<p>Hey everyone, this is my first post in CC and I need some help please :D</p>
<p>I am undecided as to which college I want to go to (for undergraduate). My plan for undergrad is to major in Bio, major/minor in IR or PoliSci, and become fluent in French. I would like to work in the World Health Organization (WHO) some day. I don't want to sound cocky or anything but I am confident I will get into both. However, I am really not sure which one would be better for my future goals.</p>
<p>Both have great Academic programs, but I don't know which one would have more 'prestige' for getting a job in the WHO. I know a Cornell degree would be better in the US, but internationally is there a difference between the two? </p>
<p>Tuition: McGill = FREE (from benefits), Cornell = $50K per year. I can pay for that, but it is still a lot of money. Is Cornell's recognition when compared to McGill's worth $200K?
Location/Campus community: Montreal > Ithica, but Cornell is much more of a community than McGill, I have heard.
Weather: I could care less.
Grades: 2.7 is avg GPA in sciences in McGill. There is no grade deflation/inflation. I don't know if it is easier or not to do better in Cornell. When applying to Grad Schools/Jobs, do they factor this aspect in?
Campus life: I know how everything works in a US school, but not so much in a Canadian school. In McGill, i know that the first year you live in a residence hall where you can meet a lot of people, but after the first year (when you start to live somewhere else) is it still just as easy to meet new people as in an American university like Cornell? Also, I don't really drink...or like to "party" much. Would this be a problem in McGill? Lastly, I love to play soccer...literally everywhere. I'd love to play outside and stuff (and on a club too). There's a ton of snow in both colleges though...</p>
<p>Both are great schools. Both are rigorous programs with (supposedly) limited grade inflation.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t pay a $200k premium for Cornell, especially if you are somewhat interested in improving your French. Are you sure you would qualify for a full ride at McGill?</p>
<p>In any case, it is foolish not to apply to both. Just avoid ED. In the spring, when you have financial aid offers in hand, you can make an informed decision.</p>
<p>“I know a Cornell degree would be better in the US, but internationally is there a difference between the two? Is Cornell’s recognition when compared to McGill’s worth $200K?”</p>
<p>Cornell has is more prestigious in the eyes of most people around the world. A friend has done an exchange with McGill, and he said that he never appreciated higher education in the US until he saw what it was like outside of the US. A lot of people on this board has never even been outside of the US, so definitely have not attended college outside the US. They don’t realize top American schools (Ivies, Stanford, MIT, Duke, Berkeley, UCLA, etc.) along with British Oxbridge are regarded as the pinnacle of undergraduate education. However, I do believe that you can get to where you want to get to, if you are smart, by going to either Cornell or McGill, so Cornell is definitely not worth the extra $200,000 if you can go to McGill for free.</p>
<p>FWIW, we have a friend in the US who is a Mcgill graduate, her career here has not suffered for this at all, far from it, her bright kids are planning to attend there as well.</p>
<p>McGill will be free since if I go to college anywhere outside the US, the place where my dad works will pay for tuition (it is one of the benefits). </p>
<p>I understand that if I do very well at either college, I won’t have trouble finding a job. But I just want to know if people put emphasis on what undergraduate college you attended when looking at job placements or even grad school. If I had the same grades at both colleges, would it be easier to get into a top grad school (whether it be in the US or outside) with a Cornell degree than a McGill degree? If it is a lot easier, then I think it will be worth paying 4 years of tuition in Cornell. If there isn’t a difference, I will most likely choose McGill.</p>
<p>@IvyPBear: re: including UCLA on your list of exceptional American schools: UCLA set a record for enrolment last year in a single class, 1250 students. Not very exceptional to me.</p>
<p>No institution is worth a USD 200,000 difference. Period.</p>
<p>McGill is a world class university. Montreal is a fantastic city. In this case, I really can’t see any good reason for choosing Cornell.</p>
<p>But, since you are still making the list for your applications, it is a bit early to ask “Which of these two places?” Like everyone else, you need to be certain that your list includes at least one rock-solid academic and financial safety, along with any other kinds of safeties, matches, and reaches. Make your list, apply, and next April when you have your acceptances in hand, if all goes well you will have several to choose from.</p>
<p>Soldat. I can give you some first hand perspective about both schools
I went to McGill for pre-med and went to an Ivy for med school. I love my experience at McGill and Montreal. My son goes to Cornell for undergrad.
Both schools are equally respected academically. For grad school admissions, both are equal. But for job placement, network and on campus recruiting count a great deal. If you want to work in the U.S. Cornell wins. But if you want to work in Canada, McGill will also do very well. As for working for WHO, applying through Canada will probably be easier because of less competition and less volume of applicants.
Adding on your desire to learn French, McGill trumps any U.S. school. Since you can go to McGill for free, with all factors considered, McGill should be the clear winner here.
(For clear disclosure, my son got into both McGill and Cornell, we chose Cornell for him because he wants to work and live in the U.S. He is a senior this year and has already secured an offer in a top consulting firm in the current economy. That should tell you something about the job placement power of Cornell in the U.S.)
BTW, since McGill admissions is all and only about numbers, it’s considerably easier to get in.</p>
<p>If you can afford to pay the extra 200k, then Cornell over mcgill anyday. It is a better investment that will pay itself back in the future.</p>
<p>if not, then mcgill is not too bad either. If you got into the cornell then you would be very oustanding at mcgill so you will be a few standard deviations from the average.</p>
<p>I’m now pretty certain I will go to McGill over Cornell, mainly because of the opportunities to learn and master French, and partly to save $200k. While I think Cornell does have a better reputation or so called ‘prestige’, I don’t want to go to a college purely for this fact. I actually hate how there are these notions of prestige which make people judge others based on colleges attended. I surely do not want to sound like a hypocrite either. Anyway I am going to apply to both RD though nevertheless and see if I get any financial aid for Cornell (though it’s doubtful). </p>
<p>I have another question now though: In the first year at McGill, I know people live in residence halls which I believe are a bunch of dorm rooms near each other, making it easy to meet knew people and hang out with a variety of friends. After the first year though I know you have to live off campus with a couple of friends, I think. Would this stop me from meeting and hanging out with a lot of new people? I know in an American university which guarantees housing for all four years, you pretty much see and interact with other undergrads (those you know and new ones) 24/7. I like that experience. Is that possible at McGill?</p>
<p>EDIT: Also, do a lot of people know each other already before they enter their first year at McGill? Like at Cornell for example, it is rare for more than a couple of your friends to go there. But since McGill is a public university, do many first years already have/know friends who are attending?</p>
<p>EDIT2: Lastly, is it possible to play soccer outside a lot at McGill? I know it is cold…and it snows…but I love playing soccer outside :)</p>