Chances? With a side of Questions

Colleges and Universities A-Z McGill University
1

<p>Hi, all!</p>

<p>It would be just amazing if you guys would help chance me. I do have some questions at the end that really concern me, too. I'm aiming for Faculty of Science.</p>

<p>And I highly doubt this, but I may as well ask: does McGill give any sort of priority to canadian citizens? I'm Montreal-born (ha, my username) but I went to high school in the states. </p>

<p>GPA
U/W: 3.78/4.0
W:4.97/5.0
Rank: 39/683 (I believe that's the total?); Top 6% </p>

<p>Sophomore Year:
PreAP Alg II: ~88
PreAP Chem: ~96
World Geography: ~99
PreAP English: ~90
PreAP French III: ~95</p>

<p>Junior Year:
Precalculus: ~97
AP Statistics: ~97
AP Chem: ~90 (DROPPED after 1st semester; not due to grades)
Honors Anatomy and Physiology:~95
AP English: ~87
AP French IV: ~96
PreAP Physics: ~96
(AP Tests: English: 4; Stat: 5)</p>

<p>Senior Year:
AP Calculus AB
AP Biology
AP French Language (AKA V)
AP English (Literature)
Medical Microbiology (Sem. Class) / Pathophysiology (Sem. Class)
Astronomy </p>

<hr>

<p>Standardized Scores (This is where I get nervous...)
SAT
Reading: 600
Math: 670
Writing: 670
Standardized testing is not my thing. I've taken the SATs twice, and these are my highest scores (not superscored). I've already signed up for the ACTs hoping for a better chance.
What grade would be really recommended to get a strong chance for entry? (I don't plan on submitting these scores unless I bomb the ACTs as well). </p>

<p>My MAIN questions of concern are:</p>

<p>i) I know McGill focuses on soph, junior, and senior year. Thats great; my freshman year grades were HORRID (I got Cs in PreAP Bio, PreAP Geom, but at least i got B avgs. Other classes weren't significantly better). My GPA and rank are both cumulative...meaning, my freshman grades are haunting me. (I cannot recall my freshman GPA, i believe it was lower than 3.5, but my rank was 90/735). </p>

<p>Does McGill appreciate rising grades throughout the 4 years? My rank went up ~50 people / ~4-5% so far, and from other colleges I've spoken to, they (not McGill) look at this "brightly." Hopefully I can at least keep senior year similar to junior year.
But should I really be okay despite the freshman grades? I'm just worried at the cumulative GPA. I don't believe McGill cares too much for rank? </p>

<p>ii) The "prerequisites." The website states:</p>

<p>A- average in grades 10,11 and 12; A- in each prerequisite math and science;
And the prereqs for me (Fac. of Sci) are: pre-calculus;two of biology,chemistry or physics.</p>

<p>Does this mean that I'm required to have A- in precal, and separately an A- in two of bio/chem/phys? Or just A- in precal AND two of bio/chem/phys? And how does McGill look at the fact that I did regular precal instead of pre-ap? </p>

<p>And do they differentiate from AP Bio and PreAP bio? Like I said earlier, I'm definitely not happy with my Pap Bio grades, and I'm just currently taking AP Bio. If I had a choice, I'd throw my precal/physics grades at them instead. How does that work?</p>

<p>Similarly, I'm highly highly worried for my grade in AP Calculus AB. I'm not expected to do well (the precal class I'm told may not prepare me as well as the students who took preap precal). I'm expecting myself to get at least an 85 minimum in the class. So, let's say I get an 85 avg. How bad will this hurt me? It's not a prereq so it's not picked at per se, but it would significantly lower my math avg and perhaps my senior avg as well. All other classes I'm MUCH more comfortable with.</p>

<p>Also, I'm not sure how McGill gives out scholarships. Would I be eligible for even a small scholarship?</p>

<p>--
Much, much, much thanks to all who reply!
And in case anyone else applying to McGill is wondering, the application for Fall 2012 has opened...about 3 hours ago from this time (Sept 1). I'm not obsessed. Promise.</p>

2

<p>I have an additional question:
Does McGill pay any attention to weighted GPA? At my high school, unweighted GPA includes every single class, including gym, speech, etc. Weighted GPA only include the “real” courses: math, science, english, history, and language.</p>

3

<p>I have talked to McGill before. There was a lady with a thick French accent who told me that you just need to meet the minimum requirements. You can find those in [Undergraduate</a> Admissions Guide 2012-13](<a href=“http://www.mcgill.ca/applying/admissionsguide/]Undergraduate”>http://www.mcgill.ca/applying/admissionsguide/)</p>

<p>They only care about your grades and SAT score. You’d better only care about those. You can even ditch extracurricular activities.</p>

4

<p>I’m aware of the extracurriculars (not sure how I feel about that), but I’m worried about my slipping grades this year, especially in math. It may go as low as B-. I think I can get that A- minimum if I get some tutoring in. Im just worried that my grades are slipping that much. </p>

<p>I can definitely assure you that I only care about grades, and i’m moving on to the ACT and see how I do there.</p>

5

<p>No admissions priority is given to Canadian citizens, but Canadians get a much much lower tuition (and Quebec residents get much lower than other Canadians).</p>

6

<p>(Please excuse any typos I’m on a new touchpad.)</p>

<p>I finally got an email response from their service point feature an they answered some of y questions. In a nutshell:
I’m (more or less) required to have an A- in each prerequisite class. So th two sciencesthey look at won’t be averaged with each other. They have yet to respond to what prerequisites they take (PreAP Chemistry vs AP cbemistry). I was also tol that they don’t use the GPA given from the high schools and that they wiill calculate my grade using their own system (keep in mind that i am a US student). They’ll ignore freshman year classes and those classes like gym, speech, etc. </p>

<p>that bein said, does any one know how McGill would calculate my grade? The best I could find was A and A- are 4.00, B+ is 3.7, B is 3.00. That is how they calculate their own undergrad students. I’m not sure what nunber grades fall into which letter category. </p>

<p>I am still legitimately afraid that AP calculus will ruin me. But I am adamant on not dropping. Not sure what my chances are, at all. I am hoping my science courses are appealing enough. Any insight?</p>

7

<p>If Calculus is not a prerequisite for the program to which you are applying, then I doubt that it would be included in calculating your entrance average. Because McGill gets applicants from a greater variety of educational backgrounds than almost any other school in North America, I think that it has to have some flexibility in how it calculates entrance averages; hence, that calculation often seems mysterious. </p>

<p>Given your goal of doing science at McGill, I think you are wise to be “adamant on not dropping” Calculus. You write that you are “still legitimately afraid that AP calculus will ruin” you; I believe your fear is probably illegitimate rather than legitimate.</p>

8

<p>This is the first time I’ve heard something like that. Calculus isn’t a prerequisite for me, thankfully. I was thinking that Calculus would be ruining my GPA for me (although I now just realized that they had no “average GPA”). But, it is ruining my grades for me, and I know that McGill has a particular focus on grades and tests. How come I shouldn’t be too concerned with my calculus grade? I feel that they would look a little beyond just the prerequisites, which are only a total of 3 classes for me… This has really changed my perspective on the admissions.</p>

9

<p>Finally got a response about the classes…and they didn’t really answer my question. I was only told that they would choose from my list of courses “depending on the other applicants.” This didn’t help at all. I feel like sending another e-mail (different people receive e-mails, thankfully), but I will give it more time. </p>

<p>Does anyone know what constitutes an A-? What is that numerically? 90+?</p>