BEST CANADIAN school

Colleges and Universities A-Z McGill University
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<p>I actually don't understand why McGill has such a great reputation.
I graduated from that university and honestly, it's not that good. I have colleagues and friends who have taught there too. And they are not impressed! (I would also be careful about the political situation in Quebec. We are heading for another referandum and,well, it is going to be very close)
And McGill has not opened any doors for me in my career. I have had only one person be impressed and I have worked with researchers from all over the world (China, Russia, France, England, Holland,Finland, India, USA,Germany). It might impress the "man on the street" but one's colleagues know the real "scope". </p>

<p>I would also be concerned about any university in Canada that recognizes AP and IB high school courses for university credits. It tells me a great deal
about the level of their first year courses. (Although at McGill, we are talking about really 2nd year CECEP courses). My kid has taken a few AP courses and I am not impressed. I would recommend that any student from the US wishing to study in Quebec to enroll in CECEP (such as Dawson) for a year and then go to McGill. It is much,much cheaper and the CECEP program is excellent. It is not high school. It is equivalent to first year university in the US and in the rest of Canada. </p>

<p>In fact, one of the toughest universities to get into (Queen's) does not recognize AP and IB courses. They encourage students to take those courses but does not give them credit. That tells a great deal of the "quality of students" they are looking at. </p>

<p>Universities like McGill,UBC & U of Toronto have international reputations because of their medical, law and music departments, because they are one of the oldest and where they are located. McGill is in Montreal. UBC is in Vancouver and Uof T is in Toronto. These are the three LARGEST CITIES in Canada. Moreover, when universities are ranked, it is based on the number of
juried papers published by profs from those institutions and the number of times those papers are referenced by other researchers. It would stand to reason that McGill,UofT and UBC would top the list because they are large universities. It has nothing to do with the quality of the teaching staff nor the quality of their undergrad programs. </p>

<p>McGill and Uof T's reputations are based on the past,not on the present.
In fact, UofT is known for having a very high "first year drop out rate". They bank on the fact that most first year students loose their scholarships in the first year. It is a huge university, it can be very impersonal. I would recommend it for post-grad but not for undergrad. </p>

<p>McGill is mostly populated from Quebec students. It is trying to attract non-Quebec students to help it fund the university. It charges 3times the tuition for non-Quebec students (except for those from France) than it does for Quebec students. As it is, the enrollment from outside of Canada is and will continue to drop. We all know that just because parents have the money to foot the bills doesn't necessarily mean that the student is of high caliber.
In fact,one of the unversities that is "moving up" fast in the rankings is Ottawa U. It is actively pursuing high caliber students with genuous scholariships. It is ranked first in the number of research grants per professor. and it is officially bilingual. It also has close ties to the Research Council of Canada. Most of Canada's research centers are in Ottawa,the capital. </p>

<p>In Canada, most undergrad programs are about the same,except for a few exceptions. If you are interested in journalism and English, the best in the country is Carleton. If you are interested in Engineering,look at Waterloo, Queen's and U of T. International Studies? Ottawa U. Chemistry & Bio-Chemistry, Queen's (if you can get in... it is very competitive. Don't bother is you don't have at least a 90% average in your science courses,probably much higher if you are from the US) and Ottawa. Biology? Guelph. Environmental Science? Guelph. Medicine? McMaster is very innovative. </p>

<p>As for the number of hours of studying requiring each night, at any university in Canada you HAVE TO WORK. That's just the way it is. And,in Canada,
it is up to the student. No one is going to tell you how long you have to study. You do what is required. It's not high school, after all.</p>

<p>I would urge any student wishing to study in Canada to investigate the other excellent universities here.</p>

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<p>SAT scores carry no weight for Canadian students from Canadian high schools or CECEPs pplying to Canadian universities. The universities don't look at them AT ALL. </p>

<p>Be forwarn that the universities do "handicap" students based on where they
are coming from. They will adjust the marks upwards or downwards (mostly this) depending on their experience with where the student came from.
Canadian unversities do look at an US student's ranking but not at a Canadian student's. </p>

<p>McGill is looking at the class averages of the courses the student did take.
For example, a student who earned an 85% in Physics in a class with an average of 80% will be handicapped down compared to a student who earned an 85% in a class with an average of 70%.</p>

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<p>sorry old_mom, but im a current full diploma IB student and most Canadian universties DO offer 1st year credits. </p>

