In a decently competitive public school.
My class rigor….

1/3 honors classes 9th grade
3/4 honors classes sophomore year
3/4 honors classes junior year
3/4 honors classes senior year
(5 APs in all)

-Overall GPA 3.7 weighted it is 4.3 (so its about a 92-93)
- SAT's 2100 (should I retake?)
- volunteer at the hospital, member of student council, on the varsity soccer team since sophomore year, in 3 major clubs (1 being FBLA), VP of class, Secretary of Celebrations club, a lot of small clubs, volunteer at the library, on a club soccer team ranked 20th in the nation, a soccer buddy for children of special needs soccer league, and tutor children at the local YMCA( about 700 hrs of volunteering/ community service in all).
-NHS and Gold in Russian speaking competition.
- ranked 50th out of 700 in class.
- Speak Russian as second language
- I will take the ACT and SAT II's for Bio and Math

I live in the U.S. (NJ)
Thanks.

Stop bragging.

Now I haev a second problem. My husband is caucasian. Why is it that when I go out to the stores or restaurant with him, asian people give me nasty looks?

I don't get this!! help!

Not much you can do about it. If I were you I would have some serious fun at their expense by playing up a super racial stereo type. enjoy.

What is the transition like for an English speaker? I’m extremely interested in developing my knowledge of French, but my current knowledge is admittedly very basic (three years with a rigorous teacher in high school, but it’s been nearly five years since that time). I retain much of my basic grammatical knowledge and vocabulary, and was pleasantly surprised by the amount of French I recognized during a recent semester abroad in Italy. Comprehending the spoken language, however, was much more difficult.

In any case… is the city welcoming for those who demonstrate an eagerness to adapt? I recognize I will never be an incredibly proficient French speaker, but I would like to expand upon the knowledge that I have.

Montréal is a bilingual city 50/50 english/french
dont worry about it
but I think you should learn french …
francophones in Mtl (like me) are afraid that later maybe the city will bean an english-speaking town..We don't want that! Bilingual and happy with it don't wanna change anything about this city ah

however if you move outside Montréal , In québec, LEARN FRENCH
I dont think you can improve your french in Montréal,.. theres too much english and if people notice you dont speak french as a first language, they will switch to english..move in Québec city to learn french

Duration : 21 min 27 sec

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Here are my questions:
1. Can you give some general advice?
2. What are their international reputations like? Have people in the States heard of them? Will American employers be impressed or acknowledge they’re good schools?

From what I hear McGill has the best academic reputation but Queen’s isn’t far behind. They were almost dead-locked in this year’s rankings. I’m really struggling here.
Don't follow his link it asks you to download a video codec from a sketchy site to run his video. I'm not stupid.

I like your idea of a bio/comp-sci degree. Good way to specialize yourself.

I believe in that combo, the more important one is comp-sci as comp-sci is creeping into everything.You seem very concerned with employment and what employers think. University of Waterloo definitly has the best comp-sci program and it also has the best co-op program in North America, every 4 months you are on a 4 month work term with an employer. With atleast 2 years of work experience for a undergrad degree (i’m sure you could do more for a double major) you will put yourself into a position to be known before you graduate and be offered a job. Having a medical school does not relate all that much to the biology program; waterloo has a strong bio-med program. Doing a double major at waterloo will not be an easy task, but I believe because of the comp-sci quality and reputation, and the employer exposure you should choose Waterloo.

I have a 91 average in a Canadian high school known for being difficult, plus a huge variety of extracurriculars, so it looks like I’ll be shoe in for any of those three. I plan to do a double major in Biology and Computer Science so I can keep my options open just in case I don’t make it to medical school; seems like a versatile degree not many will have so I’ll be a valuable commodity in hospitals and research labs and such. Anyways, here’s my dilemma: I don’t know which of those three to go to! Right now, I’m leaning towards Queens, but haven’t made up my mind. As far as I can tell (from my research) Waterloo has the best comp-sci program (but lacks a medical school so their bio program can’t be all that great), Queens has a nice mix of the two (plus the comp-sci undergrads use a language I’m very familiar with, it’s close to home, and they have the world’s leading computer surgery expert), and McGill has the best bio (along with being in Montreal!). I’ve talked to people at every school and still can’t make up my mind.

