you, you only have to sign it and get it stamped at the border.</p>
<p>About registering with SEVIS, you'll want to register early enough so that you'll get the I-901 form in the mail before you cross the border. Actually, the border guards will accept a computer printout of the receipt webpage when you pay online so theoretically you could do it the night before.</p>
<p>The Common App will definitely help your sanity if you're applying to lots of schools :P It keeps repetitious info down to a minimum (stuff like your address, courses, parent info, etc.)
I was accepted ED so I only had to fill out the Penn-specific forms. I was planning on using the Common App for the other universities though.</p>
<p>@irutavias, great! That's 3 of us in this thread so far =)</p>
<p>@vicente, thanks for the info! I was not aware of the whole deal with SEVIS, so I'll be sure to do that...as soon as I submit my I-20 application :P</p>
<p>well it turns out penn has it's own little online form. but on one of the pages, you have to indicate financial commitment to penn, by stating where you will obtain the money for the education. In addition type of documents are required to prove that you have enough funding for penn. So how is this supposed to be done online? And how would you know what documents you need to indicate this sort of thing?</p>
<p>Yea it sounds real confusing, even more so when i say it. Does anyone have any clue? I think i might just end up calling Penn's International Student Services office.</p>
<p>Would I have more chances at top US universities than top Canadian univ if I have low GPA but good ECs and SAT scores? because all Canadian universities look at is averages..</p>
<p>
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Would I have more chances at top US universities than top Canadian univ if I have low GPA but good ECs and SAT scores? because all Canadian universities look at is averages..
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</p>
<p>Depends which Canadian universities you're looking at and for what programs. Most programs have a cut-off average, but then requires a supplementary where you can expand on things like ECs (which you seem to excel at). American schools definitely have a more holistic approach, but your GPA should still remain competitive (mid-high 80s). There is a greater breadth in terms of choices so your chances are buoyed by a combination of probability and good SAT scores/ECs. </p>
<p>I have a question as a fellow Canadian. What constitutes as a 'good' GPA here in Canada (percentage-wise)? Do American universities translate our percent scores into a GPA, is there some sort of conversion chart? Thanks!</p>
<p>I think they leave our percents as percents, and not convert them to a GPA; at any rate, I've seen several different conversion charts, so there isn't a fixed conversion rate so to speak.</p>
<p>As for a competitive GPA for applying to the US, at my school, people who were accepted generally had 90+, 95+% as their overall average. For applying in Canada, generally 80, 85+% will gain you acceptance into most programs; you're looking at 90, 95+ again for the more competitive programs (e.g. Queens Commerce, McMaster Health Sci, UWO Ivey, etc.)</p>
<p>Forgot to mention that 90+ also gets you some nice entrance scholarships, especially in Ontario (I found Queens and UWO to be the most generous, while schools in the west such as UBC, less generous; e.g. Queens/UWO will give $10 000 for 95+ and I think $5000 for 90+, while UBC only gives $2000 for 90+)</p>
<p>For those of you headed down to the states, what are you guys thinking of doing in terms of bank accounts? Open a second account at a US bank but still maintain a Canadian account? I'm wondering if it would be worth transferring to HSBC which has branch locations in both in my hometown and in Philly, so I'd have access to my account during the school year and during holidays when I'm at home...</p>
<p>I got into Brown and Stanford RD, Caltech & UChicago EA, and waitlisted at MIT - most likely heading to Stanford after visiting next week for admit weekend. It's a relief after all the months of waiting!</p>
<p>i'm with TD, so I'll open up a bank account (obviously with a different bank) when i get to philly. also, Im going to transfer a couple thousand of my spending money because the CAD is supposed to lose about 10% compared to the greenback after the recession... what do you think?</p>