<p>I disagree strongly with that last statement. Unless you're going to a top 20 university, financially in the long term it's not worth the investment.</p>
<p>The University of Waterloo, University of Toronto and Mcgill University as well respected around the world. Waterloo can compete with MIT in mathematics and engineering and has one of the best combinatorics departments in the world. In Computer Science it has always coming Top 10 in the that IBM international programming contest for undergraduates, winning twice, first place in the past decade. Last year it was champion for the Java competition.</p>
<p>Don't underestimate Canadian schools. Several University of Waterloo students have gone to MIT for graduate school, etc, which is the institution which really matters in the long run. While I won't underestimate the importance of the undergraduate, the name of the graduate school is really what sometimes matters.</p>
<p>University of Toronto was recently cited as the fifth most productive research univeristy using citations as a measure in North America, with Harvard in first. The fact that Toronto has a few Nobel Laureates is also testament to that. Another worldwide study of several hundred universities placed Toronto as #20 overall in the world taking into account a variety of factors.</p>
<p>It should also be noted that Mcgill is considered the Harvard of the North by many Americans.</p>
<p>In short, Canadian schools should never be underestimated. They can compete well with the best American universities, it's what you decide to do with the opportunities that provided to you that determines whether you succeed or not.</p>
<p>Analogously, not all the students in Harvard that want to go to Harvard Medical School make it to Harvard Medical School, implying that there are superior outsiders. Hence, undergraduate is not the be all, end all.</p>
<p>As a result, you have to take into account the financial sense of going to such institutions. It's a complete blasphemy and an insult to what Canadian schools have done with their limited resources to state that Canadian schools cannot even compare with those schools in academics or reputation.</p>
<p>While I will concede that they may not be able to compete minorly reputational wise depending on which Canadian institution you intend to go to, they can definitely compete academically.</p>
<p>I can speak on this objectively as I too, desire to go to an American institution, however, if rejected from the top-tier schools, unless there is another reason has a more international environment, for the reasons of reputation and academics I would go to a Canadian institution, come out as one of the top students and head to an American institution for graduate school. </p>
<p>"An education in the states is well worth the investment" - Again, depending on which institution you wish to go to.</p>
<p>The reason why I speak so fervently on this topic is it disturbs me terribly that some Canadian students would be so quick to dismiss the academic capabilities of their homeland institutions.</p>
<p>Don't get me wrong on this.</p>
<p>For schools that I intend to apply to, perhaps a few others further down on the list, such as Harvard, MIT, Stanford, Yale, Princeton, it is well worth the investment given their worldwide recognition. Also, it is important not to dismiss University of Chicago, however the financial constraints placed by those institutions may not always make them the best option over Canadian institutions.</p>
<p>Just placing things in perspective and keeping this conversation balanced.</p>