<p>Hi Im a dual citizen and Im dual by every definition of the word...I grew up in north Florida but I will be graduating from Canada this year.</p>
<p>Basically, I received a sub-par score on the SAT because I was an arrogant moron and did two practice tests...unfortunetely it was the last test date for 05 admissions as well</p>
<p>Anyways, Ive applied to both American and Canadian universities...I would appreciate some guidance from someone who knows anything about American and Canadian universities</p>
<p>I have been rejected at Tufts, Wake Forest and GW...Waitlisted at Tulane and Case Western and accepted to Boston University (CGS not ArtSci) and University of Miami</p>
<p>BU is a good school but Im in the top 6th percentile of my class in Canada and I have been/will be accepted to every good school up here including UofToronto, McGill, Queen's, UBC, Western, McMaster</p>
<p>I have limited my options to Queen's, McGill, Western, BU, and Miami...I want to set myself up to get into the best grad school I can get into...I slacked in high school and I know I can do it...Anyone have any opinions on the aforementioned schools?</p>
<p>Hows Queen's' reputation internationally? I know it isnt recognized as well as McGill but is it known to grad school adcoms?</p>
<p>Queens and/or UToronto (Depending on who you ask) is considered the Harvard of Canada by Canadians.
McGill is considered the Harvard of Canada by Americans, but adcoms will know that Queens is awesome.
I was a slacker too...but hey, I'm going to McGill! Rock on!</p>
<p>Perhaps you can add some color to your question before I respond in more detail. In other words, what kind of academic/career path do you want to take? Some Canadian universities excell in undergraduate business ( Queens, McGill ), MBA ( Western, U of T ) , medical,etc..McMasters has a reputation for having one of the best if not the best Engineering schools. I myself am a UBC grad and have lived in both Vancouver and Toronto but since I now live in Seattle, my son is trying to decide between UW ( University of Washington ) and UCI ( UC Irvine ) who have both accepted his application.</p>
<p>I plan on going to law school in the states, my entire family lives there...I hope to attain a 3.7+ GPA but its difficult to earn that in Canada with the rampant grade deflation etc</p>
<p>My take on Law School is to get the best combo of GPA , LSAT score and EC and the course content is irrelevant regardless of USA or Canada. Most people I knew who went to UBC Law School took slack Arts courses like Psychology, Philosophy, English,etc,,in order to maximize their GPA to get admitted into Law School.</p>
<p>In the States, the Cdn universities that have the most prestige are probably Queens, McGill, Western and UBC although alumni from U ot T, York and Carlton would beg to differ. IMHO, Queens is the Harvard of Canada and has the best campus life even though Western used to tout itself as the Harvard of Canada because it also used the Case Method. One particular friend had an undergrad from Queens, worked 2 years for Proctor and Gamble, then quit P&G when he was admitted into the Harvard MBA program. </p>
<p>ps - altho I am a UBC grad, I spent several days at Queens which hosted a business competition among all Cdn universities. This was where I became most impressed with Queens facilities, atmosphere and campus life. I have also been to Cambridge several times and experienced the campus life at Harvard and MIT. Queens comes closest to the Ivy League experience. The biggest benefit of McGill is the close proximity to downtown Montreal strip clubs whcih have the best lap dances.</p>
<p>It seems to me that based on personal experience, all the top corporate , litigator and employment lawyers graduated from Princeton, Harvard, Yale,etc..</p>
<p>Law schools grads from University of Washington seem to become prosecutors, public defendents,etc..( perhaps due to the "Left Coast"?)</p>
<p>Right right, I am definetely going to be taking "slack" courses for that very reason...but it is what I like so it works out</p>
<p>Interesting that you say that about Queens and Western....Ive spoken to several canadian applicants to t-14 law schools and they say that if its not UofT or McGill, it wont get reputation points....and McGill is defintely dubbed the Harvard of Canada but UofT and Queens beg to differ....Carleton and York are second tier schools in Canada</p>
<p>I checked the Harvard, Stanford, Georgetown, Stanford viewbooks for law school this year and there is not one person from Queens at any of these universities whereas there are several appearances of McGill, UofT, Western, McMaster, and Waterloo</p>
<p>Well Princeton doesnt have a law school so I dont know how they would produce corporate attorneys, but are you really surprised that Yale and Harvard produce corporate heavy weights? Alumni networks, resources, rep make it that way whereas Univ Wash is a public school that isnt in the top 30...the big money, the big resources, the big demand is for the elite schools, the elite students</p>
<p>I think McGill and U of T versus Queens is apples and oranges..Pick the right campus/lifestyle for you. If you like to be in an urban setting in the middle of a big city, then U ot T and McGill are probably a good fit. If you want to experience the whole campus life and come close to the US college experience in terms of school spirit, sports,etc.. then
I recommend Queens..I have friends who graduated from all 3 and are very successful in business, reaching the pinnacles of their professions. I guess what I'm saying is that one school isn't necessarily better than the other, it depends upon the "FIT". Good luck.</p>
<p>UToronto most likely has the best grad school placements for US schools. UofT and McGill both have grade deflation (average GPA is 2.2ish). Western I hear is much easier, average GPA is around 3.0. Some of the top grad schools like Harvard Law, Yale Law, consistently recruit the most students from UofT and McGill... last year they recruited 3 from UofT which was the highest of any international univ. In previous years it was 3 from UofT, 3 from McGill. Yale was 2 from UofT, 2 from McGill, and this year I heard they only recruited at UofT and McGill out of Canadian universities.</p>
<p>Dont you think that the reason for UToronto for having the best grad school placements is because they have so many students? So if around 40,000 students graduate and 3 get accepted to Harvard.. whats the big deal? It would be pretty difficult to even remain in the top 5% of the class.. And the top 5% would probably consist of thousands of students.
But are you sure that they recruited ONLY at UofT and Mcgill out of candian universities?</p>
<p>Who said you needed to remain in the top 5% of your class? Look on lawschoolnumbers.com... someone with a 3.47 GPA from UofT got in to CLS (columbia), another with a 3.67 in to HLS (harvard)... both are way below "top 5%" of the class. And we're just talking about Law school, not the whole Harvard... 3 students may not be much but it's more than any other school (internationally).</p>
<p>And although size helps... look at the 2nd and 3rd largest universities in Canada - York and Alberta. York actually has more undergraduate students than UofT... yet both York/Alberta do very poorly when putting students in to top grad schools.</p>
<p>Ok well I checked Harvard's viewbook and Western has 2 kids in Harvard law for this year's class...Waterloo and York also have 1. There is a kid from McMaster at Stanford as well...I dont know how anyone with a 3.47 got into Harvard but Ill definetely tell you that its not a common occurance...Harvard's mean GPA is 3.8 I believe (and I realize gpa's are deflated but thats still too low).</p>
<p>Is there any reason why I haven't seen anyone from Queen's at the top law schools this year (ive looked at Columbia, Harvard, Georgetown, Penn, NYU)</p>
<p>BTW...how did you search for University of Toronto applicants...The only college options are American (unless you clicked on every single Harvard acceptance), thanks.</p>