Chances? Tuition?

Colleges and Universities A-Z McGill University
1

<p>I've got an unweighted gpa of 3.8, having taken almost all of the honors and AP classes available to me, my class rank is about 30 out of 400, and I scored a 2000 on the SAT's. My significant extra-curriculars are: varsity tennis, editor for the school newspaper, NHS member, and a member of a peer mediation program. I've served about 100 hours of community service (mostly a homeless meals program), and worked at my local library during the summer for three years, as well as part time during the school year for one year. </p>

<p>What do you think my chances are? Thanks a bunch</p>

<p>Also, I'm not sure about the tuition rates for non-canadians. Can anyone help me out with some information? And if you know anything about how good the financial aid is I would love to hear it. Thanks again!</p>

2

<p>Yeah youre in.</p>

<p>This isnt a guess either; they wont refuse you thats a garantee. McGill is not a very competitive school; I could almost say that you can probably aim a bit higher.</p>

<p>PS. They don't care about extracurriculars, community service, or resume. At all unless you're aiming for medicine. Good grades; thats it. Which is why you may want to aim a bit higher too...</p>

3

<p>Sweet, thanks. I'm also considering Tufts, Boston College, Northeastern, Boston University, NYU, and Macalester, as well as UMass Amherst and UW-Madison. What do you think?</p>

4

<p>McGill has absolute minimum requirements that no ECs can overcome, since McGill doesn't consider the ECs for admission. The previous poster ignores the fact that many American universities use affirmative action, ECs and sports team requirements to decide admissions and override minimum academic requirements or to blur them at the very least. McGill also has minimum score requirements for the SAT IIs. If you don't satisfy them, you will not be admitted no matter your GPA and SAT I score. That said, your scores and GPA sound good enough for admission. The difficult part of McGill, especially in the sciences, is maintaining good grades, not getting in. You won't find American university style grade inflation at McGill.</p>

5

<p>I acknowledged that and truth be told I approve of the american way (of taking ECs, sports and other factors into consideration). Everyone keeps saying that college is supposed to be a time of growth and social learning; stopping well-rounded students with great credentials because they're 0.2 below GPA requirements is not something I consider fair or right.</p>

6

<p>Take northeastern off your list, and why arent u shooting for higher?</p>

<p>And with McGill, isnt it basically, if you exceed minimums you should have a decent shot.</p>

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<p>Well, I think it also depends on the applicant pool.</p>

8

<p>undiscosed:</p>

<p>Ask employers and grad schools what they look at in evaluating applicants. I guarantee ECs aren't high on the list, if at all. The American EC game has become just that and you'd be hard-pressed to find anyone who hasn't seen what a destructive joke affirmative action has been in practive. Each has just been used to elevate lesser qualified students over more qualified ones. The bottom line is that employers and grad schools want competent students who have demonstrated academic excellence.</p>

<p>Also, I believe whether you get into McGill is affected by the applicant pool. I know at least 4 applicants this year, who didn't get in, despite the fact that they had similar grades and standardized test scores to those of admitted students from a few years ago.</p>

9

<p>Yeah I am not certain about Northeastern, but I hear the co-op program is great. Why don't you like it? I don't know all that much about it... How high do you think I should be shooting? Any suggestions?</p>

10

<p>Um swampfox. How is AA a joke. I mean im white, so race does nothing for me, but you have to think of AA from other peoples point of view. I think it is stupid in that someone gets into a college because of race, because they really arent qualified by grades and whatnot. It sucks for us who get the bad end of the stick, but you must realize who it is helping. </p>

<p>Sure somebody might not deserve to go to the school that they do to, but it really changes lives. At least for those who are very underpriveleged when it comes to social and economic issues.<br>
I think a whole AA is great because it helps people, and even changes lives. But it is just unfair that people may get rejected because of AA, since they may be qualified, but the college is too obligated to let people of specific races in. And what is sad, is that it is not for them, it is for the college itself. All top schools love bragging about their diversity when they have it. Its all a beauty contest.</p>

<p>As for grad school, are you kidding me. Your ECs are so important. Good luck getting into any political or business masters program with any great business experience or political experience. Most people cant go to grad school right after college because they do not have the work experience to be accepted into top programs.</p>

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<p>Well I do think that affirmative action has run its course- and Im black. To me society has reached a level of equality (far from perfect as it may be) where a students value should not be judged by his ethnicity but rather by his value. I get vividly angry at the thought of a white student with an 89 average, having his place taken by a student with an average of 80 for no other reason than the fact that hes a minority.</p>

<p>However- you and I define that value differently. I do not stop it at grades. I know students who were always in the 70-75 range that had been published writers, had started their own businesses (and turned a profit), and even one that funded his own active charity association. These things should be taken into accounts by schools that pretend to want to raise the future leaders of this world. Grades include many subjects that a student may not excel at while truly thriving in those related to their majors.</p>

