<p>I'm a US student who has a Canadian citizenship and am seriously considering McGill. I'm planning to go into a Biology major and the science department requests that I take the Math SAT II (I've decided on Level 1). I have a strong ACT (which I'm going to retake, I'll post my practice test scores), strong SAT II (in US History and Biology), fives on AP tests, but a mediocre SAT score. The school recommends that all SAT scores be sent. My problem is that since my other scores are high, I don't want to send my SAT I scores. Do you think they'll impact me a ton? Here are my scores:</p>
<p>SAT I
Verbal 590
Math 640
Writing 690</p>
<p>SATII
Biology M 730
US History 660</p>
<p>AP
US History- 5
Biology- 5</p>
<p>ACT
English 33
Math 31
Reading 33
Science 32</p>
<p>My senior year courses are also the hardest I can take at the school and I have a bunch of honors and some AP classes. My accumulative is a 3.82, with my most challenging year finishing with a 3.92. What do you think?</p>
<p>My extracurricular stuff looks like this - 18 hours of rowing a week, high scoring in that (6th at nationals, 2nd at HOCR), about 200 service hours and those are extremely varied, as well as being on the recruiting team at school and placing at state (3rd) freshman year. I'm also NHS at my school and will probably end up having a function in it (there's a top level class that I'm taking from which NHS leaders are pulled from). I'll probably be marked as a recruit for McGill. </p>
<p>The other problem on my mind is that a coach at another good school (Dartmouth) has told me that he'll support my application in Early Decision. Financial aid did not find much for us, so I'd have a TON of student loans, whereas at McGill my parents would cover most, if not all, of the cost. With McGill having it's own dental programs, I'm kinda lost on what to choose. Could you please share your opinion?</p>
<p>Sorry for the scattered message, but this stuff is kind of disorganized in my mind and I need some help with the decision. Thank you in advance!</p>
<p>And one more thing. I’m planning on applying into the Faculty of Science (Biology) and here are my GPAs from the past 3 years in science (I think my SAT II in Biology helps this too.)</p>
<p>Biology: 3.95
Chemistry: 3.85
AP Biology: 3.8
Physics (1 semester summer): 4.0</p>
<p>Science GPA (From those): 3.89
I’ll also be taking AP Chemistry my senior year (that final decision between chemistry and biology majors).</p>
<p>I don’t recall the science department asking for Math SAT II’s when I applied, but things might’ve changed in the past 5 years.</p>
<p>Your extracurricular don’t matter to McGill (in any sense). I don’t even think the application has a page for you to put that kind of stuff down. Your admission will come down to your GPA and board scores. Last I checked (which was years ago), an A- average in the standard sciences (bio, chem, phys, grades 11 and 12 math) are easily enough to get you admission.</p>
<p>If you can’t afford Dartmouth, you probably shouldn’t go there. Or maybe the name is worth the debt? No one can answer that question for you. </p>
<p>Can you get the rowing coach to support your application in the regular decision pool? If so, do that, and apply to both McGill and Dartmouth and figure the finances out in April when you get your admission letters back. As a Canadian citizen, you might be eligible for Canadian loans (do you have residency in a particular program?). </p>
<p>I’m not an expert on the Canadian side of student aid, but a friend of mine gets loans from Ontario, and he, without talking exact numbers, has suggested that the grant/loan situation is particularly generous. Maybe some Canadian’s on here can chime in on this?</p>
<p>Finally, I’m pretty sure that you cannot enter the Dental program as an American, as an undergrad. That’s really more for high achieving students out of CEGEP. Sorry if that’s a deal-changer for you.</p>
<p>drmambo, thanks for the reply. I’ve been looking into it all and come up with some more choices. I’ll be at Dartmouth sometime this fall and I’ll talk to financial aid then. I looked into McGill and emailed them and they said my ACT scores would be fine. Here’s what my practice scores have been hanging around:</p>
<p>English: 32
Math: 32
Reading: 33
Science: 34
Composite: 33</p>
<p>From what I’ve read, those should be well into the stats needed to get through admissions at McGill. As a Canadian citizen, I do receive the benefit of low tuition, meaning around 14-15K a year with board. I think that makes McGill my best value school.</p>
<p>Marquette has come up as a choice because they have an accelerated (7-year) dental program where I would know if I’m in around March. I’ll apply there to see if I can get the hassle of applying to dental school over no (so tempting). I could probably get a decent scholarship there, so that’s hanging as another choice.</p>
<p>Another school is UW, the local choice, where they have great a great dental program, but that’s among the most competitive in the country.</p>