Hello. Thanks for the suggestions!! I was not getting the notifications for some reason, so it took me a while to see this thread. McGill offers TAships, but they are not guaranteed. They are probably high in demand, and POI says that most students get them at some point (but not all of them). TAship brings an extra 3K per term, but of course that is only for the terms you get TAships. I will not be paying any tuition for Year 4, but I will not be getting any stipend either. Also, if I extend my stay to Year 5 or 6 at McGill, I will need to pay extra 5K from my pocket for each year I will be staying (Ouch!), which seems very likely because that is how long most PhDs take.
UMich is a great college town. But knowing that my whole life will revolve around campus for the next 6 (or 7 years) is too big of a commitment, I think. While applying, I had a positive opinion about Detroit, but I have been hearing very strange things, which make me unsure of committing there. Since I have never been to the state of Michigan before, I am not sure how lively the music or social scene is going to be there. (I am gay also, I have not heard great things about Michigan about gay life in general).
Stony Brook is actually pretty good research interests-wise (I got full funding also - 22.5K). However, I feel like it would be stupid to choose SB over UMich given UMich’s global reputation, but I also think it should come down to my research and not necessarily the name of the uni in the end.