<p>McGill is occasionally referred to as "the Harvard of Canada," but several CC posters have downplayed that comparison. So, help me to get a good idea of it as an option for American students . . . if McGill isn't a Canadian Harvard, what's a better comparable among U.S. universities? Is it an urban, Canadian Cornell? An NYU with a campus? Maybe the Berkeley of the North?</p>
<p>The reason they call it the Harvard of Canada is because it is the best or one of the best universities in Canada, not because it is as good as or has anything to do with Harvard.
All great colleges and universities are unique. McGill is a fantastic school but I don't think we should try to compare it to another school. It's absurd to assign numerical value to a university and say things like...."Okay Berkeley has 87 points and McGill has 86...so they are about the same" That is not the case. They are completely different no matter what ranking you look at.</p>
<p>With that said, there are plenty of rankings that rank all the universities of the world and rank McGill alongside the UC's.</p>
<p>I was wrong, McGill is ranked lower than most of the UC's. Take a look at these world rankings...
They rank by very different standards then the USNEWS, so you should keep that in mind. </p>
<p>those rankings are absurd. there is no way university of washington seattle is better than UBC</p>
<p>Like I said, the standards are different then those we are used to with the USNEWS.</p>
<p>UW Seattle has 80+ NAS members and a top 3 research budget around $800 million--US. I'd say UW is much better than UBC</p>
<p>If you want to talk "Harvard of Canada" then it should be queens... it has been far more selective over the past 10 years (I think 9 out of the 10 past years Queens has been the most selective). 3 years ago even UofT was more selective than McGill despite having twice as many students... even this year they have a higher proportion of students entering with 95%+ than McGill (look in McLeans). Recently there has been alot of fluctuation in Ontario admissions due to the double cohort but everything will settle down in a few years.</p>
<p>Also, UW is much better than UBC... how could you even compare? UBC's budget is something like 600million Canadian... McGill is around 700 million and Toronto about 1.5 billion.</p>
<p>Yo i just saw a ranking that puts MCgill 21 in the world academically, ahead of Queens and ahead of most of THe Uc's and schools like NYU.
<a href="http://www.answers.com/topic/mcgill-university%5B/url%5D">http://www.answers.com/topic/mcgill-university</a></p>
<p>I won't discuss rankings-- everything is so subjective and since McGill is severely underfunded, I won't try to argue that it has as much weight as some of the major US players. That said, it's a tough and challenging school that takes some of the top students in Canada (and elsewhere) and offers them challenging and tough classes. I don't think selectivity is an issue here-- they'll let you in, but if you can't cut it, your out- no ifts or buts about it. This is not a school that will hold your hand or inflate your grade. This is about independent learning and learning to be an adult. (McGill also is a bit snobbish about Ontario students, btw. Since about 50% of Ontario students graduate with an A average (or so my prof who taught at U of T said), their entire education system is take lightly). McGill, I think, is one of the places where your style of learning should really play a decision.</p>
<p>How does it compare? My boyfriend TA's at a large state school and says that the quality is nothing compared to McGill first years. Teachers are top notch, with PhDs and teaching experience from a lot of the superb American schools. Money wise, there is in a bind, but hopefully the new principal will turn things around. They are building a new music building and have some nice new science buildings. There are a lot of amazing research going on in both Science and Arts. Undergrads (despite their amazing alcohol consumption) are driven and intelligent. My friends have been accepted to Georgetown, Columbia, London School of Economics, NYU, U of Chicago, George Washington, Northwestern, Duke, to name the big ones. Other friends have high powered/paying jobs in NYC.</p>
<p>Hope this helps-- I disliked McGill when I first started going there, but after a while, I realized that once I started being proactive and fighting every step of the way, that it would help me go places.</p>
<p>according to usnews, u of washington seattle is 46th in the USA and in my opinion i think ubc is better academically and harder to get into</p>
<p>I'm not that concerned with a ranking of McGill on academic quality as much as I am an assessment of the environment. For instance, it's a high-profile public university that has 22,000 undergrads and accepts 55% of applications. In looking at data bases I find that the U. of Michigan has 24,000 undergrads and a 52% acceptance rate. That's pretty close and one might find the academic reputations comparable. But Ann Arbor and Montreal are quite different settings. Would anyone suggest an urban U.S. university that might be a better match?</p>
<p>McGill is comparable to NYU, USC, UT-Austin, UCLA or Wisconsin-Madison. Excellent faculty, good reputation in academic circles but limited resources. </p>
<p>But McGill does not have the reputation of Cal-Berkeley or the resources of Michigan.</p>
<p>Alexandre - That's very helpful; the discipline interest here is vocal performance, and the NYU and Southern Cal comparisons work from that standpoint as well as the urban campus standpoint.</p>
<p>My friend was rejected with a 3.8 all IB diploma, a 32 ACT and 3 ~750 SAT II's</p>
<p>Alexandre, you're not just about to try to convice anyone you know anything about Canadian universities now are you? give me a break.</p>
<p>I know McGill very well. A couple of my close friends when to college there and one or my sisters got her Master's degree there. In all, I spent 4 summers in Montreal, spending much time on McGill's campus. I never took classes there, and I am not an expert on McGill, but I do know it well enough to know that the school is severely lacking in resources. </p>
<p>Operation budget: $700 million
Endowment: $500 million</p>
<p>On the other hand, McGill does have a good international reputation, a good faculty, talented students and a great location.</p>