Hi,
So this year the top two schools I was admitted to are McGill and Carnegie Mellon. Right now I’m leaning pre-med but I may decide to change. Carnegie Mellon admitted me to the Mellon College of Science but I was also offered a spot in one of their liberal arts humanities programs as well (Science and Humanities/ Quantitative Social Science Scholars). At McGill I initially applied to their Faculty of Science for Biomedical Sciences but I was waitlisted unfortunately. But I was accepted to their Interfaculty BASC (bachelor of science and arts) that combines the Faculty of Arts and the Faculty of Sciences.
My mom went to CMU and I have family very close by in Pittsburgh, and they’ve all been preaching CMU for years. However in the rankings I’ve consistently seen that McGill has yielded outstanding acceptance rates for pre-med students. My family is very pressed on CMU but I kind of like McGill. As for the weather in Montreal I think that I am fully capable of living with it, and furthermore I find the city of Montreal to be very amazing. I love Pittsburgh too, but Montreal has a different vibe hahah.
I’ve heard and seen online a lot that CMU has a reputation for working its students like dogs more than most colleges. Not to say McGIll doesn’t demand hard work but I ahven’t heard such a reputation. I’m slightly concerned about my ability to keep my GPA up if I went to CMU
Finally, while I know this isn’t and shouldn’t be a huge factor, I’ve heard that while the social scene at CMU is lowkey at best, its really awesome at McGill and i have to admit makes McGIll seem very appealing. (Not to mention the skiing!)
Anyways any input is appreciated
Assuming the prices are both similar (or at lest acceptable to whomever is ultimately paying for your undergraduate degree), then I would say go with your heart on this one. Honestly don’t put too much stock in rankings, as they are heavily skewed towards research output and graduate programs rather than undergraduate studies (and they say precisely zero about how much fun you will actually have there). Both are very good schools and I would certainly not discount CM just because it is a little lower on the TIMES or US NEWS rankings then McGill (and I say this as a McGill Alumnus). That said, from what your saying you seem to really prefer McGill and be really interested in Montreal, so I say you should go for it. When faced with acceptances from two very good schools you should pick the one you think you will have a better time studying at (its you who has to live there for four years, not your family and actually liking where you are and what your doing will make a big difference in how successful you are academically). Part of what you are getting from your family may be that they are also be a bit worried about you going to going to school in a foreign country (I am assuming you are American?) and I can understand that concern from parents. If it is any consolation to them a full !0% of the McGill student body is Americans so its not like you will be alone in your situation.
NOTE: To reiterate the above statement is made with the assumption that the tuition fees at both these schools are both reasonable and affordable for you. If that is not the case I would advise choosing the school that will not bury you in debt.
PS: Try Mt. Tremblant for skiing, it is excellent. Mt. St. Anne is also great!
PPS: The drinking age in Quebec is actually 18 and a lot of the new American Freshmen (who are generally quite thrilled when they learn this) tend to overdo it when they arrive in September. Everyone settles down after a few weeks (when you have to buckle down and get to work), but be aware that the bars around campus are always packed in September with new students (particularly over Frosh week). Still, it must be nice not having to deal with fake IDs or anything like that.
Thanks a lot this is really helpful.
Quick question about mcgill. Can you minor in any subject or only those offered by your program. its not clear about that online
I did my Master’s degree at McGill, not my Bachelors and my Master’s was a research based thesis degree so there wasn’t any major or minor per-say, and I never really talked about the structure of choosing majors and minors with any of my friends in undergrad there so I cant really comment on that. At the University of Toronto (where I did my undergraduate) you chose your major and minor (or double major) at the end of your first year and you could take any major or minor you wanted so long as you had the required freshman year credits (and for the more selective majors/minors appropriately high grades). McGill may or may not be like this at the undergraduate level, but my instinct would be that it is something similar because I have known a few people there who seemed to have majors and minors that seemed to be only loosely related. Still, I would suggest looking for an additional source to confirm this.
