<p>How would you rate the top Canadian universities, based on overall global reputation? I've looked at something called the McCleans ratings and McGill wasn't even on it, yet so many people hype it up on CC. Am I missing something?</p>
<p>most people from CC are Americans, and Mcgill has the best reputation in America for numerous reasons (which is definetly undeserved and should die out in the future)</p>
<p>probably the best overall university for overall global reputation is Toronto
UBC is also internationally more renowned than it is in canada</p>
<p>a few other schools also have global reputations depending on the specialization (ie. Waterloo for CS and engineering)</p>
<p>McGill is still in the Maclean's rankings in the Medical-Doctoral category, perhaps you were looking in the wrong section?</p>
<p>Anyways, as the poster above has pointed out, the consensus here in Canada -- contrary to general opinion in the States and the claims on McGill's website -- is that McGill is no longer the most pre-eminent school in the country. Its research output in most fields is exceeded in quantity (and probably quality, too) by UBC and U of Toronto, and its endowment and budget lags behind these schools as well. Part of this, I believe, has to do with external factors and economics. All Canadian universities are publicly funded by the provinces, and Quebec has underfunded its schools for some time now. Granted, all Canadian U's have funding problems, but while schools like UBC, U of Toronto and Waterloo have been able to offset government cut-backs with an influx of private funds from booming economic growth in their respective cities, the city of Montreal has been stuck in a period of relative economic decline for 30-35 years or so now since the separatist threat compelled many banks and head offices to ship out to Toronto.</p>
<p>However, I don't wish to sound overly pessimistic about McGill, it is still probably one of the top 3 schools in the country, and can boast the highest entrance average as well (~89%). Also, in many respects, though McGill has lost ground in the sciences and medicine, it is still tops in many's eyes for humanities and social sciences. It is certainly a great institution. It is just not heads and shoulders above the rest of the Canadian schools as some people would have you believe. In fact, I'd say that there is very little difference in quality between the top 5 (or maybe even 10 or 15) universitities in Canada. Depending on your intended major, U of Toronto, UBC, Waterloo or Queen's are likely to offer you as much academically, if not more, than McGill.</p>
<p>McGill should be in the rankings anyway. Did you look on all three sections (primarily undergraduate, comprehensive, and Medical/Doctoral)? McGill is in the medical section. The top three undergraduate are St. Francis Xavier, Mount Allison, and Acadia. Top three conprehensive are Waterloo, Guelph, and Victoria. The top three medical are Toronto, McGill, and Western. For undergraduate college you should worry more about actual ranking anyway, not the global reputation. When you are applying to graduate schools the people in the admissions office will know a lot more about the quality of the schools than the general public will. The graduate school is the one where the name matters. This is the one that you will be applying to jobs with, and most likely the people hiring will not be as knowledgable about school quality as they think they are. Therefore, an obscure amazing university may not get you as far as a slightly inferior one with a great reputation.</p>
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<p>It's called Maclean's magazine.</p>
<p>mcgill is now #1, according to the magazine. it's also one of the top 25 schools in the world, times higher education supplement says.</p>