<p>Well technically I'm not Canadian(but will be soon) but Korean living in Canada as a perm. resident.</p>
<p>I have been trying to decide forever whether I want to apply to American universities or not. My ECs are decent(not great, not bad). A big factor that lets me down is my low GPA.</p>
<p>I think my marks were 86, 78, 81 in grade 9, 10, and 11 and my first mark in grade 12 was an 89. I went through some problems in grade 10 and beginning of grade 11 that I don't want to talk about. Of course I'm not using it as an excuse, but it didn't help.</p>
<p>First of all, 80-100% is an A in Canada and even 90% is supposed to be really good. It's said that 88%+ should make you competitive for the Ivies. A girl(mediocre in ECs etc) got into Cornell with around 88 average last year.</p>
<p>My SAT I isn't that high either; 2110 and 800 in Math II. Both were taken for the first time.</p>
<p>I won't apply with financial aid if I really shouldn't. I've heard that Cornell and Columbia is need-blind to Canadians and permanent residents but I'm not even sure I believe that 100%.</p>
<p>I don't want to pay my whole way if it's not a really good university. Universities my parents won't mind paying for are probably Stanford, Ivies, and schools with name recognition(yeah Asian parents.)</p>
<p>Any advice for me? As there is not even a month left I have to decide really quickly. Should I give it a shot? Be realistic please, thanks!</p>
<p>As a Canadian PR, you do get the benefit of need-blind admissions at all the Ivy Leagues (check with Brown; I'm not entirely sure if they've switched to need-blind yet) as well as some other schools such as Amherst.</p>
<p>A 2110 isn't bad, and the 800 in MathII is great obviously. Do you have other subject tests? I ask because most schools that require subject tests require at least 2 (Harvard and Princeton require 3) Grades-wise it's hard to say. At my school last year, the kids who ended up getting accepted into US schools had over 90%, often over 95% averages. Then again, not every applicant who had an 90+ average was accepted. Top US schools have a holistic admissions process, which makes it hard to say whether XYZ score/grade is high enough.</p>
<p>If you think you have the time to put together an application, and you are interested in certain schools in the US, I would say go for it. Keep in mind that you will need teacher and counselor recommendations, so you need to decide as soon as possible to give them as much time as possible to complete those (it already is getting a little late to ask, which is why you should decide within the next few days)</p>
<p>Otherwise, don't discount Canadian universities. They are several times cheaper than US schools and still offer great programs. More specialized programs such as HealthSci at McMaster for instance offer smaller classes and admissions to those programs is similar in some regards to American schools.</p>
<p>It's a lot of work. If you were planning on applying to the States, you should have made up your mind a while ago. It's usually good to ask teachers to write recommendations a month or two in advance. Plus you need another SAT II or two for most schools, and on top of that you need to write essays.</p>
<p>In short, there's a lot of work involved if you want to apply to top universities. There is very little time left. If you are planning to apply, start preparing immediately.</p>
<p>With your stats, it's realistic to give the lower ivies a try, but HYPSM are long shots, almost no chance. Though if they say they are need-blind, they are really need blind. </p>
<p>In my opinion, if you were to go to a semi-top school in the states, it's better to go to a top Canadian university like Queen's, McGill, Waterloo, Western, U of T, especially at this point in time. Maybe go to states for grad school.</p>