Chance Me for McGill and U of T

Student Lounge International Students
1

<p>I know this should probably be in the "What are my Chances?" section, but most people in there know very little about Canadian post-secondary institutions. If you could chance me for McGill and Toronto that would be appreciated.</p>

<p>General Information:</p>

<p>Year: Senior this Fall.
Age entering college: 17
Ethnicity: African-Canadian (Born in Nigeria, West Africa)
Location: Canada (I go to the top public school in Western Canada)
Class Rank: School doesn't rank, I would probably gaurantee top 10%
SAT: Not taken yet (When answering, assume a 2100+ score, I never score lower on practice tests. Will be taking it in October)
SAT II: Math II and Chemistry (Will be taking these in November on the same day, expect a 700+ based on practice)</p>

<p>Grades</p>

<ul>
<li>Freshman Year Grades: N/A, these are not put on transcripts where I live (Alberta) because high school starts in grade 10.</li>
<li>Sophomore Year: Essentially straight As, marks ranged from high to mid 90s.</li>
<li>Junior Year: First semester I basically had straight As, with one 89% (we do percentage GPAs here) and one 87%. Second semester I fell off a bit, with all my grades in the high 80s; which is why I'm making this thread haha. </li>
<li>Senior Year: Unknown so far, I'm going to work WAY harder than I did in the second half of my junior year and shoot for straight As.</li>
</ul>

<p>Honor Level Courses: I'm in the IB Certificate program because I had a teacher in grade 9 for Humanities who decided not to give me a recommendation for Social or English IB despite having high 90s in both her classes. The IB Classes I do take are:</p>

<p>IB French A (IB 10, 20, 30)
Pre-IB Science (Pre-IB 10)
IB Biology SL (No HL offered) (IB 20, 30)
IB Physics SL (No HL Offered) (IB 20, 30)
IB Math SL (Couldn't fit HL into my schedule because I'm taking all 3 sciences) (IB 20, 30, 31)
IB Chemistry HL (IB 20, 25, 35, 30)</p>

<p>I only started taking IB exams this May so I don't know any of my scores out of 7 yet, I felt good when writing them though so I expect to do well.</p>

<p>Extra-Curriculars</p>

<ul>
<li>Club Basketball for about 5 years (Equivalent of AAU in the USA)</li>
<li>Varsity Football (Sophomore and Junior years, will likely play as a Senior)
Community Basketball (9 years)</li>
<li>Royal Canadian Air Cadets (For 3 years, attained the rank of Flight Corporal, Cadets is a great leadership program)</li>
<li>Patti Falconer Acting/Modelling Agency (Received many scholarships to acting schools outside Alberta, that I was unable to attend because we won't move. I also received an offer of a lead role in Like Mike 2 the movie; but was unable to participate because my parent's were not around for me to go to Vancouver for the casting. I was 12 or 13 iirc.)</li>
<li>Debate Club, never won anything significant </li>
</ul>

<p>Awards:</p>

<ul>
<li>Honor Society (All of High School)</li>
<li>Alexander Rutherford Scholarship (National Scholarship for Academic Acheivement, received for all of high school)</li>
<li>(My school doesn't do Cum Laude, Magna Cum Laude or any of that stuff so it's not really something I can beef up my resume with).</li>
</ul>

<p>Work/Volunteer Experience:</p>

<ul>
<li>Refereed basketball for 2 years. Paid about $13 per game.</li>
<li>Calgary Women's Show: Packing gift bags for thousands of attendees</li>
<li>Helped paint a bridge and do a garage sale for a Women's Shelter in Okotoks</li>
<li>Vacation Bible School Crew Leader at Church for 2 years</li>
<li>Volunteering every Sunday at church for 6 years as a youth leader, teaching younger kids</li>
<li>Tech Management Leader at Church</li>
<li>Miscellaneous other things that I could bring up if I had my resume handy haha.</li>
</ul>

<p>The last thing I want to say is that I'm well respected around the school by teachers, and I'm a good writer so the essay and teacher recommendations shouldn't be a problem. </p>

<p>Speaking of the essay, if anyone has any suggestions as to what to write about that would be appreciated. I haven't really experienced any hardships to be honest, other than a very aggressive series of bouts of abuse with my father during my junior year. I guess I could make a sob story and use that as an excuse for the dropoff, but I'm not sure if that's a good idea.</p>

2

<p>[McGill</a> University - College Confidential](<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/mcgill-university/]McGill”>McGill University - College Confidential Forums)
Little-known, and little-used – I was surprised they actually have many Canadian university subforums.</p>

<p>Anyway, you don’t need SAT, and I think only marks matter for basic admissions.
Really depends how well you do in grade 12, but I’d say it’s a sure admission for the normal science, arts, non-competitive programs. Good luck!
PS: Your ethnicity will not be a hook, unlike at top US unis</p>

3

<p>Aren’t you getting tired of posting the same thing over and over in different places? Tsk tsk. Really. You’ve already been told that marks are the only thing that matters. And even if you didn’t pay any attention, the information you seek is easily found on the schools’ websites.</p>

<p>Get a 92 average or so, and you will have no worries.</p>

<p>Kids these days…</p>

<p>(If I come across as rude, it’s because it is 1:53 am and I am somewhat annoyed.)</p>

4

<p>Why the hell do you need to be chanced? What about cut-off admissions don’t you understand?</p>

<p>LOL @ the idea of high schools awarding latin honors. That made me crack up. Nice.</p>