<p>ginak, drmambo, fvirile, I can't thank you enough.. The answers were all very helpful.. I'll be visiting McGill, WashU, UVa and URoch during the next week, and will probably make my last decision accordingly. I'm definitely leaning toward McGill right now though.. My only concern is the cold, but well, I don't think it has ever killed any student, has it? :D</p>
<p>i looked up brown, dartmouth, duke, and McGill on wikipedia to compare.</p>
<p>Duke has 14 Nobel prize winners. McGill has 7. Dartmouth has 3. Brown has 0.</p>
<p>Ive never read about anyone from dartmouth or brown in an academic text. I mean, ive read in literature, but not in any science textbook or anything like that.</p>
<p>Also, I am not sure of specific numbers of rhodes scholars for all those schools, but i think McGill might have the most perhaps, with 128.</p>
<p>But that aside, I would probably argue as far as contributions go to the world:
Duke=McGill>Dartmouth>Brown.</p>
<p>Brown, as far as I know, is super famous for too things. No core curriculum, and being an Ivy league. Nobody ever knows what great programs brown has (if they are even famous for any at all really).</p>
<p>McGill, in terms of prestige, would be placed very high on a prestige ranking if you could place it on such a list (rankings suck).</p>
<p>I actually have a life and I do not spend my time "crafting" an argument on this pointless thread (don't know why I even posted in the first place). </p>
<p>The truth is that there is no doubt that you can receive a top notch education at McGill, Dartmouth, Duke, and Brown, but the way in which they provide you with that education is radically different. Brown and Dartmouth are teaching institutions which emphasize free learning. Duke and McGill are research universities that operate much more bureacratically. </p>
<p>w/e... i know I shouldn't have argued that Dartmouth, Duke, and Brown were better than McGill if my only backing is my own opinion..thank you drmambo for making me realize that. Next time, I won't even bother posting my opinion w/o crafting my argument first (and I really shouldn't just post my opinion, w/o giving a proper argument, so sorry again).</p>
<p>O and btw, I visited the McGeezy..pretty nice, actually. Correct me if I'm wrong but the info session wasn't that good. But the campus tour and class visits were great. I actually became friends with a few kids and they took me on a more extensive tour. I got to extensively use the gym facilities and view one library and some common room. Only complaint was that the campus seemed a little overcrowded. </p>
<p>Also, I know this all so illogical, but I am not even aware of the "USNW&R rankings" , but how did McGill, Duke, Dartmouth, and Brown do? Don't bother looking it up b/c, I don't really care about rankings..</p>
<p>I know we're not really good friends, drmambo, but since you brought up how hard McGill is: Is it out of the ordinary for a freshman coming from a US high school to maintain at least a 3.3 GPA without getting less than a "B" or a 3.0 in any course? In a typical class in freshman year, would a professor know your name? The two classes I visited had about 100 kids, is that the usual for U0 and U1s? </p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>FVirile and drmambo: thanks for your posts! I've been deciding between U of T and McGill for a while now. I've been leaning more towards McGill and you've both definitely reassured my current decision! I've been trying to find out more about how competitive the schools are and the difficulty of maintaining a high GPA (3.75-4.0) and also how much research opportunities they offer to undergrads interested in medicine. Although both of you have covered a lot on it, do you have any tips on how to do well and obtain such opportunities?</p>
<p>FVirile: Do you mind forwarding me the names of some nice advisers as well? Also, congratulations on all your accomplishments! They truly sound amazing :)</p>
<p>Binghamton: honestly, I can't tell you. My friends are spread throughout the different faculties, and aren't always representative of the larger body. I don't personally know the GPA's of my friends (I don't even know my twin's GPA), but if I had to ball-park my friends in the sciences, I'd guess they have around a B/
B+ average, so 3.3 or maybe above seems right. If it gives you any perspective, the average grades for my classes last year (calc I, linear algebra, gen. chem, and classical mechanics <-- physics I) were B-, C+, B, and B+ respectively. </p>
<p>The B+ average in physics was actually kind of shocking...I would've guessed it to be lower. Calculus is usually low, because the head coordinator likes to keep low average, and linear algebra is traditionally "hard" class (for people who don't like attending lectures...go figure). </p>
<p>With diligent effort you can do much better than the average here, but this is just in the sciences. </p>
<p>For the Arts, it's a whole different game; one to which I can't comment on with first-hand experience. Watching some of my arts friends go about their course work makes me happy I'm not doing anything arts related. I get the feeling that most courses here happily deny you the "gentleman's B" (i.e. an assignment that fulfills are the necessary requirement, but perhaps languishes in style, might not even get a B). </p>
<p>As for 100+ person classes in U0, and U1...it's not that uncommon, I'd say anything under 100 is pretty good/uncommon. All my major classes are held in auditoriums with the average size probably hovering around 200 kids on a given day. I have a management class that's a bit less than 60 kids, and a class in the faculty of education that's under 40 kids (but that's an upper year ethics class). I imagine as you proceed through your degree class sizes will begin to approach 60 person caps, and what not. I'm not sure though (partially because I've never really cared about person size). </p>