<p>Those I'm sure that do are McGill, Queens, U of T, UBC....just check their websites and you'll see...plus for IB students out there....if your canadian, IB student, living outside of Canada, they absolutely adore you. If you're a top student, they'll give you amazing scolarships. </p>

<p>I have a friend attending Queens who received IB credits and 4 yrs full tuition paid if she kept the same GPA. </p>

<p>Old_mom, i might be wrong, but i feel that quite a few of your comments are wrong. What is considered here as the "best" canadian universites are Queens, McGill, UBC. Queens is regarded as an "old money" school and I guess holds higher prestige in the sense of elite then McGill, which is more "new money". </p>

<p>I can't vouch for AP's, but I don't think you understand the rigor of the IB diplomma. It is an extremely demanding programme and any student attending university after taking on the full diploma will tell you that their first year at uni was much easier then their last 2 years of high school, regardless the country or continent of the university.</p>

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<p>yeh...most universites gave a years worth of credit for my IB diploma...western and queens even gave me scholarships based on my final marks</p>

<p>The IB program is pretty damn hard...what i am doing now is a joke compared to the amount of time i spent studying in the IB...my IB friends at queens and toronto engineering also think their courseload is a joke compared to what they did in the IB</p>

<p>mcgill is actaully harder to get into than queens...only queens commerce is more competative </p>

<p>i sort of agree tat mcgill teaching isnt tat great...but wateva i dont really care..i like studying from the book anyway</p>

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<p>Hey! I was accepted at McGill and UBC and am still waiting to hear from UoT and Queen's. I plan on working at a bank or a hedge fund in the US, preferably NYC. Do you think a Canadian university degree will enable me to get a job there?
At McGill, I had applied for BA in economics and the BCom and was accepted for both. Which one do you recommend? It seems to me that the BCom is harder to get into, but if I want to get into Grad School in the US it might be a problem. Not many people, including admissions offices at top Grad schools, know about the BCom. What is your take on that?</p>

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<p>old_mom- your infatuation with queen's is unjustified
they give IB credit, and that's about the only thing they do to encourage international students to attend.</p>

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<p>"SAT scores carry no weight for Canadian students from Canadian high schools or CECEPs pplying to Canadian universities. The universities don't look at them AT ALL."</p>

<p>old_mom, this may be true, but McGill does not consider SAT scores for ANYONE except students in US high schools. I am an international student doing the IB diploma, who did not even do the SATs, and I was accepted WITH a scholarship. </p>

<p>and it might not be such a good idea to post things like this about McGill where xome students are seriously considering the university, what are u trying to do? discourage them from going?</p>

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<p>Sooo, BCom or BA? (see my previous thread)</p>

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<p>disregard old_mom...she is wrong ...what she says is not helping any1 as it is probably not even true</p>

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<p>I Got Into Mcgill :)</p>

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<p>a lot of high schools have facebook now too, and douglas/mcconnell/molson dorms are supposedly impossible to study in because someone is always partying</p>

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<p>i wouldn't say that about doug..cos the library is always queit.</p>

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<p>Again, any comments on the BA or BCom?</p>

<p>Also, what exactly does old_mom mean with the referendum? What exactly is happening there?</p>

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<p>a lot of quebecois want to seperate from canada..if quebec can finally manage to become "independent" from the rest of canada.. it may be awkward for english speaking mcgill students to live in quebec. and tuition will probably rise because mcgill will probably become private</p>

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<p>for some reason i don't think that's going to happen any time soon.</p>

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<p>hmm well with the new separatist premier, it's looking increasingly likely.....who knows how long it'll be til the next referendum?</p>

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<p>Jean Charest and the provincial Liberals (the current premier and majority party at the national assembly) aren't separatist... There will be at least a year before the next election, and Andre Boisclair and the PQ aren't guaranteed to win it either.</p>

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<p>i misspoke (miswrote?) when i named boisclair as the premier, but he is a very likely contender for one, and his separatist ideals and growing popularity are undeniable, as is the fact that the mood here in canada is shifting more and more to one in which we see quebec growing more separatist. whether this means it will actually come to that step is unknown.</p>

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<p>Hi, I'm an international who applied to the university of toronto. They received all the required documents on March 13, 2006; yet my application has not been reviewed as yet. </p>

<p>Also, when I check the application status, it clearly says that the documents have been received but in the 'notes' section, they have written- "transcript, predicted grades". However, I definitely sent these materials.</p>

<p>Can anybody please clarify why my app has not been reviewed and why those two documents are mentinoed in the "notes" section?</p>

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<p>This is a McGill thread. Please visit something U of T related.</p>