<p>I’m applying to the Bachelor of Arts and Sciences program as an International student. I know that they take a small number of students for this program.
My SAT scores are 750 verbal, 780 math, 730 writing. GPA in school is 3.8/4.0 and my class rank is top 6%. I received a 780 on both the US History and Math 2 subject tests. My grades are very solid with strong courses (4 AP’s senior year.)
What are my chances?</p>
<p>what is it with all these weirdos with Ivy level stats posting chances threads in the McGill folder?</p>
<p>Go to CC: Top Universities and post in one of the schools chances threads there.</p>
<p>In any case, you’ll be accepted. I just don’t know if you’ll like it.</p>
<p>pwned</p>
<p>Do extensive research before you choose to come here.</p>
<p>yeah, it is pretty freakin ridiculous that people like this are comin here to ask if they can get in when really, they could easily be going to a different school with a better dept. of interest.</p>
<p>lechy: Welcome to the McGill board.</p>
<p>My daughter had stats very similar to yours and was admitted to Arts and Sciences two years ago, so you have an excellent chance. If McGill is your first choice, make sure you apply to another Faculty as well. Arts and Sciences may have a small number of students, but most of the courses are in other departments and are very large.</p>
<p>It is not unreasonable for students to be interested in schools for reasons other than “ranking”. Costs, location, family history, etc. can all play a role. My daughter was certainly Ivy material, but McGill fit her needs better.
That doesnt make her choice “freakin ridiculous.”</p>
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<p>Thank you for being the voice of reason, again. It still amazes me that many members of these forums still can’t think beyond “established” rankings. Isn’t the purpose of this website to provide a more complete perspective?</p>
<p>yeah why dont you apply to other schools like Cornell or Pennsylvania if your SAT is that high, you will probably 100% get accepted to McGill. You might have good chance for Harvard as well… McGill is worthless to apply coz it will be too easy for you to get in. you might wanna try Ivy Leagues instead</p>
<p>oh and trust me there is no small faculty in McGill… i m a student from this school btw. i have this CHEM110 class and there are about 500 students in my class</p>
<p>“yeah why dont you apply to other schools like Cornell or Pennsylvania if your SAT is that high, you will probably 100% get accepted to McGill. You might have good chance for Harvard as well… McGill is worthless to apply coz it will be too easy for you to get in. you might wanna try Ivy Leagues instead”</p>
<p>Unlike McGill, schools like Harvard, UPenn, Cornell do not consider only test scores but essays, personal character, extracurricular activities and recommendations. Perfect test scores do not mean high chance of admission.</p>
<p>Now about established ranking, it does reflect academic rigor of a school. Furthermore, if you look closely, there’s statistics that rank schools in terms of workload, professor availability, etc. Those are good information to keep in mind. (also considered as established ranking in USNWR) But it does come down to personal preference. So like I said, do research, a lot of research, to determine the perfect fit.</p>
<p>I love how these chances threads are quickly turning into opportunities for people to bash mcgill. I’d like to remind the OP that schools everywhere have people who love where they are, and people who hate where they are (such is life). My friend at a certain ivy league school told me of a kid who hosted him during admitted students weekend. That kid was, “only there for the connections”, and that he thought it sucked there. Go figure, 51k a year doesn’t also buy happiness…</p>
<p>to the point, though: the arts and sciences programs is silly, you could easily enroll in either and take classes in the other. For instance, my twin is enrolled in the arts (specifically philosophy), and he’s taking calculus as well as physics. Pursuing both a science and arts degree here (be it minor and major, or major and minor) is quite the feat (sp?) (hence why so many people don’t do it). If you’re leaning in any way, go with your gut; the explanation to that is simple math: you’ll most likely transfer out of A&S, probably at the end of your first, or second year. Subsequently, if you transfer into science, you’ll be a bit behind your other peers because you didn’t take the recommended U0 course-load (the lag isn’t dramatic, but still). You won’t be that hindered for the Arts, but you’ll still be behind. </p>
<p>My opinion: if you’re not fairly sure about science, enroll in the arts and take a few intro science courses. That way you’ll be able to get the flavor of both faculties, while still ironing out whether you want to pursue a science degree. I know you’re probably thinking that something along the lines of “I like both science and arts”, or “I’m not sure which one I like more”, but at McGill it’s hard for a science kid to get arts courses in, especially later in the game. It’s much more common to see arts kids in science courses than it is to see engineers/science-kids in arts courses.</p>
<p>That’s just what I’ve found/think. Anyone’s more than welcome to pitch in their 2/100 of a looney.</p>
<p>Re the large chemistry class, this is an exact quote from an email I received from my son a few days ago:</p>
<p>"This is the best teacher I’ve ever had in my life. Seriously, the man is a genius of education (and chemistry). I’m going to try to take courses with him in the future.</p>
<p>I’m just sitting in chemistry class excited that I’m understanding things that were never made clear in high school."</p>
<p>McGill, like life, is what you make of it.</p>
<p>^Not really. Do you know what their grad. placement for econ students is? about 1 a year to a top program, out of 100’s. Atrocious. And it’s not easy to be that top student out of 100’s. Compare that to a lac where any motivated kid can get the attention of a prof. You are not given the same opportunity at a school with McGill’s size and funding problems.</p>
<p>i think wutang and l3tranger were made for each other.
