<p>Hey, so I'm really looking in to applying/going to McGill next year. I would be majoring in some form of engineering (most likely computer). </p>
<p>Basically my problem is that I DETEST English. I'm taking a really hard course load right now, and one of those classes is AP English. I know that I will end up getting a B in AP English if I take it, and from what I've heard, McGill looks a lot harder at unweighted GPA. Should I look into switching in to a normal English class so that I can get an A? All of my counselors have told me that getting a B in an AP is better than getting an A in a normal level class, but that might only apply to American schools. (I'm from Oregon)</p>
<p>Current GPA is 3.83 over all four years, but 3.96 if you discount grade 9 (Which apparently McGill does?)</p>
<p>Any answers/advice are highly appreciated, </p>
<p>I have a 34 ACT and a 12 ACT Writing. I won’t be submitting the SAT (1800), and I heard that that means you don’t need to submit SAT II’s either? Anyways, my SAT II’s are 750 Math, 750 Physics, 720 Chemistry.</p>
<p>Your non-grad 9 gpa and your ACT are well above McGill’s cutoff points for admission standards. Mechanical, civil or chemical engineering just want a 3.7+ and an ACT of 29+. Since McGill’s admission is purely numeric this means you are in virtually 100% certain. </p>
<p>Getting into McGill is more like completing a check list of admission requirements rather than anything else. If you exceed the standards you are in, if you don’t you are out.
What you choose to do with English at this point is largely irrelevant to your chances. As long as you hold your gpa reasonably steady you are in. Congratulations.</p>
<p>Thanks for the replies! I absolutely love Montreal and McGill sounds like a great school, but is the computer engineering/computer science comparable to Waterloo? I know Waterloo’s programs in CS/Engineering are extremely strong but the whole social life there seems somewhat questionable…</p>
<p>McGill can compete with just about any program at any Canadian University. Waterloo does have a very strong computer science department though. However, the focus of the two computer science and computer engineering departments at the universities is very different. Waterloo computer science has a reputation for being very applied and focused for preparing students for a job right after graduation, they are rather well known to have some major companies like Microsoft recruiting out of their campus. McGill computer science is more academically focused, and probably a better choice if you plan on doing graduate school, whereas Waterloo might be the better choice for someone planning to end their education with a bachelor’s degree.</p>
<p>Alright, last question, I promise. There isn’t a Waterloo sub-forum, so I can’t really ask there, but the McGill sub-forum evidently has more knowledge on Canadian schools than anywhere else.</p>
<p>Just about every time I read about Waterloo, the gist of the article/review is something along the lines of “Very strong compsci/eng program but awful social life”. Now, I’m all about ‘nerding out’ academically, but I like to blow off some steam outside of class. It makes sense that Waterloo won’t be as good as McGill in a social aspect, due to Co-op and location, but I wouldn’t expect that to completely buzzkill all social interaction like everything I’ve read seems to claim.</p>
<p>…and that brings me to my question: Is Waterloo’s social life really as bad as I hear? (are there parties, etc?)</p>
<p>I know Montreal’s nightlife is one of the things that Waterloo would be hard-pressed to match but Waterloo seems to be more clique-centric.</p>
<p>Somehow, Montreal’s nightlife landed McGill a spot on Playboy when much of the nightlife happens off-campus, since scoring high on academics is not sufficient to ensure a #10 position when it actually did hold a spot on Playboy. (Playboy seems to weigh more heavily sports and on-campus nightlife nowadays, hence McGill now shut out of it)</p>