Hello, I am a senior in a high school located in the US who has already applied to McGill. On the McGill under the Science prereq section it states that for last year’s cutoffs for GPA, it is a 3.8 average in grades 10, 11, and 12. However, on Minerva, I must self-report grades from 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th. I am concerned as I have a 4.0 with only 10th, 11th, and 12th grades calculated, however, if 9th grade is included my GPA is approximately 3.65.
Is 9th grade considered or not in the McGill application?
If I have a 3.65 GPA, 1490 SAT, rank 32 of 603, and A- in all prereqs do I still have a chance to get into the Physical Science program?
I will admit that with one exception the people I know who applied to McGill had consistent grades throughout high school, so this question didn’t come up. However, I have consistently been told that McGill either does not care at all about 9th grade, or does not care so long as you passed your courses. They will recompute your GPA based only on the most recent two years. Some people I know got admitted based on sophomore and junior years of high school, and some got admitted based on junior and senior years of high school.
If you had an unweighted 4.0 for grades 10, 11, and 12, then your chances should be very good regardless of how you did in 9th grades. Your SAT is very good also. Your rank won’t matter because this includes 9th grade, and McGill will not care about 9th grade.
By the way the one exception that I knew did terribly in 9th grade, and not much better in 10th grade. He went to a different university, did VERY well, and transferred to McGill. He then did very well at McGill, went on to a PhD, and ended up as a tenured professor at a university that he never would have gotten accepted to straight out of high school. Again this makes the point that doing exceptionally well recently can get you into McGill, even if you have some weaker years in the past.
You should be aware that there are currently discussions in Quebec about how much tuition might increase for out of province and international students at McGill. There is another thread about this here on CC.
Thanks for the reply! I did end up passing all of my 9th grade classes. This alleviates some of the pressure I was feeling.
P.S. My father was born in Quebec so I’m also a Canadian citizen; I plan on getting my Quebec residency with my grandfather and reduced tuition if I get accepted.
Do you have your Certificate of Canadian Citizenship? This can take a while to get. If you are going to start university in September, and if you do not already have this, then you need to get your application in now. Assuming that you do have your Certificate of Canadian Citizenship, getting a Canadian passport is relatively quick.
You may already qualify for Resident of Quebec tuition. We were in a very similar situation since I was also born in Canada, and my daughters were born in the US. Therefore they were born with dual citizenship. One applied to McGill. I asked during a visit to McGill whether they would qualify for Canadian tuition, and the reply was “actually it is better, they qualify for Resident of Quebec tuition”. Then I checked the McGill web site and found where this is described.
One daughter did attend university in Canada. Getting signed up for provincial health care and getting a social insurance card were both relatively quick and easy. Assuming that you get a bank account in Canada, you will need to remember to declare this along with your US tax return. You will also need to file a US tax return if you have any income in Canada (such as from an internship).
McGill might be adding a requirement that you learn some French to graduate. I do not see this as all that onerous of a requirement. Quebec is a French language province after all. Our daughter who attended university in Canada actually did learn some French even though it was not a requirement where she was.
I have applied for my Certificate of Canadian Citizenship, and it is going to take approximately 9 months to process. However, I believe that I can request an “urgent” processing assuming I am accepted into McGill and they send me a signed letter.
I can’t seem to find on the McGill website where I get resident tuition, it says that I must have been residing in Quebec for at least 3 months to get the Quebec tuition. My main concern is how I will prove this residency.
Also, I don’t have a problem with learning French, it would probably be good for me if I stay in Quebec.
It is possible that this might have changed since we were considering McGill.
I am assuming that this is “situation 8”, but I do not know how you show that you have taken up residency in Quebec, or if you can do this more quickly than 3 months. Presumably you will have a dorm room, or an apartment, or will be living with relatives in Montreal.
Among the paperwork you would show is the residence hall contract or lease if living off campus. Also keep utility bills if off campus. You would pay the Canadian rate at first. Others have indicated that they got all the paperwork in in early December and were credited the difference between Canadian and Quebec tuition.
Hi - did your daughter qualify for Quebec Resident tuition immediately, even the first semester? I was born in Montreal but my children were born and educated in the US. They have Canadian Citizenship papers and Canadian passports already.
We had the same situation except I was not born in Montreal (I was born in Canada).
This did not come up for us. One daughter was accepted to McGill but chose to go somewhere else (in the US). Our other daughter did attend university in Canada, but wanted a small university so she applied to other schools (Acadia, Bishop’s, Mount Allison, St Francis Xavier). She did qualify for provincial health insurance as soon as she had a residence (which was a dorm room for her first year). We went to a nearby “Services Canada” location I think on her second or third day in Canada and got her a social insurance number. We did need to show a copy of her Canadian Passport several times (including before paying Canadian tuition), and she needed her social insurance number before she could get a bank account.
You have to live in Quebec for three months. So you would pay the Canadian tuition rate in September and then submit the paperwork. If submitted in time the difference between the Canadian and Quebec tuition would be credited to their student account. Please read section 8c as linked above for the procedure.
Documents Required:
*Especially for this situation - Please start sending your documents as they become available, do not wait to make one single submission late in the term after 3 months in QC. This is because we need to determine as soon as possible if there are issues with any of the documents you provide, so that you will have enough time to arrange for other documents as necessary, before the submission deadline.
If I am living with family, how would I prove using utility bills that I resided for 3 months? None of those bills would be under my name. Also, if I am attending McGill while concurrently getting my 3 months residency, would I still get Quebec tuition rates?