<p>Hello there. I'm from the States (Maryland) and am very much interested in McGill. Not living in Canada, though, I really have no idea as to how difficult it is to get in. I saw somewhere that the university admits over fifty percent of its applicants, which is just such a difference from here where, you know, some in-state public unis admit only forty some percent and private ones admit less than thirty. And yet I've read that McGill is quite competitive. Could anyone shed some light on this?</p>
<p>Also, have most applicants taken more than one foreign language? How does the school view applicants who have? Currently I'm enrolled in three; two of them I take at school, and the other is a weekend class. None of them happen to be French. But generally would this serve as a little boost? I'd be interested in the International Politics program, of course.</p>
<p>The canadian universities in general have higher admittance averages than the US schools, since they view canadian applicants solely by their high school average. They make the cutoffs they use readily available, so if you don't have a GPA around the cutoff (say, if 85% were the cutoff, if you had a GPA of 70 or 80%), you are almost certain not to get in, and most of these students don't bother applying. Thus your applicant pool is pretty much just those students with averages about or greater than the cutoff average. </p>
<p>As far as foreign languages go, I'm not sure how much of a boost that'd be to your stats. Are you fluent in any of your languages? how long have you studied them for? I would definitely make mention of it--studying three foreign languages simultaneously is quite an achievement and can only help you.</p>
<p>From a fellow American and a McGill student, I wish you the best of luck :D
noelle</p>
<p>Ah, I see. That actually seems like quite an efficient system. So, really, it's best to have something similar to a 3.4 or higher, then? I'll probably have a 3.5 or 3.6--I've never really been an insanely competitive student, but my courses are difficult. </p>
<p>Well, I suppose I'm what you would call very close to being fluent in Spanish--I've been studying the language for five years and will likely take AP Spanish VI next year. I've only been studying German for a little over two years, but am somehow much quicker at learning this language than any other. Czech is a very recent addition--started maybe six months ago, and given the difficulty of it (well, for me, anyway...grammer -_-), I'm counting on being a beginner for quite a while. </p>
<p>Oh, and thank you :) Hope you're enjoying your time there!</p>
<p>While Canadian schools are primarily GPA-based for admissions, they also have minimum SAT and SAT II scores for US applicants. McGill's are here:</p>
<p>Few if any essays are required; same for letters of recommendation.</p>
<p>You should also investigate Queen's University and U of Toronto. They are all bargains compared to the cost of US colleges. McGill has by far the most "American" students.</p>
<p>Well, I'm hoping to get above the minimum SAT score (haven't taken the SAT yet); I don't think that will be too much of a problem. If they were asking for a 1500, though, well, then I might have trouble, heh. </p>
<p>I've mostly been looking into UBC, which is still cheaper than (or about the same as) my in-state public uni would cost. That's what attracted me to Canadian schools...great education for thousands less. McGill is considerably cheaper than UBC, it would seem, so I'm not sure if I should lean toward it.</p>