Hi,
This is for a student who is a Canadian/American dual citizen (had all primary/secondary education in USA) - interested in pursuing an undergrad program in life sciences and try for medical college afterwards.
Student is applying to McGill in Canada and in US: Northeastern Univ, UMass, and Univ of Vermont. Getting into any of these universities is not guaranteed - though student has strong stats (4.9/5 W GPA; 1540 SAT; 12 AP’s; 6/500 rank at a competitive New England public high school; a few regional awards, science research, shadowing etc). In terms of finances/location, McGill works best for us (cheapest, not too far from home) but have a few questions:
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GPA difficulty: For professional/higher-ed GPA is important - how is McGill in terms of getting good GPA - especially if its compared to US public universities like UMass and UVM. I know its subjective, but want to know if there are any obvious disadvantages of doing undergrad in Canada (especially McGill) if student is determined to comeback to us for Masters or professional studies.
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Research/Internship opportunities: another aspect important for med/masters programs in US is research internship experiences during undergrad. How are life sciences / health related research and/or internship opportunities for McGill students.
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Reputation: Also student can try for research/job opportunities around Boston during summers - how is McGills reputation among biotech companies around Boston. Most people we talked to, mentioned that most internship roles are generally filled by local universities. Does McGill has strong career service department that help students in getting internships?
Thanks for any feedback/advice/perspective.
My son is an American who graduated from McGill some time ago. He was a business major. McGill academics are demanding. There is certainly no grade inflation. That is true of all the top Canadian universities. When my son was at McGill, he had a friend who was premed. He was also an American. He ended up being accepted to three of the four US medical schools he applied to. He was rejected by Harvard Med, of well. Premed education in Canada is fully accepted by US medical schools.
In terms of research opportunities, at McGill the onus is on the student. Assistance is available but the student would have to hustle. There would also be research opportunities at McGill which are open to international students. Of the other schools you list Northeastern would be the gold standard for internships and coops.
Was your student born in the US? If so, he may qualify for the low Quebec tuition rate. As a potential medical student, it is best to minimize student debt as an undergrad.
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@TomSrOfBoston - Thanks for the info, when I made this post, I was hoping that you would respond.
Yes, student is born in US (never lived in Canada for more than couple weeks at a time - all his previous visits to Canada were to Quebec). Based on my reading, he may qualify for Quebec residency, if he establishes residence even after the admission. This made it very attractive for us.
Yes, Northeast has great coop program and is in middle of biotech hub - so its a top target but it has become very competitive in recent years and not sure if he will get in (his school used to get 20-30 admits every year until 2021; with top kids used to get good merit; then in 22 only 3 got in - without any merit). Without merit its too expensive for us (student has a medical school or masters in future).
Yes. Based on what others have posted here you would pay the Canadian tuition in September of first semester. After the three-month residency you would gather certain paperwork to prove residency and submit it to McGill. You would then be credited back the difference between the Canadian and Quebec rates. Subsequent semesters would be billed at the Quebec rate.
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Hi!
I have a U4 Bioengineering student at McGill! She is US/Canadian and grew up in NC.
As said by @TomSrOfBoston, students have to be more involved and look for opportunities as compared with other universities. But, these opportunities are there.
Covid messed up a lot of things but, she was awarded the SURE program summer 2021 and has been working in this lab ever since. She is exposed to all levels of research including presenting at conference, writing up proposal for IRB, etc…It has been a great experience for her. Since it has to do with TMJ, she works closely with school of dentistry and kinesiology! All of her engineering friends are currently working in a lab.
She was telling me that Moderna is opening a big facility in Montreal and was getting excited for industry opportunities.
Of course, this is in engineering. I did meet a friend of her from the NorthEast who did undergrad at McGill and is now in her last year of med school. This friend did work in a lab at McGill. No more details though.
And yes, your child should qualify for Quebec level tuition.
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Just thought of this. Does your student have a Certificate of Canadian Citizenship? If not you need to get one. Some people are eligible for Canadian citizenship but never claimed it.
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This can take a while. My vague recollection is that it took us something like 8 or 9 months (for my daughters, who were born in the US with dual citizenship).
Once we had the certificate in hand, the passports took more like 2 or 3 weeks.
One thing that I have wondered about for a while is to what extent the reputation for grade deflation at McGill is caused by actual grade deflation, and to what extent it is caused by the fact that it is easier to get accepted to McGill compared to equally academically challenging universities in the US. I have never figured this out.
We do have at least one “proof by example” that it is possible to maintain a very high GPA at a different university in Canada (but one of the small primarily undergraduate universities).
It is possible to get a bachelor’s and an MD at McGill, and to then practice medicine in the US. I am pretty sure that it would be necessary to do a residency in the US in order to do this.
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Yes, it is possible to practice and do a residency in US. I am a pharmacist in an academic teaching center in NC and we get quite a few residents from McGill (wither US or Canadian nationals).
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Yes has the certificate of citizenship - took around 7-9 months to get it but its done (no passport yet).
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@FrenchCDN - thanks - great info.
Incidentally student is considering Bioengineering as a possible major (other possible option: Biology major with Biotechnology minor). Will send a PM about a specific bioengineering question.
There is recent grade inflation at McGill especially since the 2 years of online exams due to COVID. Dean’s Honours List goes to top 10% in the faculty and in 2021 the cut-off was 3.95 (don’t know how that compares to UVM). See graphic here of evolving cut-offs for Honourifics.
https://www.reddit.com/r/mcgill/comments/qx408m/grade_inflation_within_mcgills_faculty_of_science/
Most McGill undergrads go to Med Schools in Canada because they are much more affordable than in the US, and are excellent. You can get residencies in the US with a McGill MD and many do. McGill has a top med school (its Medical and Life Sciences program were ranked 28th in the world this year by the QS rankings).
Definitely there is a lot of research opportunity available for students. Easiest way is probably to go to office hours for a course the student loves, talk ideas with the prof , read the work being done in the lab and then email the prof with resume, transcript and enthusiasm. Can take some persistence but all the top students (too 20%) in science departments do research in a lab.
I don’t know that the career office has a lot of connections to offices in Boston. I personally doubt it but maybe. There are so many life science opportunities in Montreal (pharmaceutical and neuroscience hub, cancer center, many hospital-based research labs). Every department fully funds a certain number of summer research positions in academic labs. Internships require more effort than they do at US private schools but I don’t know how it compares to US public schools. Because it is a public university success does require more initiative and persistence and you graduate tougher.
That said it is a great place to study life sciences and to do Medicine.
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