<p>A professor here, might never know your name, regardless of your year (unless you goto the office hours, and make an effort to get to know them). This isn't a small school, and professors aren't going to make the effort to know you unless you make the effort to let them. </p>
<p>To sophia.l: I have at least 2 friends with GPA's between 3.75 and 4.0. If we broaden the interval to say [3.6,4.0], then that number increases to around 4 or 5 (I'm not exactly sure, though).</p>
<p>Thanks! I guess, how hard does it seem like to maintain it from your experience? I also heard sciences is easier to get a higher GPA. Do you think this is this true?</p>
<p>As for calculus, I already got a 5 on the AP BC Calculus exam. Since the professors like to keep the grades low, would you recommend that I use my AP credit? I've been looking at requirements and I might have to take calc 3 and linear algebra. And would you suggest taking it over the summer at an easier school (maybe not even as credit) as a refresher for the other courses, or would relearning it myself be sufficient?</p>
<p>Are you guys all in electrical engineering or something? I do no work. Or almost none. As in, I do nothing for the first 3/4 of the semester. I work really, really hard during exams. Before that, I rarely even go to class.</p>
<p>Classes are so impersonal, I teach myself everything anyways. So I set my own schedule, and I'm smart. I'm not alone. A lot of kids I know screw around most of the semester.</p>
<p>I'm pretty sure I would work a LOT harder at Dartmouth or wherever...</p>
<p>I'm in chemical engineering...Aren't you in management?</p>
<p>Sophia: retake calculus. It can't hurt you (because if you already know it, an A should be a breeze), and it'll get you acquainted with how McGill math classes work. I know a girl who got a 5 on one of the AP calc exams (I don't remember which one), but still failed calc I here...You can't really trust AP tests to gauge how you'd do in university. </p>
<p>Don't get me wrong, a majority of my friends got A's on the calc exam, it's do-able, and not even that hard if you just goto class and study for it. A decent amount of students here a more like wutang, in that they think they can not goto class (except they don't really teach themselves), and then take a prep course near the end of the semester and hope to "maybe pass". </p>
<p>I would highly suggest you don't do that. Even if it's an 8:30 lecture, just being gives you an edge over your absent peers.</p>
<p>Thanks for the advice! and I'm definitely planning on attending class...I need all the "advantages" I can get. :P</p>
<p>Sophia- To do well in McGill science all you have to be is dilligent, which is probably the most bs-est thing you have heard but its true! Getting good grades in science is not very difficult but then again you have to experience it for yourself. I ave friends in chemistry who get drunk almost three days out of five but are brilliant enought to pull of straight As regardless and I also have friends who are more than happy with their Bs after hours of work. So you'll have to see how you find things here. If you don't find things hard, great! You can do a lot of stuff outside of class on and off campus.Or otherwise you can always take advantage of the weekends.</p>
<p>Paul Olioff is one of the better advisors for Science students. If you end up going to McGill email him and ask him to be your adviser. You can message me for his email address.</p>
<p>uh, I started out honours econ/math....I had zero math back round in high school. I still did well in Calc and Linear 133 first year....without going to a single class. I paid for a tutorial crash course, though....</p>
<p>I'm not pursuing math anymore cuz I'm too lazy. If your looking for a hard course, try 500 level game theory.</p>
<p>...I don't doubt a 500 game theory class would be hard. Game theory onto itself is a graduate study topic, isn't it? I was also under the impression most hard-core branches of economics require a solid level of mathematical understanding (calc 3 is a necessity).</p>
<p>And the econometrics prof assumes you have taken enough courses to have a master's in applied math and in statistics...</p>
<p>yeah, it is a graduate course. But that's the only course I've taken that required weekly study in order to pass. Every other math and econ course you can just cram for a few days and get a B....and I mean literally do nothing else, not go to a single class the entire semester. I'm not a genius, either. A lot of kids do just that. I didn't go to a single one of my math or general econ classes this year...the profs were all boring and the classes were too big to pay any attention. I felt like it was stupid.</p>
<p>Maybe engineering is a lot harder, i dunno. I do find it hard to get A's, BTW. I find it ridiculously easy to get B's though. I feel like the grade distributions are really screwed up and non-meritocratic.</p>
<p>I did blow and drank all day every day for a semester, didn't go to any classes---how did I not fail out? Very few good U.S. schools would allow that to happen.</p>
<p>...That's just not true. Look at our commander-and-chief...Ever heard of the "gentleman's c"?</p>
<p>getting 3.7 GPA isnt hard at all. but for engineers getting 3.7 is utterly impossible</p>
<p>Not true. A close engineer friend of mine has a 3.9 and lots of life. She will be flying to the West Indies, for a short break,between her finals. Lots of ppl at McGill manage to balance academics and their social lives exceedingly well.</p>
<p>However, most engineering kids complain about the low grades in the faculty.</p>
<p>ok--"impossible" was the wrong word--more like "very highly unlikely" Your friend is atypical and if she decides on grad school will have her pick of any university.</p>
<p>I am from the US and Mcgill was the only Canadian school I applied to. McGill has huge name recognition here. Most people here, however, have never heard of U of T or Queens. Even with this superior name recognition among Canadian schools it just isn’t comparable to the top tier US schools like the Ivies (I was accepted to both Cornell and Mcgill and I am attending Cornell)</p>