<p>I am a U.S. high school student looking to apply to McGill's Life Science this fall. </p>
<p>On its site, McGill states a minimum of "A- in each prerequisite math and science".
Say that I do not meet this requirement for my honors chemistry class, but I do meet it with my AP Chemistry class - how will this be interpreted? I emailed McGill but they don't exactly answer my question. Thanks~</p>
<p>How much below the A- threshold are you? If you are say at a B+ for calc and everything else is A- or better adn your total gpa and SAT/ACT scores are above the admission standards you should still have a decent chance.</p>
<p>Could you please post your mark breakdowns and test scores, as it would give me a better understanding of your situation.</p>
<p>Hey NamelesStatistic!I am a U.S. high school student as well and I want to apply to the Arts faculty! McGill’s site says that a 650 is needed in each SAT section, but I doubt I will be able to get a 650 on the math section…
! If my math score is between 570-630 and my critical reading and writing are 700s or above, do I still have a chance?Should I still apply? I want to study History!</p>
<p>@ ihategrowingup88</p>
<p>Honestly, I am not sure about the margins for the test scores, this is probably something you should ask your guidance councilor and/or the admissions office at McGill. I now from experience that the admissions office at McGill is quite friendly and helpful.</p>
<p>My guess is that the margins on these scores all depend on the competitiveness of the body of applications for that department, so the actual standards could vary year by year. I think the minimum standards that are posted are less of a hard cut-off and more of a general criteria for you to aim for so you can have a reasonable chance of being accepted among the field of applicants.</p>
<p>Okay! Thank you! (:</p>
<p>Sybrinth - Keep in mind that an A- in Canada is completely different from an A- by US standards. Don’t quote me on this, but I believe that an A- in Canada is around an 84-86 average.</p>
<p>James223 is correct. A low A- at Canadian highschools can range between an 85 to even an 80% at many schools. However before you get excited by this the compared to American schools, Canadian high schools have massive grade deflation. only about 20% of a given class will generally get an 80 or greater in most courses. This means that a Canadian 80% does not equal an American 80%, and the admission departments know this, that is why they look at gpa. This standard is carried at most Canadian universities where the class average at most courses at universities such as the University of Toronto is a C+ or between a 67-69%.</p>
<p>It is simply a different way of marking.</p>
<p>Thanks everyone 
With grade deflation in Canadian high schools, doesn’t this mean that McGill will look for higher grade averages from American high school students?</p>
<p>NamelesStatistic - I don’t feel comfortable posting all my mark breakdowns on here, but hopefully these will suffice:</p>
<p>GPA: 3.72 W, around 3.4 UW</p>
<p>SAT: Math II (680), Bio (700)</p>
<p>Reasoning test:
1st time - 560 R, 670 M, 600 W
2nd time - 580 R, 720 M, 690 W
Retaking 3rd time this October.</p>
<p>Here is McGill’s admission standards for American applicants: </p>
<p>[Admissions</a> Standards - U.S. High School | Applying to Undergraduate Studies - McGill University](<a href=“http://www.mcgill.ca/applying/standards/unitedstates]Admissions”>http://www.mcgill.ca/applying/standards/unitedstates)</p>
<p>They like seeing a lot of AP credits but McGill only looks at unweighted GPA.</p>
<p>Unfortunately your gpa is a fair bit below the 3.7 benchmark for life sciences. That combined with you low CR score (minimum listed is 670) is a bit of an application killer. With your stats as they are McGill is definitely a high reach for you. Retaking your SATs is a great first step to improving your application, and scoring 2100+ and 700+ for each subscore might be enough to overcome your gpa, but it is far from certain. Life sciences is one of the more competitve fields for admission at McGill. You might have a better luck applying to the faculty of Arts or to physical sciences or environmental science.</p>
<p>Yeah, the GPA is what I’m worried about…even if I can up my SAT scores, I’ve heard that McGill automatically rejects applicants that don’t meet all criteria. But I will go for it and see what happens- thanks for your help!</p>
<p>I’m from asia and I bombed my SAT writing,TOEFL speaking and 3 or 4 out of 13 HS subjects. In return I have good math + cr test scores and good science GPAs.</p>
<p>I think you should work on Math + CR scores, and get above 750 on SAT IIs. You aim for Life science, then show them you handle sciences well and hope that they would ignore other social subjects.</p>
<p>Oh, I forgot to mention, McGill does NOT look at Freshman highschool grades when calculating gpa, so if your grades are bad because of poor results in first year, you should know that McGill will not hold it against you. You should recalculate your gpa based only on your non-freshman year grades.</p>
<p>IIRC, the high schools where A-s are 80% are mainly in Alberta and Quebec…</p>
<p>Perhaps you should consider UBC, too, provided that you have any EC of substance. You just can’t bank on the waitlist anywhere.</p>
<p>Okay, so I’m a Canadian, Ontario citizen if it matters, but I’ve done my middle and high school in the US. Like people said above, things can be quite different in the grading realm.</p>
<p>I know that entrance into McGill is B+ / A- “average”… How about getting into Management school?</p>
<p>Does McGill look for improvement like many US schools? My grades need improving, but do you think that with hard work I can make McGill?
Modified (frosh not included) W: 3.75
Modified (frosh not included) UW: 3.25
ACT projection: 30</p>