Brown or McGill?

<p>I’m trying to decide between McGill and Brown. I’m attracted by what I’ve heard (I’ve heard from McGill from about 2 people) about McGill’s diversity, awesome city and price. The problem is that they don’t have the major I’m interested in (International relations, at this point) and the alternative (Political Science major, IR minor) doesn’t allow me to double major like I want.
I’m also attracted by the grad school opportunities and more personalized attention if I go to Brown.
I think both have excellent social atmospheres, although I’m worried about the “snob factor” at an Ivy League.
I have very little time to decide and live in India, so have no chance to visit.
I realize that this is the Brown thread so I expect pro-Brown comments, but it would be helpful if you can tell me anything about McGill as well, since there is no McGill discussion.</p>

<p>Don't come that far just to go to McGill. Go to Brown.</p>

<p>search the forums for mcgill threads, there are uncountable mcgill threads with all any student would want about mcgill..</p>

<p>and if u ask my opinion go for Brown.. ivey league+ure gettin ure majors which ure not getting at mcgill..</p>

<p>if money isnt an issue....then definately go to brown
the quality of ur education will be much better (in terms of class size, access to professers, student teacher ration, etc.)
Mcgill is a much bigger and a public school.. </p>

<p>There isnt a big diffrence between the 2..they both have similar reputations...
Mcgill is a more science based skool....the facutly of arts is not bad though</p>

<p>you can double major at Mcgill..its not a big problem</p>

<p>Don't worry about the "snob factor." I hear Brown is very, very laid back, and all the Brown students I've met have been anything but snobby.</p>

<p>On the other hand, McGill's a great school with a nice social atmosphere (aka great party scene) and Montreal's a lovely city. </p>

<p>You can't go wrong with either school.</p>

<p>Don't go to Mcgill. It is huge. There are few student-faculty interactions. Plus, less than 10% of the students live on campus! There is no sense of community. If this doesn't bother you then it is fine, but if it does, go to Brown!</p>

<p>Brown is a traditional American college experience, and McGill is more of a university where students are expected to be more independent. No one's going to hold your hand at McGill.</p>

<p>I don't want anyone to hold my hand, but I do want a bit of a college atmosphere. I get to live in cities freely for the rest of my life. I want to live in a COLLEGE for 4.
I guess I'm wondering if Providence is really much of a city. I mean, Montreal has an amazing culture that I haven't been exposed to before, theater, museums, etc. I worry that Providence has Thayer Street and...what?</p>

<p>Providence has a lot of cultural stuff, according to the mayor. I'm sure someone will come forth with a handly link to back that up.</p>

<p>No way it can compare to Montreal though, which is the culture mecca of North America.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.providenceri.com/ArtCultureTourism/index.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.providenceri.com/ArtCultureTourism/index.html&lt;/a>
<a href="http://www.pwcvb.com/visitors/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.pwcvb.com/visitors/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Providence is nice but small, about 150,000 people. BUT, Boston is just 45 minutes away! If you get bored with Providence, you can go to Boston. The way I view it is this: you have the rest of your life to live the city life, but you only have 4 years to live the college life, and you will never get them back again.</p>

<p>Actually I started wondering about Mcgill last week, it was my back-up, but then I read some stuff on the net about how it actually had quite a gd rep, if it does have the same type of rep brown does, maybe I should go to Mcgill, considering it is like ten times cheaper...so rep wise does Mcgill compare to Brown??</p>

<p>The other thing I was wondering about is the course options at Brown, I was looking thru the sites of both unis and it seemed to me Mcgill had much choice in psych and history, my intended majors...was it just that I was looking at the wrong place, cause I was quite surprised by the little amount of courses on offer...can someone who goes to brown now enlighten me on where I can get an accurate list of courses on offer, I know it varies year to year, but a rough idea would be gd</p>

<p>Thanks</p>

<p><a href="http://boca.brown.edu/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://boca.brown.edu/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>My only association with McGill has been through students who have transferred to Brown from there. So admittedly, my perception is a bit skewed. That said, if you have a choice, I'd choose Brown. I am willing to bet that Montreal is more exciting than Providence, but all reports I here from McGill is that there's very little undergrad support and not a strong sense of campus community. If you want life to be sort of like a Sex & the City episode, with classes thrown in, Mcgill would be it. Brown reminds me of a cross between the movie Dead Poet's Society and Fame (although oddly both of those movies were about high schools).</p>

<p>I'm trying to get a feel for how their reputations compare as well. In all the international Uni comparisons I've seen, McGill is well above Brown. But in peoples' minds (at least my impression from people in the US), any Ivy League seems to be above McGill. Can anyone shed any light?</p>

<p>McGill is certainly a good school, but Brown and the Ivies are in a league of their own (and HYP are in a league of their own upon that ;-) )</p>

<p>psshhht.... brown of course</p>

<p>True, the tables I've seen rank Brown at 60 sum vs. Mcgill at 20 sum...I feel that maybe a bit weird, maybe they were science orientated, but that is still quite a big difference...</p>

<p>International reputation of Mcgill is much much better than brown (due to the huge number of international students at mcgill)</p>

<p>I am an international student and have lived in lots of places around and as far as I can tell most people I have met never even heard of brown (they know of HYPS and ivy league..but very few know that brown is actually part of the ivy leauge)</p>

<p>In america, however, brown probably does have a better repuatation than McGill or somewhat similar repuatation. Brown is definately considered better in arts/social sciences...but i dont think it can compete with mcgill in science (especially medical sciences)</p>

<p>I have heard many people say that the repuatation of Mcgill is on par with schools like darthmouth, northwestern....and brown is included in this catagory as well</p>

<p>Actually, the sciences at Brown are very strong. In fact, the higher-ups at Brown are so concerned by the public perception that Brown sciences aren't good, that they are in the process of pouring loads of money and resources into their science programs.</p>