I'm torn between the two

<p>Hey guys I'm in a current situation where I just have no idea what to do. I'm torn between which University to go to despite the fact that there's only little over a month left until move in day. I want to do Mechanical Engineering at University and I've been accepted at Queen's for that, but for McGill I was refused after being put on a waitinglist due to limited spaces, instead I was given my second choice, Civil Engineering.</p>

<p>I checked the course choices and found that first year Engineering at McGill is the same, consisting of Maths Phys and Chem. I've wanted to attend McGill for a very long time but I want to go there for Mechanical Engineering, not Civil. I found that if I can maintain a 3 GPA minimum, a transfer can work, it's not guaranteed however.</p>

<p>I'm generally a hard working student. I've managed to obtain A's and some B's during my studies in Secondary School. I've spoken to a few friends at McGill and some have told me that a 3 GPA might be very difficult to achieve given the fact that I have some limited knowledge with Chem, cause it's a required first year course. At Queen's I feel very safe in the fact that I have my program choice and I know that Queen's has a good engineering program as a whole.</p>

<p>This might sound a bit stupid, but I as a student would prefer to go to a more prestigious University i.e. McGill, over Queen's and I've found that both Montreal and Kingston appeal to me equally, what I can't come to decide is whether I should take the risk and go to Montreal and try to get the 3 GPA or if I should play it safe and go for Queen's where I am guaranteed Mechanical Engineering.</p>

<p>I've spoken to my parents about this and they've recommended I go to Queen's for 1 year and if I am fine with it, I either stay, or if I don't like it, I apply as a transfer student to McGill. My question is however, how flexible is this process? Will it be easy for me to transfer credits between the two insitutions and not start from scratch? Will it be easy to get to McGill provided I have a good GPA at Queen's?</p>

<p>I just have so many concerns with each choice that everytime I think I'm making the right one, I begin to have doubts again. I would really appreciate if anyone can give me any sort of advice on both choices and which one they can recommend. Of course I'm not going to rely on your recommendations 100% to make up my decision, but some advice would definitely help.</p>

<p>Thanks.</p>

<p>Well… I was in the same position you were. I had the option of studying Materials Engineering at McGill (when I wanted to study Mechanical), or studying Mechanical Engineering at several different American Universities. I decided on the more prestigious school (McGill), and I am hoping to transfer to Mechanical Engineering later, double major, or transfer to a different school if I absolutely cannot study Mechanical Engineering at McGill. It seems to be a wise choice (in my opinion), except for the fact that McGill is the most expensive school I got accepted to (since I am American). So, if that also appeals to you, I would suggest going to McGill and trying to transfer programs maybe after your first year (although I’ve been advised a few time before to not think that way); if you are not able to switch to Mechanical Engineering, just transfer to Queens. Unless you are really concerned about not being able to maintain a decent GPA, in which it would probably be difficult to transfer to a different major, and probably difficult to transfer to another school. But, It is all up to you… And your parents I guess.</p>

<p>Good luck with your decision</p>

<p>I’d go with the more prestigious school (mcgill) and trust your ability to work hard to get you that faculty transfer</p>

<p>I have tried to switch into life sciences from engineering at mcgill and they told I needed at least a cgpa of 3.5/4. Consider that engineering is equally on demand then life sciences, therefore you would have to achieve this cgpa to be admitted into mechanical engineering at mcgill. Hope this helps.</p>

<p>I’d go with Queen’s. It’s still a pretty good school, and it might be very difficult to transfer in McGill…</p>

<p>You probably already made your decision though xD.</p>

<p>I was told that you only need a 3.0 to transfer into life sciences. I’m not sure about engineering, but I would guess that it would be similar.</p>

<p>this might be a little late, but civil engineering will still give you a lot of $mula$, and it has a great job security for the near future. Mcgill will give you an awesome experience in this field, and I definitely would go to mcgill for this. If you absolutely and certainly want to become a mechanical engineer for some reason… go to queens and focus there b/c getting a gpa of or above 3.5 will be pretty hard. Queens is tough as well, so getting a decent gpa is not easy there. If Mcgill’s environment and feel suits you, you should risk it and go there if you prefer one aspect over another (environment over gpa/major).</p>