Why are Canadian universities such as U of T, McGill and UBC ranked high globally while their admissions processes are not as competitive as the U.S. universities that are ranked below them?
Canada has some of the lowest foreign student tuitions of anywhere in the world, but you still pay a premium to attend as a foreign student (often 3 to 4 times the tuition that a resident would pay). While many Canadian universities are very well rated, they also have a reputation for not being particularly easy or forgiving. If you can't cut it, you're out. Schools like Yale and Harvard run somewhere around a 98-99% freshman retention rate. I think that UoT is around 91% and they brag about their high retention rate. To keep your entrance scholarship at a university like McGill you need to keep a 3.7 GPA. US Colleges typical require a 3.0. (though it may be more stringent for specific schools or scholarships) In short, the Canadian admission process is an extension of a socialist culture. The universities will do everything possible to give everyone a fair chance. If the admissions people think that you have a good chance of being successful, you can get in. However, to give everyone that chance, they need the slackers to fail fast and make room for the people who are serious about their education. Finally, US universities are particularly attractive to foreign students (and domestic) because of the opportunities that a US education opens up for US jobs. (There are about 17-18M full time jobs in Canada and about 120M in the US) Even if the students go back to their home country, they'll have a better chance of working for a local subsidiary of a US company or a company that does business with a US entity. Canada just doesn't have that same pull. That's just my opinion, of course. As a Canadian ex-pat, I'm a bit biased.
How is the quality of education in university of Toronto for undergraduate?
(thanks for A-t-A)Yes, those "some people" are correct, the ranking mainly reflects the research production (papers, funds, etc.) You may find excellent undergraduate program in a small university that has no place in the conventional academic rankings. The other answers cover all important issues related to this question. U of T is a very big and quality university, but it doesn't guarantee that all lecturers and academic staff are perfect. Unlike smaller universities, the resources in the U of T are endless. There are so many courses in gazillion subjects available for students that students never find them in smaller universities. This is a great advantage of U of T for undergrad study. For instance, while you are student of astronomy you can also take courses in cinematography or musicology as minor, major or open course. The classes are very crowded, so if student relies on teacher a lot in studies, this might be a problem. Of course there are other sources of help available, like TAs and tutorial service. (I was teaching a very specialized course to 3rd year engineering students with 70+ students). Another thing stated in the answers is that UofT is a tough school and it is hard to get excellent marks compared to some mother schools. That is correct. This issue influence the decisions of some applicants who later plan to apply for graduate programs and medical school.
How prestigious, if at all, is Ryerson University?
Overall, it's not extremely prestigious.The admissions cutoffs are low, and the overall* quality of students is nothing exceptional.*keep in mind that almost any university in Canada will have some exceptional undergrads, and even the best universities will have some undergrads who really shouldn't be there, if you know what I mean…Relative to other countries, there is less variation between the quality of Canadian universities for undergraduate studies. All Canadian universities are accredited and regulated such that there are no "C-schools" or diploma mills. Any public university in Canada has a quality undergraduate education, and that includes Ryerson. So Ryerson isn't very prestigious, but prestige isn't as important in Canada as it is in most other countries, due to the overall balance, strength, and regulation of Canadian public universities mentioned above.In addition, there are always certain programs at universities that stand out from the rest of the school (i.e. there is variation in the quality/prestige of specific programs within a school). One program that immediately comes to mind for me at Ryerson is aerospace engineering. There are few English-speaking schools in Canada where you can get an undergrad degree in Aerospace Engineering, and Ryerson is one of them: List of aerospace engineering schools
How long would it take for someone to reach grade 10 piano? (assuming that they start at a early age like 7)
