Hi! I’m a high school junior in California interested in applying to McGill, but my counselors/community don’t have much knowledge about international admissions. Is it true that McGill only looks at scores, much unlike U.S. schools?
If so, I have a 1560 SAT (760RW, 800M) and SAT II Math 2 800 and Biology E 660. What are my chances of getting admitted?
Also, how does financial aid work?
For American applicants McGill looks at unweighted GPA and SAT/ACT scores. EC’s, letters of rec, essays are not considered. There are no hooks either. They publish minimum cutoffs that vary by program:
https://www.mcgill.ca/applying/requirements/usa
Since you took the biology subject test I am assuming you would apply to Science but your 660 is below the cutoff of 680. That would not be an automatic rejection but it makes McGill not a safety either. McGill has not announced that they will go test optional next year but they may.
McGill offers both need and merit aid to Americans. The merit application is holistic. It requires essays, letters of rec etc. Need based aid requires the FAFSA. But like most US universities need based aid is limited.
Thank you so much! One more thing- I would actually be applying to Arts, not Science, (I only took the Biology subject test because I had taken Biology in school and thought I’d try my luck). I see on the link that the 2019 cutoff for Arts subject tests was 650; do you think my 660 on Biology would be risky? Thank you!!
For Arts McGill would be close to a safety. McGill has rolling admissions but with a twist. Applicants with the highest stats are accepted first and then they work their way down. For American applicants the first wave of acceptances comes out around 12/1. You would likely hear in January or February.
I’d raise SAT 2 scores. IDK about your GPA but that has to look good too.
^^Right, you didn’t mention your unweighted GPA.
As @TomSrOfBoston said, your unweighted GPA will matter even more than your SAT score. They will not care at all about your grades from grade 9 (assuming that you passed everything). What was your unweighted GPA from grade 10 and grade 11?
The thing that I do not know is how they will react to your excellent overall SAT and math SAT, but so-so biology SAT. My guess is that if you are not going into sciences they will be okay with this. This is however only a guess.
Thanks! My unweighted GPA is 3.92 / 4.0.
I think that your chances are very good for admission. If you had another SAT subject test to replace the biology subject test I would be even more confident.
We do not have any experience with financial aid at McGill. I know multiple people who were admitted (including me and a daughter), and a few who went to McGill. However, most were eligible for “resident of Quebec” tuition (which also applies to “Canadians born abroad”) and thus the tuition was so low that financial aid was not needed, and was not offered.
What can you afford?
Need based financial aid is only available to Canadian citizens and permanent residents. Usually, there’s small amounts of merit aid available to internationals.
Need based aid for Canadians is not “offered”, it has to be applied for, through the provincial government.