<p>Hi,
I'm an international student in both countries :P.
ok I got into IWU (Illinois Wesleyan University) and I'm confident enough that I'll get into McGill too. Now ordinarily I would easily choose McGill but I got full-tuition scholarship at IWU while on the other hand, my parents would be really stretched to send me to McGill (though it is possible). I've already decided that I'll major in computer science.
Also I do not prefer one over the other as far as living/social is concerned.</p>
<p>Here are some points in IWU's favor:
-Soccer!
-Small class sizes
-Easily affordable for parents. (leaves budget for my post-grad :P)</p>
<p>Here are some points in McGill's favor:
-Academically better.
-Ranked 20th in the World according to US news.
-A couple of friends of mine might be going there.</p>
<p>Now what I want to know is, Is McGill so much better than IWU, as far as career prospects (after my graduation) and getting into top colleges (for post-grad) is concerned, especially in the field of Computer Science and getting internships/jobs at Software development companies, that I would reject a full-tuition from IWU in the US for it?</p>
<p>At first I was going to say McGill, but IWU’s full-tuition scholarship and small classes persuaded me otherwise. Especially since you’d be fine living either place and you want to go to grad school.</p>
<p>hmm, thanks for your input!
Any idea as far as Computer Science is concerned? Because even though I’m positive IWU is a great liberal arts college, I’m not sure about their CS department. (And I know my major is going to be Computer Science, I’ve planned on that since 9th grade :D)</p>
<p>Graduate school in Computer Science is going to require solid preparation. It will assume that your undergraduate program was rigorous and theoretical. Does IWU’s Computer Science program have these attributes? (I don’t claim to know one way or the other. You’ll have to research this yourself, or possibly another member has information.) If it doesn’t, it’s better to look elsewhere if graduate school really is your goal. Having enough money for graduate school doesn’t really help you if you’re inadequately prepared.</p>
<p>It’s not safe to assume that because a liberal arts college’s liberal arts programs are solid, that its technical programs are also solid.</p>
<p>Also, earning a full-ride scholarship is definitely an accomplishment. However, keep in mind that when a student earns a substantial scholarship at a university, it generally means that student is at the top of that university’s applicant pool.</p>
<p>There is also the thing that I’ve heard from an old graduate from McGill, that you just have to pay the first two years of tuition, you get into the field in 3rd year for experience and you can cover up your forth year with scholarships if you maintain a high enough g.p.a.
If the above is true, total McGill expenses = 44k
And living costs at IWU are like 10k/year which for 4 yrs = 40k
And this leaves me confused once again. Any idea whether the above statements are true?</p>
<p>It should be straightforward to confirm or deny that scholarships become available in the final year at McGill given a high enough GPA. FWIW, I’ve never heard of this.</p>
<p>It sounds like your contact was in a co-op program. Does such a program currently exist? Are you interested in the co-op program if it exists? If not, it’s a moot point.</p>
<p>ok ****! I never noticed it before but I’ve applied to ‘Computer Engineering from Faculty of engineering’ instead of ‘Computer Science from Faculty to Science’.
I guess it’s bye bye McGill then, unless I can change departments or something. I’ll email them though but if anybody knows something, please share.
Thanks for your input take3, and no he wasn’t a Canadian, I guess he took a co-op program then.</p>
<p>Nam-D1 goes to IWU and I can tell you it is an excellent school. Business, Biology, Nursing, and Music are big majors. It does not have a large International population and I am not familar with the CS program. To me, it would be hard to turn down $28K. I also don’t think you would be inadequately prepared for Grad school with an IWU degree. Check the stats and admission rates to Grad school.</p>