Looking to Transfer to Canadian Institution

Colleges and Universities A-Z McGill University
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<p>Hey all. I am looking to transfer to a Canadian school, but I have a lot of questions and I would really appreciate some insight/input.</p>

<p>Here is some background:
I just finished my freshman year at the University of Rochester, and maintained a 3.2 GPA. I am majoring in ecology and evolutionary biology, hoping to go on to do something environmental. I may change my major to biology and anthropology. In high school, I was a very good student. I took International Baccalaureate classes, was extremely involved, and graduated in the top 10% of my glass with a 3.9. I got a 28 on the ACT. This semester, I hope to get between a 3.7 and 4.0 and pass my final IB test so I can receive my IB diploma. Unfortunately, UR is giving me very insufficient financial aid and the people there are pretty weak. I have been thinking about transferring for awhile now. </p>

<p>Right now, my top choice in McGill, but I am also interested in Mcmaster, Queen's, Waterloo, and U Toronto. </p>

<p>Here are my concerns:</p>

<p>How is the education at the universities? I am hesitant that their large size will make the education less valuable, even though they are very prestigious. Is this true? How are the class sizes and professor contact?</p>

<p>Do any of these schools have distinctive reputations for attracting a certain kind of person/student? Are they diverse? </p>

<p>Do any of them have strong programs in natural sciences?</p>

<p>How are the locations of these schools? Are Waterloo and Mcmasters in cool areas? Is it expensive or cheaper to live off campus particularly in Montreal or Toronto since they are large cities?</p>

<p>Is the financial aid good? I know it is for Canadians, but what about international students? Coming from a good school like UR, will my chances be high to receive some kind of merit based scholarship?</p>

<p>I know there is a lot to respond to, but any input would be greatly appreciated because I really need the "inside scoop" Thanks!</p>

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<p>At McGill, it is much cheaper to live off-campus than it is on-campus, natural sciences has a good reputation (THES rates it as 22nd in the world, take it with a grain of salt), and the corpus is fairly diverse: 60% from Qu</p>

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<p>Class size varies a lot. Of course, early, mandatory/prerequisite for many programs courses will have the largest sizes. But depending on what you pick later on, your average class size will decrease significantly as you get to higher level courses (not to mention within the semester, attendance and enrolment may shrink a lot).</p>

<p>That being said, unlike what seems to be more common in American colleges, at Canadian universities like McGill and presumably UofT, Queen’s, McMaster and Waterloo, if you want professors’ attention, you have to seek it yourself. McGill expects you to be independent and proactive. Like Heavens (figuratively), it won’t help you unless you help (or seek help) yourself. Also, in lower level, large classes, seeing TAs for help might be more productive than trying to see the prof. And here’s a piece of advice I can’t emphasize enough (that applies pretty much at any university): talk to your fellow students, especially the older ones in the same program (go visit to your departmental undergrad society) because they can help you much better than profs and advisors.</p>

<p>McGill (by percentage and raw number, AFAIK) is the most diverse university in Canada in terms of international students (i.e. students from outside Canada). In terms of skin color, it might not appear so much. In that second sense, UofT might be visibly more diverse (Toronto, in terms of born-out-of-country residents, is the most diverse city in Canada). In terms of of cultural background, again, nothing beats McGill. When I was there, I had friends originally from Russia, Bulgaria, China, Argentina, Japan, Romania, the US, Cambodia, France, Iran, Iraq, Israel, people from mixed backgrounds, etc. though most qualified as Quebec residents in terms of the enrolment statistics. Waterloo has many students of Chinese or Indian origins.</p>

<p>McGill and UofT have very strong science faculties. McMaster might be more known for its medical school (doesn’t mean it’s bad for natural science), and Waterloo for its engineering/math/computer science (I probably would not go there for other programs, but I know someone who studied history there). Queen’s I’m not sure.</p>

<p>Location: here, I may be biased, but Montreal’s the best of them (in terms of nightlife, things to do, food, culture, etc), followed by Toronto. Queen’s is in Kingston, whose main redeeming value is being halfway between the previous two locations. McMaster is in Hamilton, which is in the armpit of Ontario, but it’s closer to Toronto than Kingston is (only about 1 hour, reachable by relatively cheap mass/public transit). Waterloo ain’t so exciting either but better than Hamilton (and about 1.5 hours away from Toronto, provided the traffic isn’t too bad or you take the train). Waterloo is a student town (I guess Kingston is too, Hamilton is too large to really qualify). Montreal, on the other hand, can be considered a student *city<a href=“compares%20to%20Boston%20in%20terms%20of%20students%20per%20capita”>/i</a>.</p>

<p>Financial aid: don’t count on it at McGill (unless your grades are super stellar but 3.2 GPA doesn’t cut it, 3.5 is probably the minimum to even apply). Don’t know about Toronto, Queen’s or McMaster, but I also wouldn’t count on it. Waterloo has the most (best?) coop programs, but, again, mostly aimed at the engineers, cs and math students. You might want to look up work-study programs and undergraduate research bursaries (e.g. summer NSERC programs, where you work on a project for/with a prof) if you absolutely need financial aid.</p>