<p>help please! I can't decide but I need to, and quickly... so because of waitlist, I have to decide between washu and mcgill tonight.
in short, I think the lifestyle/culture of mcgill and montreal suit me more, but the academics at washu are better (more prestigious, much smaller class sizes, more advising and guidance than mcgill, etc).
in the long run, is it better to go to the better school for academics (washu) or the better school socially (mcgill)??
i should note that i think i would end up being happy at either place, so is that enough to forget about mcgill?
any input is appreciated!
thanks!</p>
<p>I knew the parent of a daughter admitted to both schools about a month ago. She visited McGill and found it to be rigid academically - hard to transfer between schools, lots of red tape. Wash U is the opposite - very accommodative, easy to transfer between schools. She chose Wash U after visiting both. I would also say that socially, Wash U has been loads of fun for our son and the times I've been there there was lots going on socially - outdoor mud wrestling parties to celebrate spring, Hawaiian parties, bands playing in different locations, etc. It all looked like fun to me.</p>
<p>plus mcgill gets frigid cold, isnt as pretty, and the canadian dollar is going up...which is bad for shopping
on the other hand, old montreal is quite pretty, and there's this shop called "noel eternel," which is like the best place ever...and le caveau has the best duck confit ive ever had. but mcgill was just boring.
so i feel like the washu school environment is better, but mcgill is prolly more well-known internationally (depending on what you wanna do, i suppose) and the culture is better.</p>
<p>Travel to & from Wash U is too expensive. If I had the choice I'd be sooooo thrilled to go to McGill, it was my dream school. My friend goes there & love, Love, LOVES it! I didn't get in. :(</p>
<p>There's another thing to keep in consideration. McGill has a high degree of commuter students. The Quebec school system is one where kids graduate after 11th grade (or, as they would say, Grade 11). Following that, students go to two years of CEGEP (it's a french acronym). Following that, many (and, I mean, many) students continue on to McGill or Concordia University (also based in Montreal) for three years of university. Tuition for Quebec residents is incredibly inexpensive in comparison to any college in the U.S. (including any state school). So, a substantial part of the student body will be montreal-based, will live at home and will commute to school. </p>
<p>There are definitely dorms on-campus that will house students that are not from Montreal. However, there will not be the same sense of residential life that you will have at your "typical" American college.</p>
<p>So what did you decide and why?</p>
<p>I don't think there's any comparison between Washu and Mcgill...Washu is CLEARLY the better school. A few kids at my school didn't get into schools like Bucknell and Lehigh but got into Mcgill. Mcgill is overrated in my opinion.</p>
<p>In the college life forum, there is someone who goes to McGill who always complains about their overcrowded classes, lack of funding, etc. I think it should boil down to which school would be a better option financially.</p>