<p>EAD - here are some things that come to mind when I think "street smart"</p>
<ul>
<li>walking into a room and getting a good sense for the dynamic going on at that moment</li>
<li>during a meeting, being able to sense from both body language, and intonatiion, what people are <em>reallly</em> thinking, regardless of their word choice</li>
<li>understanding exactly what it is that each person that you work with and for wants, and needs, and figuring out a way to help them achieve that</li>
<li>encountering a problem, and thinking out of the box to solve it in some common sense way that seemed to have escaped everyone else (Warren Buffett is a good example of this one)</li>
<li>knowing what to say, and what to do in social and business situations that makes others say "I like working with that person. I like it when they're around."</li>
<li>figuring out the difference between what a person or organization says is important, and what is actually important to them/it.</li>
</ul>
<p>stuff like that that has very little correlation to the SAT, grammar, spelling, punctuation, gpa, or technical knowledge, and of course nothing to do with character. Those are really three legs of a stool.</p>
<p>every college is contact they say while the SAT is important, it is not everything. In fact, far from it. Same with getting a job.. just because you went to HYP does not mean you will nail the interview</p>
<p>Shad,</p>
<p>For graduate studies, I agree with you that Toronto, UBC, and McGill are considered the best in Canada. (Personally I think Alberta may be ahead of McGill, but that is another story).</p>
<p>For foreign students, it would be McGill, Toronto, UBC in that order.</p>
<p>For Canadian undergrads, things become more interesting. In the ethnic enclaves, your opinion holds up well. For strong white Anglo students here in Ontario, it is Queen's and then Western. Even a former president of the U of Toronto admitted they don't go to Toronto.</p>
<p>I don't know how it is in the rest of the country, but I do know a large number of students from private boarding schools across the country attend Queen's. I don't have information on it, but I suspect something similar may be happening at Western, though to a less degree.</p>
<p>
[quote]
just because you went to HYP does not mean you will nail the interview
[/quote]
True, but you'll never get a job if you don't get an interview. You can't discount the advantage going to a name brand school will give you for getting interviews. You also can't discount how going to a target school for those lucrative fields like banking and consulting greatly increases your chances at getting an interview. Sure, it is up to you to do well in the interview and no college name can help you there, but you can't deny that a 4.0 from MIT will get nearly every interview with an engineering company that he applies to for a job.</p>
<p>Where you go to college can help you in an interview too. If you went to a name brand school like Harvard it can add a little wow factor (assuming everything else goes well) and can also confirm a strong resume and interview ("the guy has great work experience, was very articulate in the interview, makes sense for a Harvard grad"). However, where you go to school probably helps more if you share an alma mater with the person interviewing you. "You went to Iowa State? So did I!" and then proceed to spend a few minutes comparing college experiences, giving you material to talk about to make you seem more likeable. For this it's more luck of the draw than having an advantage by going to a name brand school.</p>