drmambo

You sorta chopped the meaning of my quote, there. I meant McGill isn't always #1.

You may think you gave my quote justice, but by citing objective facts...you killed it. It's not about rankings, or nobel prize winners (part of me believes the amount of nobel laureate alumni under a schools belt is as much chance as anything else...but that's a different issue), it's about academic rigor and quality.

McGill excels in certain programs, and in others...falls short; however, no university is devoid of this problem (Harvard included).

McGill's philosophy and political science programs are power houses, but how many of you knew that? How many of you have talked to professors (especially new ones) within those programs, and been told that even the staff are impressed at some of the tenure professors within their own departments?

How many people here have taken an continuing education/fac. of education course at McGill?

I think its time for some poster-accountability. If you don't know **** about McGill, don't post here. If you've got a link (that quotes straight from the horse's mouth), go ahead, though. If you've got an anecdote...think several times before you post it. Whether the oxygen is digital or not, why would you waste it?

This isn't in response to wii3, this is in response to the growing populous of this board. Do your homework before you respond.

If I'm guilty of violating any of the rules I've just laid down, it's probably because this rant is a bit too driven by mr. daniels, and whom ever owns colt 45.

ICrisis

I think McGill's reputation is very much derived from it's past and current conventional wisdom, rather then real world quality. I've experience classes and lectures at the University of Toronto and I really don't see any significant difference between the schools. Of course, that's just my opinion.

Even so, I think some of the metrics they use to measure how good a school is, particularly the Maclean's guide, is pretty suspect and kind of arbitrary.

That being said, I'm cool with my choice. Whether McGill is the greatest school in the history of the universe or a school of whack jobs like Bob Jones University, in the end, it makes me happy and that's the most important thing right?

Ocikat

Without a question, McGill is definately one of the best in Canada.

I have another link but cant post it (doesnt allow me to), Go to google and type in "College Rankings College Prow\ler" and then click "Academics"

(see where McGill is placed, it recieves A- grade for academics) No other Canadian school is in that list.
McGill is best known Canadian school in US, Europe. and well known in Asia.

There are many people who are in elite US grad school went to less renowned schools, and there are also people who did undergrad at IvyLegaue but doing grad at state school. So it really doesnt matter where you went, as long as you have the grade. But undergrad degree from McGill can give you a leg up.

BIGTWIX

actually there are no other canadian schools on collegeprow/ler.

And it isnt cause they arent good enough. It's cuz they just neglect to put them on there.

Ocikat

Yeah true, thats why McGill is better because its somewhat better known. No matter how good you are if no one knows then its nothing.

leviathan80

McGill is a great school, but UofT (St. George) is better.

Yes, McGill ranked higher than UofT in the THES, but then again, the THES is a joke. Google it, and you'll see how nobody in the academic community finds it to be a credible ranking. I mean, McGill was ranked ahead of Stanford, Berkeley, and UPenn. That fact alone should tell you that this ranking is not to be trusted.

Anyways, UofT was ranked #1 in Canada for 12+ consecutive years until they boycotted the ranking, and dropped to 3rd. Yes, other schools boycotted the ranking too, but didn't really catch everyones attention until UofT backed out. Consequently, they used old information of questionable validity to put together their latest ranking. What the future hold for the Macleans ranking is still unknown.

(Measuring Up)

In other international rankings (ie. Newsweek and Shanghai), UofT is ranked as the top Canadian university. When compared to THES, both these rankings are much more objective and reliable.

Just wanted to put that out there.

BIGTWIX

As credible as THES rankings are not, I don't think convincing people that McGill is worse than UofT is going to happen easily.

As for THES, Ide definitely say Stanford and Cal should be higher than McGill, both should be top 10 imo, but UPenn being lower seems appropriate.

UPenn is great and all, but I think what makes Upenn so famous besides being in the Ivy League (although it is one of the schools in the league that people are least likely to know), is it's business program. And in terms of grad school, I think Business programs, although prestigious, carry nowhere near as much weight as PhD, Med, and Law programs.

An MBA from UPenn looks outstanding, but PhDs and Medical degrees seem to take most prestige for schools because generally they are the ones that are much more research oreinted, and thus more likely to contribute to whatever field the degree is in.

I think McGill is much more research heavy than UPenn, and essentially perhaps better in the sense the McGill is surely a top 20 university in terms of research, and whatnot

Ocikat

There are no perfect rankings but THES has relatively higher authenticities.
ARWU uses criterias like Score on N&S or Score on Size. These has nothing to do with its students success. THES's peer review is extremely important in my oppinion because that's the best way to evaluate a school's prestege and recognition.

AWRU by shanghai placed UCSD ahead of Penn and UWashignton Seattle ahead of Johns Hopikins. Rockefeller ahead of Duke (< this one is too obvious)
(Not very credible)

Ocikat

The point here is not to determine whether UofT is better than McGill but the fact that McGill is 1st tier school. UofT and McGill are equally good internationally. Both are respected and has 100% in peer review by THES.

I think McGill is somewhat comparable to Penn in terms of researches. But not on some programs like Business. For Medical School, McGill is more renowned than Penn.

AWRU gave Stanford, "Score on Alumni" 42 which is highly unlikely.

Ocikat

Brown and Dartmouth have been placed lower than McGill in every major international rankings. Quality of student doesn't necessarily reflect its international prestege.

swampfox

McGill is easier to get into and harder to get out of with a good GPA than the Ivies, at least in the Sciences. No American school has the grade deflation that exists at McGill. The bottom line with McGill is that it offers a rigorous education in a great environment, and both should prepare a college kid well for life.

leviathan80

First, if you're also looking at grad schools, then UofT is better overall when compared to McGill. It's common knowledge (at least in Canada) that UofT has the best law school and medical school in the country.

Secondly, the peer review that you're referring to is what makes the THES so bad! Here's a little overview (there's much more out there with a quick google search):

THES - QS World University Rankings - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Yes, the Shanghai ranking is not perfect (no ranking is), but at least it uses objective measures that don't result in Emory going from 173 to 56 or Purdue falling from 59 to 127 in one year! You could do the THES ranking a month later and McGill might end up 30th! It just depends on who happens to respond to their survey (among other things...).

Finally, I'd be willing to bet that UofT has a more 'rigorous' curriculum than McGill. Grade deflation at UofT is well known in Canada. There's actually an official policy that class averages HAVE to be in the C+ range.

Ocikat

Like I said, no one here is comparing McGill to Toronto. UofT does have grade deflation I've heard of that too. For graduate schools it all depends on what you want to study. It's also true that UofT has an outstanding graduate school, but McGill's graduate school is definately comparable. (as well as UBC for some programs)

Even in Shanghai ARWU McGill does well too.

Ocikat

"It's common knowledge (at least in Canada) that UofT has the best law school and medical school in the country. "

Not really, in Ontario yes but not in other places. (Toronto/McGill is equally known most of the times.) McGill's medical school is its strongest program and MCAT and GPA for incoming medical students are sometimes same as other top US school's (such as Duke or UCBerkeley). For law school UofT might have better one. (not sure about this one)

snooker1

"UPenn is great and all, but I think what makes Upenn so famous besides being in the Ivy League (although it is one of the schools in the league that '
people are least likely to know), is it's business program. And in terms of grad school, I think Business programs, although prestigious, carry nowhere near as much weight as PhD, Med, and Law programs."
"For Medical School, McGill is more renowned than Penn."

Really?
Penn receives the #2 highest research funding in the US after Johns Hopkins. Penn's med school was the first in North America, the American Medical Association was founded at Penn, and Penn consistently ranks in the top 3 med schools according to US News (except for this year where it's #4).