Hi, I’m currently finishing up my junior year in the U.S. and am wondering what my chances will be at McGill University. I’m planning on submitting my application as soon as the window opens.
I will be applying for the bachelor of nutrition at the Macdonald campus. (I will have to take U0, or the freshman year, if that matters)
I’m not sure how they do GPA there, but my unweighted academic GPA should be about 3.8.
I have a 35 composite ACT with an 11/12 writing score.
I am an IB diploma student, but from what I read I will be applying with my standard American stats, and only using the scores for advanced standing? If someone could clarify on that, that would be great. I’m not sure how excellent my IB scores will be, and I think my other stats are much better.
Thank you for the help!
I think that you have quite a good chance. I am not sure precisely what the cutoff is however. I did hear a few years ago that the cutoff was slightly lower for the Macdonald campus.
They don’t consider your grades from grade 9. Does your GPA change much if you take out your freshman grades?
“from what I read I will be applying with my standard American stats, and only using the scores for advanced standing?”
That is my understanding also. However, you might want to check with McGill admissions to make sure.
I expect that others on this forum will end up giving you more of a precise answer, but here are some thoughts: Your ACT score is excellent, and your GPA is very good too. I believe that ACT or SAT is more important than high school GPA, for McGill admission, since grades from different U.S. high schools are hard to fairly compare. The upshot, however, is I think you should be fine for admission with those statistics, for a Bachelor of Nutrition degree. However, the caveat to that advice is that the recent surge in applications submitted to McGill and the other major Canadian universities from U.S. applicants, for 2017, may mean that “all bets are off”, in terms of what the cut-off will be, in terms of the required ACT/SAT and GPA statistics for admission.
I would be very surprised if you were not admitted, even allowing for the large increase in American and overseas applicants. Many international students shy away from Mac campus since it is 25 miles west of downtown and has the atmosphere of a small college town. Classes are small and the area is beautiful however.
Some students here on CC have asked if they could live on the downtown campus and commute to Mac. While allowed is in impractical and a major hassle. McGill operates a shuttle bus and there are public transit options but the commute is not an easy one, especially in Montreal winters. If admitted I would urge you to live at Mac first year and decide if a commute would be worth it later.
The neighboring village of St Anne De Bellevue is quite cool…bit of a nightmare to drive in, though. Macdonald campus is really nice, as is the surrounding area. Definitely not an urban vibe, though. More like suburban meets old village.
Thank you for the help everyone! I actually like the idea of the more isolated campus. It’s much more similar to what I’m used to. I think being thrown into downtown Montreal might be too much of an adjustment in addition to moving to a new country. 