Empirically, between 7–9 years.I've been playing piano since I was around 6, and am friends with a lot of other pianists who started around the same time.Everyone I mention is 15–16 years old as of 2018.I'm currently playing level 9, however, I've been self taught for about two years since my teacher retired, and before that, I had a terrible work ethic and progressed slower than I would have other wise.Three of my friends have all just taken their level 10 exams. Two started the same time as me, one a year or two later. The one who started late is very dedicated to practicing, and is in all aspects of her life organized and on track.Another is working on his ARCT right now. He plays very well, and I believe he's planning to actually continue playing and taking lessons and going to a conservatory, unlike the other 3 who have more or less stopped playing since they "finished" piano.The last one doing his ARCT easily has the best technique out of all of his, plays the most advanced and difficult pieces. He really is a wonderful pianist. However, at the risk of sounding really conceited, disregarding pure technically skill, I'd maybe consider myself the best pianist of the bunch. Outside of following the curriculum, and playing just to pass exams and win competitions, I've played as an accompanist for singers, performed just for fun around town at coffeehouses, played for three years in a jazz band, played in a pit orchestra for a musical, and done some completely improvised performances with an improv team. A lot of piano players I know who started young like me and worked their way to level 10 with strict practice and training grew to completely hate playing piano. One was asked to play off guitar chords to accompany a singer, and was completely unable to improvise any sort of accompaniment that wasn't straight quarter note chords in root position. While I may never reach concert pianist level or end up at Juilliard or the like, I've had genuine fun and grew to love playing the piano and making music.So tl;dr playing level 10 pieces and saying "Oh, I play level 10!" can be impressive, but being a high level isn't the only mark of what makes someone a good musician/a successful pianist. Don't rush to just get to impressive pieces, you might grow to hate them along the way.
Should I go to the University of Toronto, or the University of Waterloo?
Disclaimer, I was a UWaterloo grad. I'm in software development and I did a lot of hiring for Amazon as a bar raiser. I do about 100 in-person interviews a year. Over the years, I've done countless undergrad campus events at Waterloo and UofT. Both at the internship level and for full-time positions.The metrics aren't really even close. Waterloo wins hands down. When we do these events, we don't walk into the interviews with a set number of job openings, we would offer jobs to all the students we're interviewing if they met the bar. Typically we would interview 32 candidates over the course of 3 days. I'd be lucky if we walked away from UofT with 5 offers to students. At Waterloo, anything less than 15 offers would be a shock and failure. The Waterloo students are on a different preparation level. They have seen more problems (maybe even these types of interview problems given how many interviews they typically do), but even their experience, how they carry themselves, and coding maturity is evident. I can't recall how many times I had to help a UofT candidate write a silly for-loop, teach them how to diagram something, or remind them how hashing works. During interviews at UofT I often feel like I'm handholding them through the interview. The technical bar for university hires is relatively low vs industry hires, if the student gets data structures and algorithms and can code up their solution, they're pretty much a shoe in unless they make a mess of everything or are really a hell bent on disagreeing. I often walk away from UofT and wonder, is it lack of interview preparation or did they really teach them so little?Granted that being said, UofT student performance is no worse than most other schools I've done interview campus events at. Maybe a bit better than Ohio State, but seriously it isn't close to Waterloo. If your desire is to learn about software development, go to Waterloo. Sign up for software eng or comp sci (not CE, EE, or SE). You'll be in a tech community, UofT just isn't the same you're not always surrounded by that community and a city with that type of vibe that will help you develop into a better developer. Mind you, I hated my time at Waterloo, I spent a lot of hours studying, but in hindsight it was definitely worth it. 5 years goes by fast.
How do I increase my chances to get accepted into Ryerson University?
The best you can do is look at their minimum requirement for the programme that you want, and score atleast 5-10% above that mark (even better if score even higher than that). Any university has a minimum eligibility criteria to consider a student; however, there is always competition. Therefore, hitting significantly above the minimum criteria should increase your chances greatly.Furthermore, it also depends on the programme. Most science programmes put a hard emphasis on grades but also ask for extra-curricular activities in your application. On the other hand, programmes like media or advertising rely on both good grades as well as some sort of portfolio showing that you have some media related work (i.e. made posters, designed a website, graphics design etc). I'm not sure about the extent of previous experience that they would ask for.Nonetheless, you should go on the university website and look at minimum requirements for your specific desired programme. Once you know the minimum criteria, always aim to perform higher than that so that You are competing with better odds as well as increasing your chances to get in. Goodluck!Cheers.