MONEY-SMART KIDS
Deciding on a Canadian Education
by Janet Bodnar

• I read your column about your daughter going to school in Canada. I'm thinking of doing the same thing, and I'd like to know if anything special is required. Do you need to become a Canadian citizen?



• I am a high school student considering colleges, and I'd like to know what made your daughter interested in going to school in Canada.



• Does Canadian law let U.S. citizens attend college and work?

Whew! I've been so overwhelmed by the response to my column that a follow-up is in order.

Let's start with question number two. My daughter, Claire, was specifically interested in McGill University in Montreal. It has an excellent reputation (it's sometimes referred to as "the Harvard of the north," but students there prefer to think of Harvard as "the McGill of the south"). And it has a strong science program, which was Claire's primary interest.

Also, she liked the idea of attending school "abroad." McGill is English-speaking, but Claire had taken French in high school so she felt comfortable in French-speaking Montreal.

And the price was right. Converted into U.S. dollars, the cost is comparable to an in-state school in the U.S. (although the dollar's fall has made it pricier than when Claire began last year). Last, but certainly not least, Claire's uncle went to graduate school at McGill and loved it.

You don't have to be a Canadian citizen to attend college there, and the application process is similar to that of U.S. schools -- for example, you submit SAT or ACT scores. But there are differences.

McGill, for instance, puts special emphasis on SAT II subject exams and did not require that students write an essay.

Once you're admitted, there are other notable differences compared with U.S. schools. Claire was guaranteed on-campus housing only for her freshman year; after that, nearly all students live off campus. As a science major, she has fewer arts electives than she would at a U.S. university.

And she tells me that as a foreign student, she is only permitted to work at certain on-campus jobs, for which there's lots of competition.

For more information, go to the Web sites of the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada and the Canadian Embassy. You'll also find a good roundup of useful links at www.uwaterloo.ca/canu.