Have a 4.3 weighted gpa which is probably close to a 3.7 unweighted. I have a 32 on my act, and have started the mechanical engineering club at my school.
I have also won some computer science awards (machine learning projects), have about 400 hours of community service (i believe this is a lot), work part time as a machinist, and I’m currently working on starting my own charity. I would be looking to either apply for computer science or mechanical engineering.I think my application is a little heavy on the extracurricular which can make this a very unscientific process.
I know canadian schools are notorious for not caring about EC’s, so I’m wondering what kind of chance I have at the top schools.
I have completed many coursera certifications in computer science and finance.
Which top schools? University of Waterloo will care about your extracurriculars while University of Toronto won’t for computer science but will for engineering. You can apply to both engineering and CS at both universities.
In terms of canadian schools i will be applying to U of T, McGill, UBC, and Waterloo. Do i have a good chance at any of these schools specifically for computer science.
I think that you have a decent chance at each of these schools, but I am not sure whether you will get in and you might want to add one other that is easier to get into. I am wondering about Concordia or York or Simon Fraser, or St Francis Xavier if you wanted a smaller school, but I am not sure which would be the strongest safe school for CS with a 3.7. There are of course multiple other schools to choose from. I would be surprised if McMaster or Queens were any easier to get into than the four that you already mentioned.
U of T has a secondary admissions process for CS. Acceptance to the CS specialist, major or minor requires high grades on the first year required courses. Only about 50% of the students accepted to the CS program in first year will actually make it into a CS major.
U of T and Waterloo engineering are also both highly ranked. Neither have a secondary admissions process. Waterloo’s Prof. Anderson’s blog is a must read for Waterloo engineering, especially the “how it’s going to work” post.
fwiw, 2 years ago my kid was accepted McGill ME major, but not to UToronto.
(3.73 UW 4.3-ish W, 33 ACT, 7 or so APs, AP Scholar distinction, US HS, Can citizen.)
BTW, for ME, Toronto required a “live” sykpe/face-time style interview where you answer questions in a timed, one-shot only “interview” (not sure they still do this or if it is required for CS. It was to weed out kids that are not as English proficient as their transcripts suggested was the word on the street.)
The funny thing is my was told they were much more likely to get into UT than McGill!
FWIW, we have two cousins who have gone to McGill. One did Math - hated it and left. One did Psych. Loved it. Stayed an extra year even though they “APed out” in 3. (McGill “makes” you take your AP credit whether you want to or not.)
From knowing kids that have gone, McGill engineering and sciences have rep being are more “old school”/European style compared to UofT which is supposed to me more “US” in style/philosophy. But most of this is 2nd hand, so do your own research.