Since I am Canadian but lived in NYC for 30 years, now back, I have a good perspective.
DD is at UTS, a feeder school for both top US and Canadian universities.
U of T is a top school, has amazing resources. Waterloo is the most competitive CS and engineering school and kids get recruited by global IT companies. Your kid, like mine has an advantage, being American as visas are way down under Trump.
I had friends in New York who sent their kids to McGill (I wouldn't) because it had name recognition. But I put it as equivalent to Brown.
My kid has legacy at Harvard, but aside from applying there, I see the advantage of applying to CDN universities like U of T instead of many other schools. Also, I get to pay CDN resident tuition.
It is different than what my husband had at Harvard, living in housing. U of T, you might live in residence for a couple of years, then get an apt or live in frat housing. There is also university housing for upper students, but more like apts. Waterloo is very competitive to get into and although it is "marks", they look at where the kid goes to school now. Like DD's school is ranked higher than a regular high school. They know a 90 there is equivalent to a 98 at a regular high school, kind of thing. But you need 95 plus percentage to get into engineering or computer science at Waterloo.
I also think it gives a different perspective living in a different country.
