Everything you need to know if you want a solid education south of the border—and wake up to the sound of dolphins after camping on a Hawaiian beach
By Emily Senger
November 12, 2018
Brigham Young University–Hawaii, in Laie, Hawaii
Our southern neighbour is a destination for about eight per cent of outbound Canadian students, according to the Canadian Bureau for International Education. It’s geographically close, culturally similar in many ways and home to many of the top-rated universities in the world.
Adventure, not geographic proximity, prompted Kirsten Nesbitt to study in America. Nesbitt was 18 when she moved to the town of Laie, on the island of Oahu, to study at Brigham Young University Hawaii in 2004. “There was a huge boost of independence,” says Nesbitt, who had not travelled abroad alone before. “It was an experience of coming into my own and being able to figure out who I was and what I wanted out of life.” Nesbitt says she gained new cultural understanding, as many students hailed from Polynesian and Asian countries. She also made lifelong friends in a beautiful setting. “On American Thanksgiving, we camped on the beach and woke up in the morning to dolphins,” she recalls. “It was magical.” Nesbitt transferred back to Canada, graduating with a bachelor of science in food, nutrition and health from the University of British Columbia.
Visa
Canadian students do not need a visa to study in the U.S., but they do need an I-20 certificate from their university. Students will then be entered into the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System, better known as SEVIS. This student-tracking program, operated by the Department of Homeland Security, requires a first-time fee of US$200. While Canadians may be used to flashing their passport and travelling across the Canada-U.S. border as a visitor, students need to remember to submit a I-94 record each time they cross the border.
Where to study
The U.S. has some of the top-ranked universities in the world. Caltech, Stanford, MIT, Harvard, Princeton and the University of Chicago all made the top 10 in the annual Times Higher Education World University Rankings for 2018. There are almost 7,000 other colleges and universities, including many public schools, as well as private not-for-profit and private for-profit schools.
Tuition and other expenses
Tuition in the United States is generally higher than in Canada, but it will vary widely depending on where you go and whether you choose a public or private school. Out-of-state students and international students pay higher tuition in the U.S. than their in-state peers. Statistics gathered by the College Board for the 2017-18 academic school year show that the average tuition for non-resident students at a public institution was $25,620, and it went up to $34,740 at private not-for-profit schools. The average for room and board in that same year was $10,800 for public and $12,210 for private schools. However, those are the “sticker prices,” says the organization. The majority of students in the U.S. receive some kind of financial aid during their studies, so the actual cost paid for tuition and board is often much less.
EducationUSA is a U.S. Department of State network of over 400 international student advising centers in more than 170 countries. The network promotes U.S. higher education to students around the world by offering accurate, comprehensive, and current information about opportunities to study at accredited post-secondary institutions in the United States.
EducationUSA also provides services to the U.S. higher education community to help institutional leaders meet their recruitment and campus internationalization goals. EducationUSA is your official source on U.S. higher education.
The Canadian EducationUSA center was established in Ottawa in 2012. The Canadian advisor, Jenika Heim, operates out of the Fulbright Commission. Since there is one advisor for Canada’s 3,854,085 square miles, we focus the bulk of our advising on virtual means. Check out our
Free 30 minute Skype and phone advising sessions
Super cool Blog posts
However, there are plenty of opportunities for in-person engagement! The seven U.S. Consulates across Canada help with EducationUSA activities near you, such as
Ivy League+ Virtual Info Sessions for Canadian students
Join the eight Ivy League schools (Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, Princeton, UPenn, Yale) along with Stanford and MIT to learn more about their campuses and admissions processes. There are three date/time options- all will have the same content.
EducationUSA Canada Arts Virtual Showcase
Join EducationUSA adviser Jenika Heim to learn about "How to apply to arts programs in the USA" followed by presentations from six U.S. universities. If you are looking to study music, dance, theater, graphic design, film, or fine or performing arts, this showcase is for you!
Thursday, October 15th at 3:00PM EPT / 12:00pm PDT
Study in Ohio
Upcoming events to learn more about study options in the Buckeye state.
Friday, October 2nd at 1:45PM EDT / 10:45AM PDT - Pursuing your career in Ohio - Internships
Thursday, October 29th at 7:00PM EDT / 4:00PM PDT - Oberlin College info session
Kingston Youth Financial Literacy Contest and Symposium
What does Financial Literacy mean to you? Answer this question in a short video, essay, or poem. First prize is $500, Second prize is $250, and Third prize is $125.
Deadline for Submission - October 15th and Symposium on November 21st
The PREPSKILLS® U.S. Admissions Guide is the only guidebook of its kind to target Canadian students who are applying to American universities. The US Admissions Guide includes information related to American colleges and universities, their respective admissions standards, the different modes of application (including the Common Application), and the means by which a student can differentiate her/his application from the thousands of other applications entering the admissions system.
Crucially, the PREPSKILLS® U.S. Admissions Guide also provides students with information related to scholarships and funding available to Canadian students and it offers students and counsellors a detailed break-down of “need blind” versus “need aware” funding structures at American colleges.
This bundle also includes the PREPSKILLS® SAT Sample Test (37 questions in total). The SAT Sample Test offers students a glimpse of what constitutes “easy”, “medium”, and “hard” SAT-style questions in reading, writing and mathematics. Students can use the Sample Test to determine where their skills levels range and thus plan for further preparation (note: the Sample Test is not a full-length SAT exam).