Here are my questions:
1. Can you give some general advice?
2. What are their international reputations like? Have people in the States heard of them? Will American employers be impressed or acknowledge they’re good schools?

From what I hear McGill has the best academic reputation but Queen’s isn’t far behind. They were almost dead-locked in this year’s rankings. I’m really struggling here.

P.S. I know asking strangers on the internet doesn’t seem like a wise way to make a decision; I’m just exhausting as many routes as I can.
Didn't really think about this since the countries are so far away, but I would appreciate it if some Brits/Australians replied as well (doens't have to be anything fancy, just "Oh, I've hear good things about ______".

I'm just trying to get a handle on what people in other countries think of each of those univerities.

we know MCGILL is tops. our daughter was fr there. then also u're in montreal.
queens is next
but waterloo is not to be underestimated. esp their bio prog. lacking a med sch is no indication of its level.
its easy to make decision
u're just being picky or faltering or whatever….
if u want to experience life away from home – avoid your city!
try this www.virtuesproject.com – to help u choose

Here are my questions:
1. Can you give some general advice?
2. What are their international reputations like? Have people in the States heard of them? Will American employers be impressed or acknowledge they’re good schools?

From what I hear McGill has the best academic reputation but Queen’s isn’t far behind. They were almost dead-locked in this year’s rankings. I’m really struggling here.

Hi there,

I recently moved from Canada (Ontario) to the USA (California). You have probably just named 3 of Canada’s best universties, but don’t forget about U of T! Those 4 schools are just up there with the American Universities. For Comp Sci, I would say Waterloo, but if your going for international recognition, definitely would say McGill. Also, as good as Queens maybe be, do not go there. It is in the middle of no where, and I think it is important to go to university somewhere that is somewhat fun. If you have any other questions, email me!

Good Luck

This year, if everything turns out well, I’m getting 7 A’s, 3 B’s and 3 C’s
Next year I’m going to the US as an exchange student for a year, and I’m willing to work as hard as I can do get straight A’s and do some AP/honors classes, if they’re available. While I’m there, I’m doing SAT Reasoning and the TOEFL.

I just started doing volunteer work at an elderly asylum and intend on doing over 120 hours.

I’ve being learning French on my own for almost 4 months, and, if I can get the money, I’m going to spend a month in Montreal in an language immersion program. This one is not certain.

I haven’t done much extracurriculars because my high school doesn’t offer them.
We don’t calculate our GPA here

What are some of the things I can do to improve my chances?

Thanks in advance.

Middlebury is an extremely tough school to get into, you will need to make sure you have a strong SAT score, and keep improving your GPA. It seems you have a passion for language though, and that’s one thing that Middlebury is certainly known for, conveying this in a well written essay will certainly help your chances.

On a side note, I was turned down by Middlebury, but accepted to Cornell and Notre Dame.

Are these two entirely different countries sharing the same language or is it that this makes the more connected almost as one.
Hope this make some since to some of you out there!

French Canadians are very different from people living in France. Their way of speaking French is kind of extreme… they don`t accept any word borrowed from English, for example for "weekend", they use "fin de semaine".
For them, French is not only a language. It`s also their culture and identity.

Their accent is very strong, but you`ll get used to it and after some time, you won`t hear it anymore. Montreal people seem to understand all types of accents, perhaps because their accent is the strongest and most difficult to understand. So, they won`t really mind if you speak any form of French.

The food in Montreal is great! French and Italian food really look as if they come from Europe. (not like the food in Ontario). And it`s cheap too!

I love Montreal!!!

But be careful. There are always weird people wandering on the streets and begging for money or cigarettes. The weirdest thing that is they know how to beg in English!!!