I’m currently a junior in the US and U of T is my dream school. I’m hoping to go into computer science and possibly psych as a double major. I’ve been taking the hardest classes offered at my school, with mostly aps and am also in the IB diploma program. However, I’ve received two c’s, one in AP Chem and one in IB Math HL for the first semesters. With AP Chem though I was able to receive an A the second semester and with math I’ll have at the least a B for the second semester. Otherwise, my grades are pretty good with mostly A’s and a few b’s. My test scores are also good as I have a 35 ACT and 1600 SAT, and 800s on both of my subject tests. I also have a lot of good extracurriculars. Do you all think I still have a chance for U of T? Or should I not bother applying?
I don’t think you would have much of a problem getting in with those stats.
My mom went to UToronto for CS. From what I’ve heard from her and from a few other people at the school, admissions is not very competitive and mostly looks at your grades. CS might not be as easy as sociology or something, but it isn’t very difficult. I’ve only spoken to Canadian students, though…it might be a bit different for international applicants.
Why U of T, though? You look like you would be a competitive applicant for some of the top schools in the U.S. (that depends on your ECs, of course). Tuition is notoriously expensive for international applicants, and I don’t think you would get a better education from here than you would from a school with a similar cost in the U.S.
UWaterloo is a better Canadian school for undergrad computer science from what I can tell. Check them out.
Thanks for your reply! I don’t know much about Canadian university admissions, especially what the standard is for international students.
I’m a Canadian citizen though I currently live in the US, so I’d most likely pay domestic fees, which makes U of T significantly cheaper than any out of state college I’d potentially be admitted to. The one instate college I was planning to apply to is pretty good with computer science, but nowhere near as highly ranked as U of T is. I’ve also visited and I really love U of T’s campus and Toronto in general!
U of T CS has become very competitive in the past 5-10 years. Get your application in early, eg November. Don’t wait until the final deadline. Once you have been admitted to the CS program, there is no guarantee that you will be allowed to major in CS. You need to attain a certain average in the first 2 CS courses in order to be admitted to the PoSt (major). Most people don’t meet the standard.
Every year, U of T CS admissions and acceptance to the PoSt becomes more competitive. I wouldn’t be surprised if they went to holistic admissions soon. I’m actually surprised they haven’t yet. They have been changing the rules and their website explaining the rules has added rules since I last looked a month ago. http://web.cs.toronto.edu/program/ugrad/admission.htm
“I’m a Canadian citizen though I currently live in the US, so I’d most likely pay domestic fees,”
If you are a Canadian citizen, then you would pay the same rate as other Canadian citizens.
Waterloo is very good for computer science. You would also do well at UBC or McGill or many other universities in Canada. You can find a listing of top Canadian schools for computer science by googling “macleans rankings computer science”. Be aware that a couple of the schools in their top 20 teach in French. When I looked several years ago Waterloo also seemed to pride itself in being a bit more flexible than other schools, for example with dual majors. I haven’t looked at this for several years however.
By the way, we have a similar situation with regard to living in the US but having Canadian (actually dual) citizenship. Many years ago when we were just starting college hunting I sent email to Waterloo asking what tuition we would pay. I still remember the exact first sentence of their reply: “Your daughter is a Canadian citizen”. We have seen this same welcoming attitude from multiple Canadian schools towards students from abroad who have Canadian citizenship.
The most effective way to get admitted to universities in Canada appears to be to have a lot of A’s, and not much else. This has worked well for us.
