Northwestern vs. McGill

Colleges and Universities A-Z McGill University
1

<p>Hi,</p>

<p>I was wondering if someone can help me make a decision between these two.</p>

<p>I'm a pre-med, although I'd like to major in a non-science. Quick stats: 3.98 UW GPA, 34 ACT, smart I guess but not brilliant by any means. Planning to work my a** off in college.</p>

<p>McGill:
-I love Montreal and McGill is a great school. However, I'm worried that coming here might hurt my chances at attending a U.S. Medical School, which I definitely want. Are the classes centered toward the MCAT? Is advising good? Will I risk getting into some U.S. Med Schools?</p>

<p>Northwestern:
-Great academics/experience. Chicago is amazing. Grades will probably be harder to come by (I've heard that Orgo and Chem are killers). Also there may be a competitive atmosphere.</p>

2

<p>Really tough one, sounds like you’re more inclined towards Northwestern and I’d have to say the same. </p>

<p>McGill’s advising sucks. Not sure about the getting in to med school factor…however, globally McGill would carry more weight- but if your set on going to a us med school rather than overseas I’d say Northwestern is the better pick. However, you shouldn’t base this decision off of what you’ll have to apply for in four years… You never know- medical school may be the last thing you want to do then. McGill will also be a lot of work FYI.</p>

<p>Both have great people, and are in great cities. </p>

<p>Good luck with your choice and let me known if ou have any suggestions with mine :)</p>

3

<p>thank you!</p>

4

<p>I would have to say Northwestern bc you don’t want to kick yourself 4 years down the road if you cannot get into medical school. Medical schools are very very competitive with acceptance rate of 4 to 10 % only so you should plan accordingly. Out of the 48,000 students that apply to medical schools, only 17,000 get in. Check with Mcgill to see what % of their students place in US medical school. Goo luck!!</p>

5

<p>Are you a US citizen MDreams? If you are a US citizen, then I don’t believe going to McGill undergrad, simply because it is a Canadian university, will have any effect on your odds of admission to a US med school.</p>

6

<p>Honestly, I don’t think it will hurt your chances at all if you go to McGill. McGill’s medical school is extremely reputed and well-known throughout the region. One of the founders of John Hopkins came from McGill. But you should ask medical schools in the US that you’re interested in to check whether coming from a Canadian university will in any way affect your admission into the school.</p>

7

<p>For an American coming out of McGill, getting into a US medical school would be no problem, assuming you have the GPA and MCAT to get in of course. One warning though, from your initial post you seem to think it would be easier to get a good GPA at McGill than at Northwestern. That is definitely not true.</p>

8

<p>It may be anecdotal, but I called the med school at UCSF (Berkeley’s med school) some time ago to ask a question about undergrad requirements. When I mentioned that my D was considering attending McGill for undergrad, the response was, “oh yes, McGill. We’ve had a number of students from McGill here over the years.” Not a moment’s hesitation.</p>

<p>Both schools will offer you an excellent shot at med school IF you do well. Ultimately, only you know where you will feel most comfortable and which environment suits you best.</p>

9

<p>Thanks everyone! And yes I’m an American citizen (live in Iowa), but I was born in Montreal. I have dual citizenship.</p>

10

<p>Both are great schools, and if medical school is your aim in the end, that’s really up to you to perform to get there, no matter where you go. Since you were born in Montreal however, McGill may be much cheaper (even with the coming increase in tuition fees). Unless of course, Northwestern offers you some financial aid.</p>

11

<p>Born in Montreal? Your tuition will be so cheap at McGill!
Grades being harder to come by at Northwestern… heard that other than engineering depts, Northwestern has relative grade inflation. Not very true for non-science majors at McGill. McGill arts has this weird “I don’t give out 'A’s” thing… so consider that for your grades. Arts students tend to work their asses off for, say, B+.</p>

<p>And as for med school, really, just work on your GPA and MCAT score, being at either McGill or Northwestern wouldn’t hurt your chances.</p>

12

<p>My brother actually had to make the same decision last year… he ended up picking McGill because it is as good a school (if not better) than Northwestern. He’s planning to go to an American med school, but decided that the advantage American undergrad would give him isn’t worth the difference in cost between McGill and Northwestern. I think both are well-respected schools that will prepare you for med school.</p>

