My son was admitted for CS to University of Toronto, University of Maryland and Virginia Tech and waitlisted at Georgia Tech, UVA and UCLA. He was also admitted to Purdue for his second choice major Data Science.
We are from Virginia so VA tech will be In State tuition. UofT will be cheaper than In State too due to Canadian roots. He is leaning towards University of Toronto (primarily due to the high ranking for CS, much cheaper costs and the city of Toronto) but worried about missing out on the American college spirit, sports culture and mingling with his other friends going to American colleges. He hopes to get a job after college in the Washington DC area, so is it better to go to VA Tech? Will UofT be recognizable in the US when he applies for jobs/internships in US? Would UofT’s be difficult for him socially and academically Vs US colleges (have read online how tough it is to graduate from UofT with a decent gpa).
As difficult it is to make a decision, we are very thankful to have these solid options, but welcome any thoughts. Thank you in advance.
UMD is definitely more expensive than UofT or VA Tech (probably like 80K more in total for 4 years), since it will be out of state tuition. You are absolutely correct about location and ranking. Have not discounted that option either.
Does your son have a Certificate of Canadian Citizenship or a Canadian passport? If so then yes he is Canadian, and will be greeted as such on arrival in Canada.
We are in a similar situation with both daughters having been born in the USA, but both having dual citizenship due to my having been born (and growing up) in Canada. One daughter graduated this past May from university in Canada. However, she graduated from a small primarily undergraduate university that is not known at all in the US. In contrast the University of Toronto is very well known in the US. Yes we did pay less than our in-state public university would have cost, even with a very good merit scholarship from the in-state public university.
In spite of graduating from a small university that no one ever heard of, my daughter nonetheless had very little difficulty finding a good job here in the US. Once she started looking in the US, she had three job offers in just over one month. She did need to say “I am a US citizen” perhaps 20 times during that month.
The University of Toronto will be academically very challenging. There will be some other students there who drop out. I think that there are two things here. You need to be a very strong student to do well there. Also, you need to want to do it. You need to be happy doing a tough homework assignment on a Saturday afternoon (which I personally was in graduate school, but was not as an undergraduate student).
The U. of T. is right in the middle of a big city, but a big city that is quite safe and clean by US standards. “Sports culture” will be far more focused on hockey rather than football.
I have known a few people who graduated from the University of Toronto and went on to graduate school in the US, including at Stanford or Princeton. Thus either it is possible to maintain a good GPA or these schools know how to adjust for the grading scale at Toronto.
VA Tech is also well known in the US and very good for computer science. I doubt that your son would have trouble finding a job in the US with a CS degree from either Toronto or VA Tech or UMD.
I think that you have three very good options here, with the only caveat that your son would need to want to work very hard if he goes to Toronto.
Agree with all these assessments as a Canadian and an engineering graduate from a program with very demanding curriculum.
In the years since my graduation, the disparity between the students entering engineeering/CS at top Canadian schools has grown.
Back in the day, there was a small but perceptible difference in education received between me (middling Ontarian high school) and others from gifted public programs. Bearing in mind that we had the same official curricula in our public schools and same prequisites for engineering majors (2 maths, 2 sciences + English OACs).
Fast forward to today, my friend’s son who is at the top of his engineering class (hardest program in Canada - 2 guesses:)) arrived as much as 2 years ahead of another friend’s child who came from a strong U.S. high school (and struggled in 1st year).
No issues with employment if you graduate top 1/3 or half of your class at U of T.
Many of my US-Canadian friends have their progeny at our alma mater. All are thriving but they are very hard workers.
These plus Acadia were the three that it came down to, with merit aid from all three. We decided that St Francis Xavier was a bit harder to get to, with no obvious advantages (although it is also a very good small university).
I liked the Bishop’s t-shirt enough that they gave me one after our tour there.
There are tons of VT alumni in the DC area. I’m sure that is true of Maryland as well. Your son should have good opportunities from either school. CS is within the College of Engineering at VT, currently ranked #13 in undergrad engineering (Maryland’s Engineering school is #21). CS is #16 Maryland, VT is #31. These are both good schools, ranked fine, well regarded. I doubt the $80,000 cost difference would make a significant difference in job outcomes, if money is a concern.
As the OP’s son was admitted to the CS stream, he only has to complete CSC110Y with a mark of 70% and complete CSC111H with a mark of 77% for the Specialist or Major or 70% for the Minor in order to declare the major.
My information is 3 years old. When I last looked, they seemed to have only general university entry, and a major placement later on. I stand corrected if things have changed since then.
Many thanks for all of the responses. Very helpful to see different perspectives, will share with my son as he makes his decision. Good luck to everybody.
All 3 are good choices, VT and Maryland land grant colleges, more typical big time college atmosphere, sports, great alumni network, etc. Depends on how your son wants to spend his college years - Toronto is certainly a great city. Good luck!