<p>I understand it is a very subjective question. Yet, I found some difficulty in comparing McGill with other "well-known" U.S. colleges.</p>
<p>I am an international student, living in the U.S. for five years. I got into Bryn Mawr, Brandeis, Syracuse, University of Toronto and McGill. Is McGill the most highly regarded among this list? (I am going for humanities by the way.)
Also, I am still waiting to hear from Swarthmore. If I get in to this school, would McGill still be "my top choice" in terms of its reputation?</p>
<p>Lastly, where does McGill stand in the "U.S. college rank" in general? In other words, how well is it regarded by Americans?</p>
<p>I was told by a guidance counselor that academically McGill is on a similar level to the University of Michigan, which would put it somewhere in the mid-20s in the US News & World Report list. He also made the point that if he were given the choice between whether to attend McGill or Michigan he would attend McGill because it is in Montreal as opposed to Ann Arbor. And really, this is coming from a person who knows a lot about colleges and had no reason not to tell me the truth as he saw it.</p>
<p>On the London Times list, which attempts to put all the Universities in the world on one big list, McGill was ranked as the 24th best university.</p>
<p>So as you can see McGill has a very good academic reputation.</p>
<p>It's a really good to hear comments about McGill!!! </p>
<p>I have some more questions about McGill:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Even though it's in Canada - not in the U.S. - the location would not "hurt" my reseme when it comes down to job interview (in the U.S.) ... right?</p></li>
<li><p>Many Canadians rank University of Toronto higher than McGill. How would you personally think about this as an American?</p></li>
<li><p>Between English department of McGill and that of University of Toronto, which one is more competitive/well known?</p></li>
</ol>
<ol>
<li>I don't think it would. It certainly doesn't hurt when applying for grad school pretty much anywhere.</li>
<li>U of Toronto is a much bigger university in a much bigger city, so in that sense it gets a visibility bias within Canada. In reality, though it is better in certain ways (and worse in others) than McGill, an overall ranking has little meaning. As far as quality of the alumni goes, I don't think there's that much of a difference, especially from an American point of view. UofT is probably a better place to go if you want to subsequently get a job in Toronto though (local connections...).</li>
<li>My guess would be McGill in both categories, but I'm no expert.</li>
<li>I do believe McGill is more prestigious than Bryn Mawr worldwide. In the US, I can't say...</li>
</ol>
<p>wat is Bryn Mawr ...i hav nvr herard of it...i highly doubt it can be compared to mcgill as i hav been doin reserch for universities....its seems quite unknown... i hav however heard of syracruse...a guy in my school got in to the arts program....he would not hav stood a chance in mcgill however...his grades were significantly lower than their cutoffs...he got in wil a 26 IB score and 1400/2400 (new sats tht is!!) on his sats...while people with 32 hav got rejected from mcgill....he was rich though..wat are ur stats...mcgill is easly the best on ur list....</p>
<p>Bryn Mawr is one of the "seven sisters"--top-flight women -only LACS. It is an excellent college just outside Philadelphia. But a comparison to McGill is meaningless--Bryn Mawr has 1300 students, is almost all undergraduate, and not intended to be comparable to McGill. It costs over $43,00 US per year. It is a great college, but students that go to BM have different educational strategies than those who go to McGill.</p>
<p>wow...I am delighted how many people care about my questions. Well... Bryn Mawr is one of best seven women's colleges in the U.S. I'm sorry if I did not make it clear. </p>
<p>First, I feel sort of bad for not being able to get into McGill's Arts and Science program after taking 6 AP programs, receiving all As or A+s (My GPA was 4.0 weighted and my rank was 10 out of 420). I guess my bit low SAT scores took away the chance. So... I got into Faculty of Arts. Would this hurt my reseme at all? Though I am planning to major in English, I know Faculty of Arts + Science is more prestigious.</p>
<p>Second, I heard that McGill lacks visual art department, is it correct?</p>
<p>Third, what's stats for students that are accepted to Faculty of Arts? I heard that it's significantly low compared to other faculties... Please tell me the truth! Many want to know...</p>
<p>one question: what's Bryn Mawr students' "strategies" for the success? Perhaps individual attention and "higher" education? I chat with them today but they did not make this clear.</p>
<p>there is no faculty of fine arts at mcgill (only a school of music) but fine arts classes are offered hidden within the faculty of education and school of architecture- you can also take classes at Concordia which offer fine arts classes (quite reputable in Canada in the visual arts too)</p>
<p>why would getting into the faculty of arts get you discriminated against. The faculty of arts is just as respected as any faculty in mcgill and when potential employers look at your degree they don't evaluate it on the faculty's reputation in the school but more rather the school's reputation.</p>
<p>hey man...the faculty of arts is as good as any of the other other top art faculties in canada...but the arts faculty in mcgill is easier to get into than any of the other faculties....this is a fact....check mcleans...or just of experince...most people chose faculty of managment/engenerring/science and arts as second choice...however take into account as an arts faculty it is amazing</p>
<p>Hope2GI: I think i am uniquely qualified to discuss this issue: my oldest D. graduated from Mount Holyoke, one of the "seven sisters", and my youngest is a first-year ar McGill.
