I’m currently a junior in highschool going to school in Chicago. Since freshman year, UIUC has been my dream school - no contest/never considered anywhere else. I didn’t want to go to school in Chicago (Northwestern, U of C are big reach schools and I would dread going to UIC/DePaul but I can definitely get into those). Recently I came across McGill University in Montreal and I’ve been researching ALL day and it sounds perfect to me.
At McGill I’m interested in getting a Bachelor’s of Science in Agriculture and Environmental Sciences (Major probably agro-enviro sciences or global food security). This comes to about $16000 USD/$19000 canadian dollars, which I think is a pretty cool deal. Add about $5000 more for room and board, the total is similar to what I would pay at UIUC.
At UIUC I’m interested in either the college of ACES (sustainable landscaping) or college of FAA for urban planning. Urbana seems like a great school for urban planning, but recently I’ve been getting more into enviro-agro focused fields. What I l LOVE about McGill is that admissions are based solely on the numbers - GPA and ACT (I’m not super strong there, but I’m decent). I haven’t had any extracurriculars except an internship at an urban farm for over a year.
Location wise - I love how close Urbana is to Chicago (I would plan on visiting my parents and siblings as often as possible), but I think its a boring town and a big part of my graduating class of about 900 students is probably going there. I’ve been thinking that if I’m going to be away from home at all, I might as well go somewhere exciting like Montreal. (I love that Chicago and Montreal are both big hockey cities!!!). Urbana is like a 3-4 hour drive from Chicago, Montreal is a 2-3 hour plane ride.
As of right now I have a 29 on my ACT (retaking in june, hoping for 30-31) and a 3.3 UW gpa and a 4.1 W gpa.
McGill only looks at 10-12th grade GPA so by those standards I have a 3.4 UW. I’m shooting for a cumulative gpa of 3.6 by the end of next year. The degree I want requires a B or above in pre-calc (taking next year), biology (A both semesters), chemistry (A 1st sem, B 2nd sem), and physics (A 1st sem, hopefully A next sem too).
Finally, AP classes. I’ve taken
- AP US History sophomore year (4 on exam)
- AP US Govt this year
- AP Art History this year
- AP English Language this year
- AP Seminar ( a new class that probably won't get me any credits as of next year?) this year
I’m obviously shooting for 4/5s on all my exams. I haven’t done enough research on how far this ap credit will take me at McGill, but at UIUC its pretty significant so I don’t feel like I’ve wasted my time.
Next year I’m taking
- AP Human Geography
- AP English Lit
- AP Research (part of the abovementioned AP Seminar)
So questions:
Am i more suited for McGill or UIUC? What are my chances of being accepted into either?
I’ve lived in Chicago all my life and I love big cities, I don’t speak French (not a requirement for McGill, I know. BTW I am almost fluent in Spanish and basic comprehension of German), I am not really interested in party/social scenes (it irks me that when I tell people I want to go to UIUC, they immediately mention its a party school).
Can I go farther career-wise with a degree from UIUC (I’d go urban planning) or McGill (I’d go more agricultural/landscaping)?
I plan on moving back to Chicago after college.
THANKS!