Hi I’m a high school senior and I have until the end of this week (May 1) to decide where to go to university. I have been accepted at UIUC and ND in the states. I was actually going to submit my decision for ND tomorrow, but I just now received a late-sent acceptance letter from the University of McGill (Montreal). I am a girl going into Physics, and I really want to go to Oxford University for grad school, I’m Catholic, and I love both of these schools. I’m worried about how big Mcgill is, but I love the low tuition. Although it’s not my number-one concern, I’m also interested in rankings to the extent of whether or not I would be able to go to grad school where I would like…where do I pick and why?
Grad schools would not care about rankings.
UIUC and McGill are comparable in being big publics. McGill will have giant freshmen lecture classes
What are costs?
Well ND is about 68,000 per year, while McGill is around 14,000 plus life expenses…so cost-wise it is a much better choice…
In-state for UIUC?
McGill is #38, vs ND, #108 in the THE world university rankings. Plus, Montreal is a truly wonderful city. It’s gorgeous, has a huge lovely park, charming old town, great museums, everything a student could ask for. IMO, as you know what you want to study, and you want to go to Oxford, it seems like a slam dunk in favor of McGill.
@Lindagaf, research-heavy rankings are slightly more relevant for grad school. Undergrad, not so much (you won’t find any LACs there, for instance).
Where is UIUC on that ranking? I know that their physics department is highly acclaimed as well. Like UIUC, McGill is a big public with giant intro lecture classes.
The THE world rankings do not include undergrad-only schools as far as I am aware.#38 in the world is pretty darn impressive. Also the THE is a supplement of the Times, in London. So it is naturally not going to focus on just US universities.
@Lindagaf: So is not UIUC at #36 in the whole world just as equally impressive as well?
Yes. Isnt the OP asking about ND and McGill?
If the size of McGill puts you off then you would not like UIUC either.
@Lindagaf, but she got in to UIUC. So if she is rejecting UIUC, why is McGill better when they are essentially the same?
McGill is urban and UIUC is in a rural area, not at all the same. Totally different environments.
@TomSrOfBoston, different settings. Academically, both are big research-intensive public unis.
As I read OPs ?, she is asking which is better, ND or McGill. She also is concerned about rankings. UIUC doesn’t seem to be up for consideration. So I am just givng my opinion about it. It would appear that McGill is more known internationally. No idea if that is something Oxford would consdier for grad school.
As much as I love ND (theoretically anyway - didn’t go there myself), if grad school is on the horizon I would focus on the lowest cost options which will still provide an excellent education.
Best wishes with your decision - it’s tough!
@Lindagaf, and again, if UIUC is not up for consideration, then why is McGill up for consideration, considering that they are similar types of unis and equally well-known internationally?
Because McGill and UIUC although having roughly similar academic profiles (both big research focused public schools, roughly similar international rankings, both Association of American Universities members) are not simply carbon copies of each other. If the OP isnt interested in UIUC and has narrowed it down to McGill and Notre Dame then so be it; there could be a a verity of reasons for this (eg. preferring an urban setting in Montreal to a more rural setting at UIUC) as well as the cheaper cost of tuition that she appears to be getting at McGill (which is especially important if you plan to spend more money after on graduate school). We haven’t narrowed down the list to two schools, the OP did, if you want to advocate reconsidering UIUC your best bet is to talk to her about it, ask her why she has narrowed her chice down to McGill vs ND, we wont know off the top of our heads.
As to large class sizes at McGill, that is very true for the first couple years. You will get some introductory classes with 100s of students in one lecture hall, there is no way around that. However in upper years the average class size drops dramatically and in 3rd and especially 4th year you get a lot more 1 on 1 time with professors. If you choose to do an honours project in 4th year as well you will literally be working for a professor in their lab so you can obviously get a lot of face time there (graduate schools absolutely love students who do honours projects, regardless of what university they went to because it means they already have experience in a research setting). If you plan to go to graduate school make sure you sign up to do an honours project, it really is like doing a mini-graduate school thesis. Honours projects are really popular with science majors at McGill. You should see if Notre Dame offers honours projects for senior undergraduate students as well (any ND alumni here know?), because they are a great taste of graduate school while still completing your undergraduate degree and are excellent preparation.
Out of state
I had decided against UIUC because of a combination of cost and size. McGill isn’t nearly as big as UIUC; it’s at least 10,000 students smaller. Also, for the price, (McGill is similar in style to UIUC), because I’m out of state, McGill is much better. I decided to go to McGill actually! Thank you all so much! Go Martlets! 
Congratulation on your choice and have fun!
If I were you, I would make sure to go in early and do Frosh week as it is an absolute blast at McGill (from an outsiders perspective). BTW, the drinking age in Quebec is 18, so Froshies usually end up having a good time.