My S got FRR this week. Do most kids who get FRR get accepted after submitting mid year grades if they are consistent with grades from the past 3 years? His mid year grades won’t be available until late January (but we expect them to be good). Meanwhile we are planning to do a college visit over MLK weekend and are debating McGill or UMich. He applied EA to UMich so we should hear back next week but they could defer him. Unless he gets outright rejected at UMich we need to decide on a school to visit. We’re leaning to McGill because he has already seen large state universities and my sense is McGill has a very different feel due to its large international student body and of course simply being in a foreign country. But we still want to know that he has a good chance at acceptance. Thoughts?
@eastcoast101 What faculty is he applying to? What are his scores (Unweighted GPA, ACT/SAT)? Have you checked the minima? http://www.mcgill.ca/applying/requirements/minima/usa
My son is a U0 at McGil (Faculty of Arts studying economics)l. Definitely a different experience than a U.S. university…and for my son that is in a good way. FYI: I have an MBA from Michigan and really love Ann Arbor. But without a doubt McGill was the right school for my son.
At first I was thinking that FRR at McGill was “Fonds de revenu de retraite”, which didn’t make sense. However, now I see that it is “Further Review Required” which does make sense. The majority of the students that I have known who applied to various schools and were specifically asked to turn in mid year grades in fact sent in very good mid year grades and ended up being accepted. Thus as long as the mid year grades are going to be very good this strikes me as mostly no answer, but certainly not a bad thing and a bit hopeful.
Regardless, having visited both McGill and U.Michigan, I tend to agree with your reasoning. Both are great schools. Both will be academically demanding and result in a degree which is highly respected. Both will require a good winter coat and a good pair of winter boots. One issue with visiting over MLK weekend is that either could be unpleasantly cold at that time of year. However, McGill does have the additional fact of being in a basically bilingual part of a majority French city, and having the associated cultural attractions and somewhat unique character.
Thus if I were in your shoes, I would probably visit McGill over MLK weekend. You might want to take a stroll through the underground city (whatever they call it) while you are there.
@SwimmingDad he applied to the Faculty of Science. He meets/exceeds the minima–ACT 32, subscores 29-34; Unweighted GPA 3.71. If you eliminate 9th grade it is even higher (I didn’t calculate it but 9th grade was his worst year and he has a nice upward trend in his grades). I expect he will come in as a U0.
His first marking period grades were comparable to 11th grade and we don’t expect that to change.
@DadTheBank thanks for your thoughts. We’ve got winter boots and coats covered :). We’ll wait to see what comes back this week but am leaning to McGill.
@eastcoast101 McGill only looks at Grades 10, 11, 12 so that should help.
And I agree with @DadTwoGirls. Both schools are excellent and you can’t go wrong. It really comes down to fit and $$. My son is in the Faculty of Arts and it is significantly less expensive than any school (with aid) that he was looking. When he goes off campus next year we will save even more.
Good luck!