hi everyone. I am looking to apply in Canada for undergrad and I am from India. I will be applying to the US as well, however, I want to explore my options in 2 Canadian Universities. I want to enroll in the college of engineering undecided 1st year. I have an IELTS score of 7.5 and an SAT score of 1380. Moreover, I have 8.0 out of 10 in grade 10th and my predicted in grade 12th is 90% out of 100%. Which universities will you all suggest?
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Although I cannot help with respect to recommending any particular Canadian university, I can state that Canada makes it easy for international students studying at Canadian universities to stay & work in Canada after graduation.
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Your budget will matter. For international students, the cost of education in Canada varies. The best known universities in Canada (McGill, Toronto, UBC) are relatively more expensive for international students. There are some very good universities (eg, Dalhousie, Memorial, Victoria, Simon Fraser) which are a bit less well known, but still very good and a bit less expensive for international students. There are many others to choose from.
Your SAT score is low for McGill, Toronto, UBC, and Waterloo, and probably low for McMaster, Queens, and Alberta. It is probably fine for most other schools.
You might want to google “macleans university listings” to get a list of good universities in Canada to consider. You could alternately look at the following web page:
https://www.macleans.ca/education/best-engineering-universities-in-canada-2019-ranking/
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I disagree that your SAT score is low. Indian students are not required to show a SAT score. Your IELTS score is fine. Your predicted grades are excellent. For example, McGill’s minimum Indian grade is 60%. AP scores of 4+ and SAT II scores of 700+ in physics/chemistry/math II would be helpful.
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My counselor told me that I should not consider UBC, Toronto, Waterloo, and McGill because the competition is very fierce there ( minimum 90% in boards). So which other universities are good for engineering?
“So which other universities are good for engineering”
If you look at the Maclean’s list, I will skip the four that your counselor recommended against, and will assume that you don’t speak French. This leaves:
Alberta – Great school. Very cold winters.
Carleton – I don’t know why this one jumped from 17 to 7 in their rankings in one year.
McMaster – Great School. Attractive mid sized city. Not too far from Toronto airport.
Queens – Great School. Probably not any easier to get into than the ones your counselor recommended against.
Victoria – Great school. I like the location a lot. Mildest winters in Canada.
Calgary – Another great choice. If you look east you see flat. If you look west you see very beautiful huge mountains. Attractive mid sized city.
Simon Fraser – Great school on a small mountain near Vancouver.
Anything else on the list down to at least Ottawa is a very good university. York and Ryerson are in Toronto which is a very expensive city. We liked Dalhousie (and Halifax) quite a bit when we visited a few years back.
I might add that universities in Canada are quite consistently very good. It is hard to go wrong with anything on this list as long as you intend to work hard and keep ahead in your classes, and as long as you have a good winter coat.
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And the good winter coat in no way has to be a Canada Goose brand either. :-c
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You should double check the programs at the schools you are considering to make sure that a general first year is possible. Waterloo requires you to apply directly to a specific engineering discipline. They don’t do a general first year. Also most schools that offer a general first year have competitive admission to your discipline of choice for second year (e.g. U of T, McMaster). Queen’s has a general first year and guarantees admission to your discipline of choice provided you pass all your first year courses (ie there insn’t a specific number of spots per discipline).
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It would help if you specified what you are looking for in a school. Canada is the second biggest country in the world, and spreads across 6 time zones… It ranges from Temperate Marine(Victoria, Simon Fraser) to ridiculously cold (Edmonton, Winnipeg). I would agree with DadTwoGirls that most of the larger Universities are reasonably good in Canada. Engineering is a grind no matter where you go, but your counsellor is right in saying that the 4 Unis he steered you away from are not only difficult to get into, but very tough to survive in academically. I would make slight corrections to the posts above.
1- McMaster is in a somewhat attractive part of an unattractive steel town. Toronto has grown so big that it has almost “eaten” this smaller city. There will be all the amenities you could wish for there, including Indian food. Winters are less harsh than many other locations, but you will still get snow and cold. It is known for it’s pre-med and Medical school. Pay attention the the prerequisites for admission. A very bright friend of my son’s (who’s Dad was a McMaster alum), was rejected by them for not having one class…and accepted by Yale! As noted, you are fairly near the TO airport, and downtown TO is only a 45 minute drive away without traffic. Also connects to TO by “GO train”.