So I am very familiar with both types of educational environments.</p>
<p>First, the entrance into the Faculty of Arts is no easy feat at McGill, esp. for US residents (Arts=Liberal Arts,Humanities, not Fine Arts). Grad schools or employers really wont care which program you were in, or which is more prestigious. You should choose schools on which has the course of study that appeals to you the most. The Fac of Arts is much larger than other Faculties, so entrance a little easier, but thats like saying Brown is easier than Harvard. In 2005, it took a minimum SAT of 1370 to get into Arts from the U.S. McGill has gotten much harder to be accepted as a US student the last several years. I have posted data from McGills web site on another thread.</p>
<p>Small LAC's, esp. the seven sisters give MUCH more individual attention than large Universities. My daughter at Mt. Holyoke got a great education in a small, supporting environment. She knew professors by first-name, ate at their homes, and had small classes, usually under 20 students. Opportunities from living in a large metro area were lacking, but this led to a very close,supportive community of women. Dorms were like palaces and meal plans were like restaurants ( nice ones.) The cost was over $43,000 per year, but sometimes you get what you pay for.</p>
<p>McGill is a much more exciting place. Classes are very large for first and second-years, and independent study is a must. No one will take care of you, like in a LAC. There are many more choices on classes, but also more competing students. It is much harder to make an A at McGill than a LAC. Canadian colleges use the European model- you are on your own and must be your own advocate. Students live off campus after first-year. Much more drinking, partying, etc. My D. wanted to live in Montreal with its music and art scene.The cost is under 50% of a LAC.</p>
<p>Both daughters are very happy with their choice- they needed/wanted different things from a college. They were able to realize what they were looking for and to "go for it".
Neither is better intrinsically- it is what YOU want in a college experience. No one else can tell you that.</p>
<p>mcgilldad, i agree with a lot of what you had to say but must disagree with a couple of things you said.</p>
<p>First of all I am an American student and had a 1320 on my SAT I (2020 with the Writing). So obviously a 1370 can't be the "minimum" a student needs to get into McGill. 1370 seems more like McGill's SAT average than its minimum. Four years ago, my brother got into McGill with an 1180 on his SAT I. He was well below the 25th percentile but was admitted for strong performances elsewhere.</p>
<p>Second of all I don't think it is necessarily more difficult to get in for American students. On this I really am just speculating but I have heard that McGill is easiest to get into for Quebec students, but not necessarily as easy for the other Canadian provinces. I think McGill likes to accept international students.</p>
<p>It's easier for Quebec students to get into McGill because the university seperates applicants into 3 pools: Quebec residents, Rest of Canada and Internationals. Quebec residents get 2/3 of the acceptances, other Canadians 2/3 of what's left, and Internationals the rest. Then it's just a matter of number of applications from a particular pool to the number of places for that pool (well, aside from required grades of course, if you're a Quebec student with scores below the prerequisite, you still won't get in).</p>
<p>McGill is known to like international students over Canadian (non-Quebec) ones, since you pay far more than us in tuition. It's pretty much accepted information that it's easiest for Quebec students to get in, then Internationals, than non-Ontario Canadians, then Ontario residents, and this is evidenced in the release of admission decisions-decisions are made in that order, which ensures that Quebec students are extended offers first, then Int'ls get many of the spots that are left, then non-Ontarians, and then the remaining offers are extended to Ontario residents. The provinces have a slight rivalry, lol....</p>
<p>Also, to the person asking about the merits of McGill and U of T, those two schools, along with UBC and Queen's, are generally regarded as the top 4 schools in Canada-probably like your Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford or something along those lines if you want to look at it that way. And no self-respecting person actually calls McGill the "Harvard of the North", lol, though as I said earlier, I suppose that reputationally it's somewhat similar.</p>