Canadian College Admissions

<p>Hey guys!</p>

<p>I heard that colleges in Canada are much cheaper than the United States (which is VERY true) and I also heard that the admissions is a lot easier to get into. I am a junior and I started searching about colleges in US and Canada. Canada was mainly because of financial reasons, cheaper to go there. I found out that McGill, U of Toronto, and UBC are worldly recognized and great schools.</p>

<p>What I want to know is...is it not that hard to get into McGill? I personally like McGill out of the three. I saw that McGill is known to be prestigious with a a beautiful campus, which is what I love about it. I heard that getting in is easy..but the workload and graduation rate is extremely hard?</p>

<p>Can anyone tell me what's going on? How hard is it? Is getting in not as hard?</p>

<p>Compared to like Wisconsin Madison, UIUC, or IU- Bloomington, is it easier to get into? Just harder to graduate?</p>

<p>Here are McGill’s minimum admissions criteria for US applicants. The MINIMUM SAT varies from 1790 to 2010 depending on the program to which you are applying:</p>

<p>[Admissions</a> Standards - U.S. High School | Applying to Undergraduate Studies - McGill University](<a href=“http://www.mcgill.ca/applying/standards/unitedstates/]Admissions”>http://www.mcgill.ca/applying/standards/unitedstates/)</p>

<p>This does not answer your question, but it is my recollection that they don’t count your grades in the 9th grade.</p>

<p>So if you did not have good grades in the 9th grade, this would be a slight plus.</p>

<p>I’m a Canadian and most of the kids at my school apply to Mcgill. </p>

<p>With Canadian schools it really depends which faculty you’re applying to. Mcgill arts and sciences is probably the hardest arts program to get into out of the major Canadian universities. But, that being said, it’s really not that difficult to get into any Canadian arts program. Most people with decent grades who want to go to Mcgill get in. I really wouldn’t worry about admissions; it’s nothing like applying to competitive American schools. However, if you’re applying to business schools, that might make things a little more difficult. </p>

<p>I’d encourage you to look at other Canadian schools too. Mcgill is typically considered the most “prestigious” by Americans. But the assumption that Mcgill is the best Canadian school is largely misplaced (I think Americans want to project a hierarchy onto Canadian schools that really doesn’t exist). You rightly identify Mcgill, Toronto, and UBC as the top three schools in Canada (although I might throw Queens into the mix as well), but there really aren’t many distinctions between the three in terms of quality/ international prestige. </p>

<p>Mcgill is a lovely school with a beautiful campus, but it’s not without downsides. You should consider whether you want to live in an urban campus in Montreal (where francophones are sometimes unwelcoming to english speaking college students). Also, Mcgill can be super annoying about AP courses (they force you to take all second year courses even if you don’t want to - this can be very difficult for some students). I think that’s why the academics are considered really tough. </p>

<p>Personally, I love University of Toronto. It has an AMAZING Oxford-style campus (better than Mcgill in my opinion), wonderful residential college system, and it’s located in a great city. It usually ranks above Mcgill in world/ Canadian rankings, but it’s probably easier to get into. UBC has a lot of natural beauty (I mean, it’s in Vancouver! - best city in Canada). Their academics are fantastic, but the downside is that you’re on the west coast (so potentially fewer job opportunities than you’d get in the east). </p>

<p>I hope that helps! Good luck in your college search.</p>

<p>Thanks virgo 468!!! that was really helpful! I have a low gpa and decent SAT so I want to get into the “best” school possible…and cheap if possible and Canadian colleges seem to be a great fit! And yea I heard Toronto is a great college too!</p>

<p>ANd tomofboston…I’m an international student :)</p>

<p>I was admitted to UBC but more expecting to U of Toronto. Hope to be admitted to architecture school!</p>

<p>Canadian word usage may distinguish between “universities” and “colleges”.
[College</a> (Canada) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/College_(Canada)]College”>College (Canada) - Wikipedia)</p>

<p>Americans would be international students in Canada.</p>