13

<p>“McGill arts has this weird “I don’t give out 'A’s” thing…” – really? Is this a general practice in the Faculty of Arts? What is that attitude for? Course grade should be a fair measure of the student’s achievements. Any one can confirm that? Thank you</p>

14

<p>Some profs say from the beginning of the course that they do not give 'A’s. And even if it’s not mentioned explicitly, it’s experienced by most arts students that it is the case. This is prevalent especially in first year, because the school tries to “weed out” people who can’t stand it and drop out.</p>

15

<p>@MDreams‌ @ensmom Hello! I’m in a very similar situation now.I’m thinking of doing premed as well. I’m from the States, but i also have dual citizenship; I’m between northwestern arts and science and mcgill’s arts and sciences. I got waitlisted from mcgill’s faculty of science, although that was my first choice.</p>

<p>Both schools have their perks and negatives, but i wanted to gain insight from someone who also had to make this decision, or has been to one of these schools.</p>

<p>McGill’s price will be much, much, much cheaper than Northwestern; although money is not an issue, i just can’t figure out where all the money goes. The disparity between the prices is ridiculous. Does that reflect upon the quality of the schools? Northwestern is somewhat of a semi-ivy, but would that prestige really carry over beneficially over the sky-high tuition?</p>

<p>I visited Mcgill recently and I am visiting Northwestern next week. I really like Montreal as a city and enjoy it’s international and ethnic diversity–the perk of practicing french is also a nice plus. However, I’ve read that in McGill there is no “hand-holding” and there is very little support from student services, such as advising. On top of that, the school has been noted for having a very bureaucratic system. On various student surveys, such as princeton’s review 377 best colleges, McGill is at the top for least happiest students and least accessible professors. It seems so nice on the outside though…</p>

<p>Wahh. I’m sorry for ranting on and on lol. This is just a big decision and I’m looking for help and insight to make the best decision. Thank you in advance!</p>

16

<p>The price difference is due to the fact that McGill (like all universities in Canada) is public and Northwestern is private. McGill receives a large government grant, Northwestern does not. </p>

<p>As for happy, funny you should ask. Click on the lead video (as of today)
<a href=“http://www.mcgill.ca/”>McGill University;

<p>Unless your parents are super wealthy, you may want to save them the money of undergrad in order to pay for your medical school expenses. </p>

<p>You were accepted at Northwestern but denied at McGill science? Interesting. </p>

17

<p>There is only one way to be WLed at McGill while admitted at NWU: combine stellar ECs with a ~3.5/29 or a 3.5/2000…</p>

18

<p>For what it’s worth, I grew up in Evanston and was around the NW campus a lot, with friends whose parents were profs. After having lived away from Evanston for 30 years, I took at job at NW as a researcher for a few years. </p>

<p>I hate to say this, but my overall impression is that NW is a rather mediocre also-ran, the perpetual number 11 of the big ten. I was unimpressed with most of the profs I worked with, though a few were excellent. Overall, I would say it is somewhere in the middle in terms of academic quality. Indeed, I perceived it as a party/frat school that came at a phenomenal price. (I went to Harvard, and believe me, NW students simply do not compare in quality of mind or work habits. Indeed, NW continues to be over-shadowed by U of C, which is deeply resented.)</p>

<p>As an employee, I found NW rigidly bureaucratic, lazy, and arrogant. There were capricious rules, which often seemed to pop out of nowhere, often to the detriment of students (e.g. deadlines that, if missed, resulted in loss of stipends or even scholarship funds, which I witnessed while administrators remained casually indifferent). I have worked in many academic environments (Harvard, Insead, IMD, to name a few), and I found NW to be the worst in these respects. </p>

<p>Regarding the price tag, that would be a long discussion. The school clearly has money - they are always building state-of-the-art facilities that compare well with Club Med. </p>

<p>There are certainly first-rate profs and researchers there, I worked closely with one for whom I had nothing but respect. Evanston is a very nice town and community. But when I took my daughter to see McGill as a prospective student, it appeared to me to be everything that NW wasn’t. </p>