<p>my GPA is 3.6 ( coming from a really competitive school) Ranked in top 50%
ACT scores : 24
SAT: math: 640 critical: 440 writing : 520
I am retaking ACT, SAT </p>
<p>and I am taking SAT subject tests for Bio, Math2</p>
<p>I wanna do pre-med
my AP courses
are
APUSH - 3
Psychology - 3 </p>
<p>my moms salary is 36K only, since shes divorced. Would I get any grants or scholarships or any financial aid?</p>
<p>unfortunately you probably won’t get in straight off the bat. mcgill is way to bureaucratic to notice. but you are not missing much. mcgill is way too overrated anyways.</p>
<p>If you are set on going to mcgill, go to a local school and then transferring would be your best bet.</p>
<p>“…way too bureaucratic to notice”. To notice what? A 1600 SAT and 24 ACT is way beliow the McGill average and below their minimum cutoff scores. The average SAT is 2060 and average ACT is 31.</p>
<p>Econgrad, were you rejected by McGill, hence your bitter attitude towards the school?</p>
<p>There isn’t a real premed program, but the biological sciences department is the hardest department to get into within McGill. Though, if you were thinking about doing something similar to premed, you could also try applying to the agriculture department, which has a Life Sciences Major, and is quite a bit easier to get in. </p>
<p>However, with your current scores, I’d say it’s extremely hard to get into McGill. They have a minimum requirement for SAT and ACT scores, and you are under those minimum requirements. If you raise your ACT or SAT scores significantly, than you might have more of a chance.</p>
<p>As for financial aid, I’m not quite about it myself, but you can have a look at the finaid website of McGill here ([Scholarships</a> and Student Aid](<a href=“http://www.mcgill.ca/studentaid/]Scholarships”>Scholarships and Student Aid - McGill University))</p>
<p>^ I just visited mcgill and their average ACT cutoff was around 25…for somewhat considered applicants. I think that if the OP focuses on ACT more…he can have a reach. I would say to the OP that FORGET SAT, focus on ACT… Take my advice 'cause within the timeframe…SAT improvement will be little.</p>
<p>I go to mcgill actually, i was in life sciences and switched to honours econ and finance. People have to understand that it is an okay school and there are a lot of social aspects of it that are great. But academically, it is way too overrated.</p>
<p>cyclopeggs, if you want to go to mcgill then go to a local school, do well and then transfer. There is a much better chance of getting in as a transfer than with your current stats.</p>
<p>^ true but it can’t hurt to try…the better you get used to mcgill environment the better it is. Work on those ACTs as I iterated. </p>
<p>Just a off note: I don’t know why ppl in cc say mcgill is OK, I get the feel that it’s just any type of state school. I find it pretty irritating since it’s ranked 19 in WORLD… In U.S., even a national rank is pretty awesome (a world is just out of the world). Mcgill is within the BEST U.S. schools, so I would assume that Mcgill’s recognition means a lot. OR Does it?? Could someone explain why ppl think its status (especially for undergrad) is underrated?</p>
<p>People on CC who say McGill is just “OK” are generally Canadians or some international who have what I call “USA envy”. They feel that McGill and Canada in general cannot fulfill their liife expectations. They seem resentful that Canada cannot accomodate their aspirations. Most Canadians do not want to work on Wall Street or anywhere in the US. True, there is no Harvard, Yale, Princeton etc. in Canada but the top schools in Canada can hold their own against all but say the top 20 American schools. Also, Canadians do not graduate with $50,000 to $100,000 in student loans. </p>
<p>College Confidential in general attracts people who feel that any university that accepts more than 10% of its students is second tier if not downright second rate. Some refer to Cornell University as “the community college of the Ivy League”. </p>
<p>McGill is recognized in the US as an excellent school. As for large class sizes and the infamous Leacock 132 lecture hall, that is no different from large American schools, both public and private. Intro lectures at UCLA, Michigan and yes, even Harvard, routinely have between 300 and 700 students, with the largest classes being in the sciences. If you don’t believe me, check out the class schedules and class sizes on these schools’ websites.</p>
<p>People who compare McGill to the best state schools are using different criteria than most would to compare schools. </p>
<p>If one relies on the percentage admitted, then McGill does not rank nearly as high as the Ivies (but, of course, if one relies on the calibre of the top 500 students admitted each year, then McGill is similar to the Ivies; the Ivies’ percentages admitted are smaller because most of them are much smaller than McGill and therefore have room for a lot fewer students, and because they are in a country with 10 times the population, they have more applicants). While the US is very comfortable having a privileged elite (in terms of economic power and in education) and in limiting access to good schools from kindergarden on up, Canada is just a much more egalitarian state which strives very hard to make the best opportunities available to as many as possible (not that it entirely succeeds). </p>
<p>While McGill’s best students are comparable to the Ivies’ best, because McGill admits several times as many students as Harvard, Yale or Princeton, it inevitably has a large number students that are not as capable.</p>
<p>If one ranks schools based on the research produced, papers published, and influence in the world of ideas, then there is no doubt that McGill is way ahead of the vast majority of state schools and, in fact, is among the top 20 in the world (i.e. in the company of Oxford, Cambridge, Sorbonne, Harvard, Yale, Princeton, University of Tokyo, etc.). You could probably take a random set of 50 state schools, take all of their best faculty members and combined you would not have as many internationally recognized minds as McGill has. </p>
<p>If one wants exposure to cutting-edge ideas and research, and the opportunity to rub shoulders with the world’s best, then McGill is a place to consider rather than 98% of the state schools. </p>
<p>If you want bragging rights to having spent 4 years in a place that admits fewer than 10% of its applicants, then McGill is not the place for you. (Note: I am not suggesting there is anything wrong with wanting these bragging rights. Certainly, for certain careers and in certain circles, having such bragging rights is advantageous.)</p>
<p>Canadians have never been as good at marketing themselves as Americans are. I think that McGill has become more conscious of creating an image, but it does not have decades of conscious marketing and thus is playing catch-up in manipulating public opinion.</p>
<p>McGill doesn’t bother to do many of the things that people associate with elite schools: no essays on applications, no mandatory/recommended interviews of prospective students etc…</p>
<p>violindad, thank you for your detailed response. I believe both U.S. and Canada have good and proper educational reasons for their ratios and I appreciate how they are different in accomodating the student body, since both strive to provide the best educational system for their brightest students in their own way. During the coming months when I fill my app for Mcgill, I will keep all these aspects in mind. To me, a 10% acceptance rate means nothing b/c it is there to provide for the school size. If Mcgill accepts more students, then it is only proving that it is a larger institute. I only care of how Mcgill is an internationally strong institute in the world, and I would love to come there. My only concern was that ppl near the college might assume it is easy to get into; but the explanation you have given me is understandable, and I know now that if I do get into Mcgill I’ll have to work pretty hard to accomodate to the academic environment as I will have to do at any top uni.</p>
<p>By the way, do they grade hard on internationals?</p>
<p>^ by that I mean in the application process, cause I believe they might have a cap on how many internationals Mcgill can admit each year. Thanks. And my apologeez to OP that this thread might have taken an off course from the primary question lol :)</p>
<p>They seem to grade easy on internationals, because they want your higher tuition fees.</p>
<p>I think mcgill is only ranked in the top 20 in one magazine, the british one. I have a feeling that is biased because it places a huge emphesis on rhodes scholars. mcgill has a large amount of student scholars because by quota, quebec is given 2 every year. The other rankings put mcgill around 50s and 60s, which is still decent.</p>
<p>McGill does have some innovating research though, especially in medicine. We have the montreal neurological institute, and it is very good.</p>