Just a note on the social scene at McGill: It is a blast, but it is a little different then the stereotypical American College experience. Frats and Sororities aren’t particularly popular and neither are school sports teams (that’s common pretty much at all Canadian Universities) and that combined with the low drinking age tends to mean students party and socialize a lot more around campus rather than at specific organized events (ie. tailgate parties or frat parties in the US), this means there are tons of house parties going on everywhere on Fridays and Saturdays in the student housing neighborhoods on campus and that the bars near campus (ranging from cheap Irish knockoff pubs to a particularly snooty upscale bar called Benelux on Sherbrooke street just east of campus with dozens of micro-brewery beers on tap) are always lively. Furthermore open air concerts and art shows downtown and in The Plateau neighborhood (as well as all the clubs in the entertainment district about 20 minutes walk south of the university) are always packed with students. In short students at McGill tend to go out to socialize, either to a house party or a concert or a club or a gallery (The Musee de Beaux Arts is a short walk west of campus) rather than go to specific university organized organized events (not counting Frosh Week of course). The streets around the University are never empty at any hour of the night on Fridays and Saturdays, so if you want to take full advantage of McGill’s social scene make sure to get out there into the neighborhood (colloquially called the “McGill Bubble”) when you can.
Again, I loved the atmosphere at McGill, but I have never been to CMU so you might want to maybe want to hear there side of the story. Low-key isn’t necessarily a bad thing and I don’t know how big College Sports are at CMU, but I know at some universities in the US they are major social events so a lot of the social interactions could be tied to games and tailgate parties (which I have heard are iconic in the US sporting experience).
Anyway, good luck no matter what you choose! This is definitely the fun part of the year where you are now choosing the University rather than them choosing you.
THanks a lot. When I said Lowkey I meant less active than your typical American State School, but im hoping it isn’t nonexistenthaha
I’m a first-year at CMU. I’m in Dietrich, but I have friends who are in Mellon College of Science. I would agree that you shouldn’t look at rankings too much; CMU notoriously ranks lower than it probably should due to factors like a lower endowment.
In terms of social life at CMU, it’s really what you make of it. I go out to parties, on average, about once or twice a month. I have friends who never go out, but I also have friends who go out every weekend and on weekdays. While Greek life isn’t a huge thing here, about 20%-25% of the CMU population is involved. The way I’ve heard it described is that there’s a presence, but no pressure to be involved with it. If you’re not in a fraternity/sorority, you’ll by no means have no social opportunities, but it can help. Sports teams and other groups on campus (like the student radio station and student associations for different nationalities) have parties. If you or your friends are involved in things like this, you’ll have social opportunities. Also, Pitt is right down Forbes.
So, sure, there are plenty of people who stay in the computer lab all night, but there are also plenty of people who drink on Thursday nights. One of the best things about the social scene at CMU, in my opinion, is that I very rarely hear about anyone getting pressured to drink or use drugs.
I have a first-year friend majoring in chemistry who has a lot of work, but also has enough time to binge-watch Netflix shows without falling behind in class. If you don’t completely overload your schedule and you have decent time-management skills, you will have time to get adequate sleep and to socialize.
Pittsburgh doesn’t have a whole lot going on in terms of nightlife and I’ll be the first to tell you that, contrary to what Zagat says, we’re not a great food city. But there are things to do and there are good restaurants, you just need to be willing to put in the effort to find them.
I just want to add that although I talk a lot about parties, there’s obviously more to college social life than that. Most freshman dorms are at least moderately social (depending on floor). There’s also plenty of clubs and intramural sports and the like.
QSSS is awesome and a terrific opportunity, as is Bachelors of Ars&Sciences.
McGill is excellent but it really depends on what you expect: the social life is very different from what you’d find on a typical college campus (McGill’s campus is an urban campus, although not as undefined as, say, NYU or BU). As mentioned above, people get together in bars or at each other’s apartments. There are fewer clubs. People do their thing and there’s no expectation of “pride” or social gatherings. It’s also much more commuter than CMU or other “residential” campuses. All in all, there is much less “handholding”, you really have to figure things out for yourself - whether for parties or fun or class. You may only have 2 or 3 grades for the whole term (no participation, pb set, hw… grades) and many classes are very large. Grade deflation is big, first because Quebec compared to the US has grade deflation and second because McGill does have grade deflation compared to other universities (though UT beats it in that area.)
