Chances for YorkU or U of Waterloo?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Current School: Penn State UPark
Current Major: Chemistry & German
Schools Applying to: YorkU, U of Waterloo, U of Toronto, Queen's, McMaster.
Switching Major to: Mathematics & German
First in family to attend university.</p>

<p>My reason for transferring: Switching majors, and because the schools I want to go to are cheaper in tuition (even considering I'm an international student for them- I live in the US), especially since PSU is raising their in-state tuition (I think I'll be paying them what I pay PSU NOW, and I have a bunch of Aid and scholarships). They also have really nice math programs in comparison to PSU. I also had a difficult year due to medications (see below), and staying at PSU would worsen that, I think. </p>

<p>I'll give you guys my stats from high school and this year, and do the best I can for next year. Just let me know if you'll need anything else.</p>

<p>High school:
GPA Unweighted: 3.82
GPA Weighted: 4.44
Rank: 7/199
SAT (first time- junior year): 670 Reading, 570 Math, 590 Writing
SAT (second time- senior year): 660 Reading, 610 Math, 650 Writing
AP Calculus Score: 4
AP English Score: 4
AP Envi. Sci. Score: 3</p>

<p>Freshman Classes:
Honors English I: A
Honors US Cultures: B+
Honors Geometry: A
Honors Biology: A-
Personal Computing: A
German I: A+
Concert Band: A+
Bach to Rock: A+
Physical Education: A</p>

<p>Sophomore:
Honors English II: A
Honors East. Civ. and Geo.: A
Honors Algebra II: B+
Honors Chemistry I: A+
German II: A+
Concert Band: A+
Art I: A
Physical Education: A
Health: A
Driver Education: A</p>

<p>Junior:
Honors English III: A
Honors West. Civ. & Humanities: B+
Honors Pre-Calculus: A-
Honors Chemistry II: A-
AP Environmental Science: B
German III (Online): A-
Concert Band: A+
Independent Music Study: A+
Art III: A+</p>

<p>Senior:
AP English: A-
Honors Physics (Online): A
Spanish I: A+
French I: A+
French II: A+
AP Calculus: A+
Honors US History: A-
Concert Band: A+</p>

<p>Awards:
National Art Honor Society: Secretary (1yr), Treasurer (1yr), Vice President (1yr)
National Honor Society
Tri-M Music Honor Society
Marching/Concert Bands: Section Leader (in for all 4 years, leader:2008-2010)
Mathematics Student of the Month
District Student of the Month
County Band 2009
Quincy Jones Musicianship Award
4 Scholarships from High School</p>

<p>EC's:
French Club- President (opened the last year in HS)
Isshinryu Karate (helped teach classes) all 4 years
Envirothon (Environmental Club) Team all 4 years
Tennis Team last year
Part time job (~20hr/week) at a grocery store for all 4 years
Tutored 2 homeschoolers in math last year in HS</p>

<p>My high school was pretty run of the mill, and I'd even say towards the lower end of quality AND what they had to offer. Most people from my high school attend the local community colleges, or go to Vo-Tech programs offered in high school. I've never heard of someone from my HS go to an Ivy.</p>

<p>PSU GPA (cumulative): 3.53</p>

<p>Freshman PSU Grades (Summer):
Freshman English: A
Introduction to Drawing: A</p>

<p>Freshman PSU Grades (Fall):
Honors Gen Chem I: B
Gen Chem Lab I: B
Freshman Seminar: A
Linguistics 001: A-
Near Eastern Mythology: B
Calculus II: WN (Late Dropped)</p>

<p>Freshman PSU Grades (Spring-expected):
German 002: A
Calculus II: B+/A-
Physics: <a href="I%20really%20have%20NO%20IDEA%20It's%20going%20terribly%20for%20me">C-, B+</a>
Gen Chem II: B
Gen Chem Lab II: B</p>

<p>Sophomore PSU Grades (Summer- unknown):
Matrices: ?
Caluclus and Vector Analysis: ?
Ordinary Differential Equations: ?</p>

<p>EC's:
None</p>

<p>Awards:
Phi Eta Sigma- freshman honor society
National Society of Leadership and Success
Dean's List</p>

<p>Why I'm transferring essay would most likely end up talking about why I'm switching to math and the programs those schools have for math and why they interest me. I originally HATED math with a fiery passion. In middle school, I did really terribly, and in high school always felt terrible about going to math class, and then I decided one day in Calculus class that I loved math because I felt so awesome and unstoppable doing it. So I'd probably dress that up and talk about that.</p>

<p>I'm pretty worried because I don't really know how these people would make their decisions, and I did pretty badly compared to my high school record at PSU (mostly because I'm female, and since I'm female, I'm taking Birth Control, and when I came here, I switched prescriptions for my BC, and I only found out last week that the new prescription I started on in August was giving me DEPRESSION, which completely ruined the past couple of months of my life, and I don't know how to explain my performance due to that.) I'm still a freshman, so there's room for improvement, certainly. What are my chances now, do you reckon, and how could I improve them (mostly worried about YorkU and UoW).</p>

<p>I'd have made some of this bold so it's easy to read, but I have no idea how to do that so I'm super duper sorry, and thanks for the help!</p>

2

<p>relaxxxxx you will be fine. Both schools York and Waterloo are wayyyyy below what you can. You goota look higherr. You are sooo overqualified for York and Waterloo. Lol a 3.5 at Penn State is nothing to be ashamed offf. You can without a doubt get into these schools.
Return the Favor plzzz</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1107953-chance-average-junior-penn-state-northeastern-plzzz-i-will-chance-back.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1107953-chance-average-junior-penn-state-northeastern-plzzz-i-will-chance-back.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

3

<p>Anyone actually go to/went to YorkU or U of Waterloo??</p>

4

<p>You could definitely get into all of them, I’d go McMaster (although I’m not certain on their science department) its a really great school, many of my family members went there.</p>

5

<p>How would you guys rate these schools in comparison to US schools (particularly PSU, since I go there). Is it better than PSU? Is it no PSU? Does anyone know about the math programs there? (Any of those listed would be good to know about, the schools I mean).</p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

6

<p>I’m gonna help you out here since the previous posters don’t know what they are talking about.</p>

<p>Waterloo and UofT are the top schools in Canada for undergraduate mathematics. The rest in your list aren’t even close. York is more of a business/arts oriented school as I understand it.</p>

<p>Waterloo has the largest mathematics faculty in the world. Programs are very tough. I would highly recommend enrolling in co-op if you’re not dead set on going to graduate school.</p>

<p>[University</a> of Waterloo - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“University of Waterloo - Wikipedia”>University of Waterloo - Wikipedia)</p>

<p>[William</a> Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Lowell_Putnam_Mathematical_Competition]William”>William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition - Wikipedia)</p>

<p>I’m on a co-op work term right now in Toronto but I’ll be heading back for my final year of math at Waterloo in the fall.</p>

7

<p>Aside from academics…social life at York is probably much better than at either Waterloo or UofT…but it’s what you make of it…Toronto is a much more vibrant city than Waterloo and something like 10x the size (Kitchener-Waterloo area population ~ 500000; Greater Toronto Area ~ 5 million)…Both universities are large with Toronto being exceptionally big (Toronto has 60000 students; Waterloo has 30000). UBC, Queens and Mcgill probably all have decent math programs…it was probably a bit of hyperbole when I said all the others weren’t even close</p>

8

<p>I think your chance are great!</p>