just dont procreate.</p>
<p>Funny how the rebuttal against negative comments about McGill is just “get over it, it’s life”. Give more positive feedback to counter the negative ones, makes sense, right?</p>
<p>I don’t know what else one can say, constructively, towards this kind of negative feed back except that everyone’s experience is different, and should be respected equally. Just because L’etranger and wutang aren’t necessarily satisfied with mcgill doesn’t really reflect much because there are also people like BOW’s son who’s loving mcgill. These three examples, should hopefully make it obvious that there’s a broad spectrum of opinion of mcgill, and something we often lose track of, is that an opinion can’t be wrong. Just because you guys (l’etranger and wutang) feel this way, doesn’t make it universal, nor right. Your feelings are relatively just that, yours and you should keep sight of that.</p>
<p>My opinions are based on experience, also facts. FACT: McGill is a huge (state) school. FACT: Most McGill’s science classes are large. Fewer sections with large sizes. FACT: Professors are not as available to undergrad students. FACT: Advisors don’t help much, the most they do is just keeping students in line when it comes to academic prerequisites. FACT: admissions is not selective as people think. FACT: McGill’s positive reputation came/comes from its graduate schools. FACT: science undergraduate research is very competitive, unless it’s a flask-washing job. FACT: McGill is cheaper than most US schools, regardless of financial aid. </p>
<p>My opinion against the McGilll hype: McGill isn’t Canada’s Ivy League.</p>
<p>I’m sorry, you must’ve mistook the definition of fact, for the definition of experience. </p>
<p>“fact”: I’ve never had a problem reaching a professor (and 3/4 of my classes have 150+ people in them).</p>
<p>“fact”: most academic questions can be resolved by reading the course catalogue. If something isn’t specifically answered there, you should then approach your departmental advisor. “subfact”: first-year advisors are, unquestioningly, poor at what they do. Anyone’ll tell you that you should see your departmental advisor over the first-year. </p>
<p>“fact”: SOME McGill sciences classes are large, not most (outside of intro stuff). If you were looking for classes with 30 people, you should’ve gone to CalTech. Even Harvard has 150+ people lectures, where kids are sitting in the aisles (hate to break it to you). I have an physics class that only has (on a well attended day) 35 people in it. It’s not even a U1 physics class either, it’s first-year physics. </p>
<p>“fact”: anything can get done at mcgill, it just requires some effort on your part (i.e., getting a research position). Sometimes you have to start low and work your way up. I’m sorry not everything is handed to you. </p>
<p>Final “fact”: you should’ve gone to Cal-Tech. I’m deeply sorry you hate it here. </p>
<p>I don’t know any americans, in their right minds, who came here thinking they were cheating the system and getting a “harvard of the north” education. Most people I know, came up here thinking they were going to get a really good education for a cheap price. </p>
<p>p.s. while McGill isn’t “canada’s ivy league”, canadian’s still consider it in the top tier (with UBC and U of T), if not at the top. For sciences, McGill and U of T have a Harvard-Princeton like rivalry (in terms of rank). For engineering, Waterloo, beats out all the rest, and then comes U of T or McGill (it depends who you’re talking to). </p>
<p>Comparing it to American institution’s, though, I have to say McGill is better than you think (at least in the sciences). I’ve been watching Linear Algebra lectures on google video by a big-wig prof at MIT, and I must say, I’m not impressed. The professor’s comprehensiveness, at times, is a bit weak (compared to my McGill prof). Goto google video and check out a comparable lecture by a Stanford or MIT prof (I know MIT for sure puts all of their lectures up). Be a good consumer and scrutinize the products. Look at what you would’ve paid over 5 times more for, and ask yourself if it was worth it. </p>
<p>I’m more than happy with the quality of my McGill education, thus far. I didn’t really know how good the education was here until I started talking to my Harvard buddy/watching other school’s lectures. </p>
<p>Bash McGill all you want, you might actually be getting an ivy-league caliber education, though.</p>
<p>McGill isn’t a Hardvard or Priceton. But it is definitely one of the top 25 schools in North America. U have to take the initiative. No one’s gonna spoon feed you. Keep persisting and u will get what u want. Whatever opportunities u get, just take it.</p>
<p>Looks like I’ve incited some disagreement. I’m applying to arts and sciences because they offer a unique Cognitive Science program. I really like McGill, partially because of location and partially because of the price. However, I applied to Dartmouth Early Decision. I know it is the opposite end of the spectrum, but I see completely different benefits in both the small rural school and the large city school. I haven’t espoused myself to one type of school. Thanks for everyone’s help and insight.</p>
<p>Dartmouth has much more focused undergraduate programs. That’s all I have to say in general about academics.</p>