2- Victoria is one of the most beautiful and pleasant cities in the world, and has mild temperatures, for Canada. It seldom snows. I don’t know that I would call it a great school, however. It is decent, for sure. You will find Indian food and Indians there. Relatively long ferry ride to Vancouver.
3- Simon Fraser is in an inner ring suburb of Vancouver on top of a mountain. Again, a very mild climate. Less sun than Victoria, but not a major difference. Decent, not great school. Has a pretty good CS program. While the Indians tend to cluster in other suburbs more than Burnaby, you will still find many Indians in Vancouver. It has a very large population of Indians (many Sikhs) which is only surpassed by Toronto.
4- U of Alberta will be very cold. Good school.
5- Ryerson. Right in the heart of Toronto. U of T is close. Great transportation options(subway, trains, buses), and every amenity you can imagine. Large Indian population in Toronto. Was originally a very technically oriented school with a lot of 2-3 year degrees, with an emphasis on co ops and practical knowledge. As the years have gone by it has gotten more academic, I think, but I really haven’t kept in touch with what they are doing. They are good at what they do.
6- York In a less appealing part of suburban TO. Decent to very good, depending on the faculty. Very large.
7- Dalhousie. Very old school located in Halifax, a smallish city in the Maritimes. Damp, chilly weather. Not a large Indian population. Good school.
8- Concordia. Just down the street from McGill in the heart of western Montreal. English speaking. Decent school in general, though I’m not sure about Engineering. It is to McGill as York is to U of T. Montreal is known for it’s night life and culture.It is a unique place. Big city feel. Probably not a huge Indian population, but they are certainly there. Samosas are legendary at McGill…son lives on them and Vector cereal.
9- University of Western Ontario. Located in a smallish city located halfway between Detroit and Toronto. Very good school in general. Used to be the place that WASP families sent their kids, but I think that has changed as the face of Canada has changed. Renowned for their business school, which is world class. Weather is a tad milder than Toronto. Very suburban, middle class feel. Not a large Indian population.
10- Queens. Smallish, historic city on the St. Lawrence river which divides Canada and the U S. Very good school attended by many of the elites. Not sure about the engineering, but it should be decent at the very least. Located halfway between Montreal and Toronto, with Ottawa a couple of hours north. Quality school in general.
11- good location in the middle of Ottawa, which is not only the Capitol city of Canada, but also a tech hub. Has a lot of amenities, but not the big city grind that Toronto has. Pretty cold…even colder than Montreal.
There are more schools, of course, i.e Windsor, Manitoba, Ottawa, Sakatchewan(cold weather, but some of the warmest people), Trent, UNB, etc. Hopefully someone will post who knows more specifically about Engineering at these schools.
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To chime in as a Canadian born and raised person, now living in the U.S., with three children that are progressively getting closer to college decision time, I would like to make a couple of comments:
I went to UofT for more than one degree and felt well-served by the institution. I think it is world class, although I do hear the tales that it has a particularly rough typical class-average grade. But I don’t think you should shy away from any of the schools that have the biggest international reputations: UofT, McGill, UBC and (for computer science and engineering) Waterloo. Applying yourself diligently would likely lead to success at any of the Canadian universities.
I think that all of the comments above on this thread are helpful. But as a tweak, I would have used more positive terms than 57Special to describe a few of the Canadian schools listed–because I believe that all of them are fairly uniformly good to great, across the country (at least the schools listed so far in this thread certainly are). Specifically, “decent” would be an understatement for, say, Victoris (generally) and for Queens (for engineering or anything else). These are really excellent schools, in my understanding. Victoria is a relatively new university (being only 50 or so years old as an independent university, as it was previously a western Canadian satellite campus of McGill). Victoria is a very good school that should progressively improve in its standing as the years progress. In terms of research output and international reputation, obviously the smaller Canadian schools like Victoria are going to pale in comparison to the behemoths that are Toronto and UBC. But if you want a very high quality undergraduate education, going to a smaller school like Victoria or Queens would be a fine choice–and indeed some would say superior to the biggest schools (UofT and UBC), which can be considered more impersonal and bureaucratic. Just my two cents (American cents, specifically, since I understand that pennies have stopped being minted in Canada as of a few years ago).
I also believe that a 1380 is not a low score on the 1600 scale–I think it’s like a 97th percentile or thereabouts, which should be fine to get into most of the Canadian schools. It’s true, however, that the engineering and computer science programs at most or all of the schools are among the most competitive programs to get into, so that score, while excellent, is not spectacular. I believe it would be sufficient for admission, however, in engineering or any other undergrad program, at most of the Canadian schools–including some or all of the “big 4” schools for engineering–i.e., UBC, UofT and McGill, plus Waterloo.
