I will be applying to McGill this year for their food science program (Agriculture and Environmental studies).
On their website, it says the cutoff for 2021 was to have B’s on all math/science classes. In 10th grade I got a B- in my honors math class. Is this an instant disqualification? I have a 32 on my act (33 superscore but I don’t think they superscore) which is far above the cutoff.
I would love some insight from anyone who knows more about McGill than me. I appreciate any answers.
I wonder about this as well. A student with a 5 on the ap calculus and physics exams - a’s in both - seems there would be accommodations would be made.
That said - everything I have read suggests (for better or worse) - McGill accepts solely based on academic achievement. You are either above the bar - or not - for a given major. This did not seem to account for ap rigor in the us either.
All of the cutoffs are posted - are you otherwise qualified?
Yes I otherwise qualify and am a bit above, especially considering the Agriculture is the easiest to get in besides the arts school. Is your child applying from the US? I’m also from NC, assuming you are from your username.
McGill is a great match for me and I hope the B- doesn’t disqualify me.
Make sure you know the food science program may be on the smaller Macdonald campus. My daughter applied for food science as well and was really excited until she realized it wasn’t centered on the main campus (at least 2 years ago that was the case).
Yeah I have seen that. Almost all food science programs in the US are in the middle of nowhere anyways, so at least the Macdonald campus is near a large city.
I have a very similar question here! My son wants to apply to Arts and easily meets all the criteria except he got a B instead of a B+ in 10th grade English. His school was online at the time, which didn’t work well for him. He got an A- in 11th grade English and is on track for an A- in 12th grade English as well. Would this be disqualifying (like, it’s not worth applying)? Thanks!
If my son’s school uses numerical grades and McGill’s cutoff is “A-” what would be considered the equivalent? In USA, wouldn’t that be 90-93? If he’s getting higher grades in band and Latin but lower grades (90) in Science and History, does that matter for admissions? In other words they just take straight GPA or do they care more about the core academic grades?
Thanks!
DS applied to engineering and science and rejected from Engineering with a reason that “Academic Stand Not Met”. Has most requirements with 3.9 UW GPA, 4.97 W GPA and 1530 SAT. Has one B+ in AP Chem (but a 5 in AP test). The min requirements says min A in all prerequisite math and sciences and A overall avg. One prereq less than A was enough in our case for rejection.
Very disappointed (still waiting on Science, but it also has a min of A- in prereq’s so not sure) - anyone tried appealing a rejection, is it worthwhile or waste of time? (basis of appeal is to consider the rigor or the course along with AP score). Based on what I read here, seems McGill does not consider the rigor and goes by letter grade and avg. Just checking if anyone attempted appealing the decision and what was the outcome. TIA
It looks like Bioengineering is the most competitive program in engineering, it does say a minimum of A in all sciences and A average. However Biology appears to have lower cutoffs with A- average listed, so your S may have a better chance for that application depending on the applicant pool.
I’m not an expert, but from everything I have read about McGill admissions, it is truly non-holistic, you either satisfy the cutoff or you don’t. You can’t make up for a slightly lower GPA with a higher SAT for example.
However, the cutoff can vary from year to year depending on the strength of the applicant pool. It seems to me that they start the process by admitting the very top of the applicant pool and rejecting the bottom of the pool, and then eventually as they’ve admitted enough applicants, they zero in on the cutoff numbers.
My non-expert guess is that even though your S has such a strong SAT score, it won’t matter for Bioengineering, if he doesn’t meet the GPA cutoffs. My guess is that that since he was rejected this early, probably the overall applicant pool for Bioengineering is very strong this year. Even if it’s possible to appeal, it seems unlikely to be successful if the applicant pool is very strong. Maybe someone else knows more?
But the jury is still out for Biology and he may still be admitted to that program.
Daughter is a U4 in Bioengineering! NC high school. It is a super hard program to get in!
She had a UW GPA of 4.0, 15 APs (mostly 5) and a SAT 1550….and she was on « reviewed decision pending » for a week or 2!!
I am very sorry to hear and I hope your daughter does not take it too hard! It sounds like she is a very bright girl and a hard worker.
Good luck to her!
Just a general FYI when it comes to McGill cutoffs: There seems to be some misunderstanding about how McGill assesses GPAs. They do actually consider rigor (or rigour, as they say up north) in addition to breadth of course selection.
From their website:
“In order to make the best-informed admission decision possible, McGill Admissions will consider all academic aspects of your application. This includes grades, breadth of course choice, challenge level of courses (rigour), rank in class (if available), and completed examinations results, such as Advanced Placement (AP). You may be asked to provide a school profile.”