<p>"I know that Canadian kids who are out-of-province also get the Quebec resident tuition if they take French while at McGill. I don't know if this extends to U.S. students or not."</p>
<p>You do not get Quebec rates for just taking French. You get Quebec rates for taking ALL your coursework in French. Your Quebec tuition is also reciprocal with universities in France for study abroad.</p>
<p>As for the "best" school, the latest Maclean's rankings of schools put U of T as first, McGill second and Queens as third. All three schools, I believe, would be on par with Berkley or U Michigan. Toronto is a huge spread out university. McGill is physically more cohesive. Queens also has a cohesive campus, but Kingston is much smaller and less exciting then Toronto or Montreal. </p>
<p>As for the dorms at McGill. All freshman live in the dorms, but then move to their own apartments to make room for new freshman the next year. I moved off campus after my freshman year, when I was at school. It was not required, it just seemed like a very fun thing to do.</p>
<p>As for the low provincial funding that is supposed to be of the past and money is being pumped into the school again. There certainly is a lot of renovation and construction going on.</p>
<p>As for Canadian students not being as prepared for university as American students, I have heard the opposite. I do know that students schooled in the US need higher grades to be admitted to McGill then Canadian students do, but I also know that high grades are a lot more difficult to come by in Canada. South of the border, we call it grade deflation on their part, and of course, they call it grade inflation on our part. McGill also has to accept a certain percentage of students from Quebec.</p>
<p>It has been many years since I attended an American college and don't really know what people are referring to when they talk about the college experience. The large Canadian universities are just that, large. They expect you to have a certain level of maturity and self motivation. My daughter chose McGill over a full ride at a small US LAC, just because she did not want a small and, what she thought might turn out to be, suffocating community. Another kid might have completely different perceptions and desires.</p>
<p>As my daughter also has US, Canadian, and EU citizenship, McGill at less then $15,000 US (Quebec resident as she has never lived in Canada before) is quite attractive compared to the $52,000 that University of Chicago estimated for our costs or the $49,000 that Barnard estimated. In the end my daughter, who would have had to contribute to the more expensive schools with loans and working during the school year, decided that Montreal was the place to be! She had planned on a year in France, no matter where she went, and the reciprocal tuition makes that much easier also.</p>
<p>Canada also has many fine small LAC's and smaller universities. My d did not look into those, because she wanted a big city and a big school, but there are other options out there.</p>
<p>Another advantage for the kids with two or three citizenships in going to a different country for school is that they get to try out their other options. They are so lucky to have these options, so much of the world is their oyster, it would be a shame not experience as much of it as they can.</p>