Cheers, and best of luck.
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@GoldenState99
I believe that it was UBC that was originally called Mcgill University College of British Columbia, not UVic. I lived on the Island just up the way for years…I stand by my comments on UVic, unless there have been some recent improvements. Agree that Queens is very good to outstanding as a school in general, but am unsure of how good it’s Engineering is. I would consider Queens to be at least a tier above Victoria as a school.
Agree that UBC and especially, U of T can have a huge and impersonal feel, but I know some who went to the latter and loved it.
@57special Both UBC and UVic started out as “branches” of McGill, as did the University of Alberta.
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As a Canadian and a graduate of Dalhousie University…I think you need to do a lot of research and visit your preferred schools. Most of the Canadian Universities discussed are HUGE with HUGE class sizes for first year students. You’re a number and often have no contact with professors. Classes are taught by very busy teaching assistants. It’s a big adjustment depending on your previous school experience. Universities in Toronto are spread out over a large geographical area and many students commute to class. It’s very hard to have a close knit, community feel in the University experience in Toronto. This works for some but not for everyone. Good luck!
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Arcadia, Xavier, Bishiops… Would offer a smaller Environment but many wouldn’t offer engineering.
Seconding Victoria, Simon Fraser.
Check out UNBC, Lethbridge.
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Hi guys. Look, I think my SAT score (1380 out of 1600)is ok… the problem is my GPA. Now, my 11th was really bad. Here is the breakdown -
8 of 10 in class 10th
65% in class 11th
72% approx. in the class 12th midterm
90% predicted in the final exam.
Now, I think UofT, UBC, McGill, and UofW are out… So my next choice was Alberta, according to QS. unfortunately, I am not meeting their min requirement for class 11th marks (else is fine) -
https://www.ualberta.ca/admissions/international/admission/admission-requirements/competitive-requirements
My counselor said that they sometimes can make exceptions and you can apply their since you have a good predicted score. Your Opinion?
My undecided first-year course is only in the following universities (not mentioning the top 4 because I don’t think I will get admitted there) -
UAlberta
Queen’s
McMaster
Western
Dalhousie
Not mentioning others, cause I will not the attending them.
So I was thinking of Western because their website says that I don’t have to submit my 11th marks…
http://welcome.uwo.ca/admissions/admission_requirements/international_secondary_school/india.html
What should I do??
Please help!
(P.S. I have some decent extra curriculars, if it helps)
This isn’t accurate. I have three daughters who attended U of T and had no problem having a close, knit community. It happens within each college at U of T. Yes, the university as a whole is large but the individual colleges have numerous activities and events to establish a community with their students. Also, not all classes are huge. Some of the first year classes are, but all will also have a seminar/tutorial once a week that is much smaller. Upper year classes are reasonably sized, typically between 25-60, depending on the major. All of my daughters went on to grad and professional schools and had no trouble getting letters of recommendation from profs they knew well.
Queen’s is an excellent school, with an excellent engineering program.
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Not sure why you’re not interested in the Master’s universities. Simon Fraser, UVictoria…would all be as good as the ones you list.
All 4 are good - pick 2 based on weather or airport accessibility?. 
UBC Okanagan might be worth a second look. It’s not ideally located but it’s UBC.
Note: use McLean, not QS - QS focuses on graduate criteria (such as research output).
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Not really addressing the original poster, but for those interested in the University of Victoria, this is from Wikipedia-----“The University of Victoria is the oldest university in British Columbia as it was established in 1903 as an affiliated college of McGill University, later gaining full autonomy through a charter on 1 July 1963.”
According to the latest (2019) Macleans magazine ranking, the ranking for “comprehensive” (non-Medical/Doctoral) universities is as follows: (1) Simon Fraser University; (2) University of Victoria; (3) University of Waterloo. Macleans had those same three universities ranked in the same order in 2018 as well. In the Medical/Doctoral category the 2019 Macleans ranking was this: (1) McGill; (2) Univ. of Toronto; (3) UBC; (4) McMaster; (5) Queens. I don’t put a lot of stock into these rankings, but that’s what one Canadian-based source thinks.
I stand corrected. I’m glad it worked out for your daughters.