Chances of a Canadian transfer to the U.S?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Hi everyone, </p>

<p>First time posting so I hope I'm in the right section for this...</p>

<p>I'm basically looking to transfer to the U.S. for school next year and I'm wondering what my chances are.</p>

<p>I'm currently attending Carleton University in Ottawa for Journalism, but this was never my first choice (even though I'm told its "Canada's best"). </p>

<p>I always wanted to attend a college in the States, but due to strenuous family circumstances, I dismissed even applying last fall. Now with many of these issues resolved I've become much more focused on applying for next fall to the States.</p>

<p>My current grades after my first semester at the university are A+, A, A-, A-.</p>

<p>I've been told by the few universities I've contacted that they do NOT use their scales when determining your grades (i.e. an A+ in Canada is a 90-100, in the U.S. its a 97-100). They simply use the scales we are subjected to here.</p>

<p>I come from a low income household so I've had to work to pay for my school, which I did all on my own for both semesters without getting any loans. I also attended one of the few english high schools in Quebec (french province) where it was difficult to find any EC's to get involved in. Due to this my extracurricular's are not the greatest...</p>

<p>Since the ninth grade I've worked with a local industrial design company (4 years).
I've done over 100 hours of volunteering.
I'm a self taught pianist. (if that counts)
I've been writing for a local newspapers as of October this past year.
I have an upcoming position at a local TV station.</p>

<p>As you can see they're not the greatest in comparison to what I read on here...</p>

<p>I'm taking the SAT this upcoming January, and I have already approached my professors about recommendations and they're all happy to write one for me. </p>

<p>I'm looking to apply to schools like NYU, USC, UCLA, Northwestern, UC Santa Barbara, UC Berkely (I won't bother listing all the UC's) Columbia (a reach, I know), Brown, Rutgers, Emerson, and the list goes on and on...</p>

<p>Based on all this, what really are my chances?</p>

<p>I'd really appreciate any feedback. </p>

2

<p>Most US colleges do not offer need based aid to international students. Total cost approaches $60,000/year. </p>

3

<p>I’ve actually called a few schools including UCLA, NYU, USC, and they all told me that they would cut a large amount of the tuition for me. $60,000 to as low as $15,000/year.</p>

4

<p>Did they tell you why? Even OOS transfer students don’t get that much aid and NYU is notoriously known for terrible financial aid.</p>

5

<p>I told them my family income and due to it being on the very low side, they gave me a good estimate/range of the cost. </p>