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<p>I do agree that it is not fair, but it can do great things. I think it should be gone too though, and that rather they look at economic class. Since it is more often that the poor are affected than just race when it comes to being at a disadvantage...although i think most people just need to do their best to rise above.</p>

<p>As for northeastern, you seriously would get a huge scholarship, maybe even full. McGill looks to be a good match for you. By your schools im assuming you want a great city, montreal fits that bill quite well. Not only that, but McGill is known worldwide, whereas northeastern is reallynot known at all outside of the east coast. You will get a MUCH MUCH better education at McGill than NE, and i have heard lots of bad things about co-op, and some good. Ive heard that you pay tuition, go to school, and then take time off to work a job that doesnt pay you, and you still have to pay tuition for the school. IN essence, paying them so u can work for no money.</p>

<p>As for schools you should be looking into ( i dont know what kind of programs you are looking for though) are McGill, USC, U Chicago, NYU, UMICH, UMadison, and other top schools. You could even apply to some Ivys or schools like them, though you would definitely better up your chances if you got a 2200+. With those test scores you are competetive at almost every school. It just seems going to school at NE would be foolish since u are capable of going places so much better, so much more recognized, and so much more of everything you could want in a school. If you want to be unchallenged throughout college, and work with mediocre 3.0 students the whole time, then it is the place to go, but i would say, more often than not, the ambitious kids go to tougher schools.</p>

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<p>McGill definitely does not inflate grades as many many US Universities do. Your choice, work hard and learn at McGill or take the inflated grades at US schools.
This from a US mother of a student at McGill. No harm intended i nthis post, it is your choice and best of luck to you.</p>

14

<p>Affirmative action based on economic situation (which translates to real disadvantage when it comes to available primary education, etc.) makes some sense. Affirmative action based on race or skin color, aka, reverse discrimination, has been a great boon to middle and upper middle class Blacks, who have suffered no real disadvantage of opportunity in their lives but who nevertheless need not perform to the level of other students (of the same or even lower economic class (in the case of nonbeneficiaries of affirmative action programs)) to be admitted to prestigious universities. That's just an unassailable fact.</p>

15

<p>I'd like to point out that in one corner of this ring we have a 35+ year old married (I assume) male, and on the other we have a < 18 year old pre-frosh. Maybe this can be settled somewhere other than a chances thread?</p>

<p>To BigTWIX: don't poo-poo a school when you, yourself, haven't even enrolled in one yet. </p>

<p>To undisclosed: unless you work in the McGill admissions building, don't say the gratifying words, "you're in". Can you guarantee his admission?</p>

<p>Back to bigTWIX: you're arguing with someone who's gone through the system, and telling him he knows nothing about grad school. Perhaps times have changed, and he's truly out of the loop, or perhaps he might still know a thing or two about the grad school game. </p>

<p>What this boils down to is respecting someone's experiences (and subsequently age). God forbid someone who's been around the block a few times, and see other people go through the same system, knows what's up.</p>

<p>To the OP: your chances are pretty good. I had near the same academic states as you, and I got in to both the faculty of engineering and science. Should you shoot for higher? Why not? I liken Ivy and Big-Name school admissions to the lottery: someone has to win eventually. </p>

<p>As someone who's been through the aid process at McGill, I can tell you that you shouldn't expect much, however my situation was/is odd. I'm have dual citizenship with France + the US, so I get Quebec-tuition-rate ($1700 CAD/term). That being said, McGill knew of this, and still gave me an entrance bursary of $6000 CAD (which when applied towards books, tuition, housing, and fees = just a wee bit under a 1/2 ride). </p>

<p>Should you expect comparable aid? I'm not sure, I just thought I'd rely my experience. On the whole, most people will tell you here that McGill is VERY stingy with their scholarship/aid money. On the site they even say that you should expect, no more than $10000 CAD from them (and even then...). </p>

<p>For reference, my family lives in a predominately middle-class area, yet we ourselves are (optimistically) the highest of the lower-income-class here.</p>

16

<p>"To undisclosed: unless you work in the McGill admissions building, don't say the gratifying words, "you're in". Can you guarantee his admission?"</p>

<p>Yes. Yes I can. As a student who has been through the process, met with several advisors and gotten their definitions of a "garanteed admission" I can say that this is a student they would not refuse under normal circumstance.</p>

<p>Will the school get a virus that will erase his file and only his from existence when he applies? I don't know. But I do know that if everything stays as it is, it's almost a guarantee.</p>

17

<p>^^</p>

<p>One never knows how the next year's applicant pool will fare. For all you know the class of 2011 raised the admission minima significantly, raising the bar for what can be deemed "admissable". </p>

<p>I'm only replying out of a formality now.</p>