Do you have other choices?
What are your net costs for each?
The other choices are michigan emory UMD honors and NYU. I applied to Michigan honors but I’m still waiting on a decision. Other than UMD none of these offered me any big programs, or are as good for me as CMU in my opinion but i could be wrong
Is going to PItt to hang out and party a fairly common thing or nah? Also is it possible for CMU kids to take any classes offered at Pitt but not at CMU. I know they do it the other way around but there are some language classes at PITT that CMU doesn’t offer.
Emory is quite good, too. I’d choose it over mcGill (remember that in the US it’s possible to major/minor without a special program).
@MYOS1634
Could you clarify what you mean by “remember that in the US it’s possible to major/minor without a special program”, as I am not entirely sure what you mean by this? I can’t speak for all Canadian universities, but for where I did my undergraduate (UofToronto) you were free to major or minor in whatever you wanted, as long as you had the prerequisite freshman year courses (majors are chosen at the end of 1st year). Maybe I am misunderstanding you here though so I would appreciate clarification.
I have to somewhat disagree with you in characterizing McGill as being a commuter school. Roughly half of the student population (45%) are either out of province Canadians or International students, meaning they (along with all the Quebec students who are not from Montreal) generally either live in residence each year or find apartments in student neighborhood right on campus (named the McGill Ghetto). The portion of students who are actually Montrealers and live well off campus with their families is really a minority (though a fairly large minority to be sure). So yes, technically the amount of students that directly live in McGill funded student housing is small (generally just freshmen) but most students live right in the ghetto which is a very defined neighborhood located right beside the main campus buildings, so it cannot be fairly characterized as a commuter school with such a large proportion of students so immediately close to campus. Coming from a real commuter school for my undergrad (UofT) in which probably a majority of students were local residents and commuted in and there was only a very small student neighbourhood (meaning even the international and out of province students were fairly far dispersed in where they lived downtown), I have to say the difference at McGill when I first moved to the McGill Ghetto was very striking.
I think we share some similar opinions on the social situation at McGill though: There is a lot going on, but it is very unstructured. Students tend to socialize in the neighbourhood at house parties and concerts and bars rather than at organized events, such as sports. I think part of this is simply the freedom offered at that school; the fact that you are right downtown in a very large culturally rich city and that the drinking age is 18 means that even Freshmen can generally go wherever and do whatever they want in their free time, so people aren’t really interested in going to frat parties to try and score beer (you can just buy beer from your corner store and either host or go yo a party at someones apartment) and there is so much stuff going on just off campus (concerts, shows, ect.) students generally don’t just hang around on campus in the evenings and wait to join university-run events. I am not necessarily endorsing this environment for all students, as there are lots of people who might prefer a more typical, structured college experience where things come to you, but for students who want to get out and explore the McGill experience is pretty great.
As to grades: McGill generally isn’t an easy school. Class averages generally fall in the B- to B range. I know there are some universities out there where most of the class will get As in a given course and McGill certainly isnt one of those. Still, the fearsome reputation McGill (and even more UofToronto) face is somewhat overblown (perhaps because their students like bragging about it 
). For example through 2 degrees I have never actually seen a professor bell-curve down a class’ grades, although I have seen them raise grades when test scores are unexpectedly low. However it is true that to get an A in most of those classes you do have to exceed the average.
PS: I am not sure what you mean by an “expectation of pride”, could you explain that? Certainly McGill students are proud of their university, but I don’t think that was what you meant.
@dubjaybroun
I wouldn’t say that going to Pitt to hang out and party is common, per se, but it’s certainly not unheard-of. It would probably help if you had a friend or a friend of a friend who goes there, if you’d want to do that.
Yes, you can take classes at Pitt.