I don’t understand why top Canadian universities have such high acceptance rates compared to the U.S.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Canadian colleges don’t look at low acceptance rates as a good thing. Once it gets close to a certain threshold, they increase the seats.

Why is that not the same in the USA? Is there a governing body that requires that? Or is it just cultural

First, the top universities in Canada (and actually the rest of the world) are public vs most of the top 25 in the US…so it’s easier for a public university to decide to increase class size or whatever they need to do to fit them in.

Also, I think Canadian universities are funded nationally…it’s not like the US where a province/state is mostly responsible for funding their State universities.

There definitely is no responsibility to house students that attend Canadian universities…and definitely not after the first year. Thats why the pricing is much more ala carte.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’ve been comparing the admissions statistics of top Canadian universities with those of similarly prestigious U.S. public institutions, and the differences are striking. When we look at applicant volume, acceptance rates, admitted numbers, first-year enrollments, and total student populations, it becomes even more apparent.

Top Canadian Universities

University of Toronto (U of T)
Applicants: ~60,000–70,000+
Acceptance Rate: ~40–43%
Admitted: ~25,000–30,000
Enrolled Freshmen: ~14,000
Total Student Population: ~90,000+ (across all campuses)

University of British Columbia (UBC)
Applicants: ~40,000–45,000+
Acceptance Rate: ~50%
Admitted: ~20,000–22,000
Enrolled Freshmen: ~8,000–9,000
Total Student Population: ~65,000+

McGill University
Applicants: ~35,000–40,000
Acceptance Rate: ~40–46%
Admitted: ~14,000–18,000
Enrolled Freshmen: ~6,000
Total Student Population: ~40,000

Top U.S. Public Universities

UCLA
Applicants: ~149,700
Acceptance Rate: ~9–10%
Admitted: ~10,000
Enrolled Freshmen: ~6,400
Total Student Population: ~46,000 (undergrad + grad)

UC Berkeley
Applicants: ~128,000+
Acceptance Rate: ~14–15%
Admitted: ~15,000
Enrolled Freshmen: ~6,700
Total Student Population: ~45,000

University of Michigan (Ann Arbor)
Applicants: ~83,000+
Acceptance Rate: ~18–20%
Admitted: ~15,000
Enrolled Freshmen: ~7,200
Total Student Population: ~51,000

University of Virginia (UVA)

Applicants: ~56,000+
Acceptance Rate: ~19–21%
Admitted: ~9,950
Enrolled Freshmen: ~3,900
Total Student Population: ~25,000
UNC Chapel Hill
Applicants: ~57,000+
Acceptance Rate: ~19%
Admitted: ~10,300+
Enrolled Freshmen: ~4,200
Total Student Population: ~30,000

Looking at these figures side by side, Canadian universities are admitting a significantly larger proportion of their applicants, often 2–4 times the acceptance rate of the U.S. schools listed. Despite these higher acceptance rates, Canadian institutions like U of T, UBC, and McGill still maintain strong academic reputations, appear prominently in global rankings, and consistently produce high-quality research.

It raises the question: Is something off in the way the U.S. system is structured? Are ultra-low acceptance rates in the U.S. more about prestige and scarcity than educational quality or capacity? Meanwhile, Canada seems to strike a balance—large, top-ranked schools admitting a greater share of qualified applicants and still delivering excellence.

What are your thoughts? Is the U.S. higher education model broken or overly exclusive? Could U.S. public universities adopt strategies from Canada—such as more robust infrastructure and funding—to support larger incoming classes without compromising on standards? It’s a puzzling contrast, and I’m curious to hear what others think about it.

ding, ding, ding. US parents are hung up on “the exclusive experience”, even though these so-called “elite” universities have ample resources to enlarge their student population considerably. Every time a college tries to expend, there’s wailing and gnashing of teeth and pearl-cutching about “destroying the brand”.

[Anonymous]

Because not everyone can apply. They have a GPA cut off just to get your application read. McGill's cut-off is A- so it eliminates all the B students and below applying. Essentially, you start with a much smaller and pre-vetted denominator.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Canadian-American here. Canada is a really small country compared to the U.S. It’s also perfectly normal to live at home when you go to university, save for the top students. There isn’t the same breadth of applications and many students don’t apply as widely as they do in the U.S. because there just aren’t as many places to go. Furthermore, the top ranked universities in Canada are quite large, which is the opposite of the U.S. where too students are competing for very few elite spots.

It’s also less of an arms race because you aren’t admitted on a whole resume package. Applications are very straightforward.

Not sure about the PP who said Canadians would rather go to the U.S. That was unusual when I was growing up and still is. The majority of Canadians don’t even consider it due to the expense and the very different way in which applications are reviewed.

Yeah, Canadian students do not want to go to the US for school.

[Anonymous]

The number of students at UCLA + Berkeley + Michigan + UVA is about the same as UBC + U of T + McGill. But the US is 8x the population of Canada. UCLA increased 8x would be 380 thousand students!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think Canadian schools tend to have higher acceptance rates, but lower 4-year graduation rates than US schools. There’s less advising and support generally. Please check me on this.

Correct. Canadian school grad here. They failed easily 1/3 of their engineering students out the first year.

[Anonymous]

Agree with the pp who mentioned hard academics once you’re admitted. McGill was a hard school and the profs did not care. They did not know you. I remember a final exam where there were two questions and that was 80% of our grade.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think Canadian schools tend to have higher acceptance rates, but lower 4-year graduation rates than US schools. There’s less advising and support generally. Please check me on this.

The way it should be! University of Rome, the same. Look, we are learning the brain doesn’t fully develop til 26! Judging the brain at 18 leaves a lot of smarties (late bloomers) out of the mix in US. Good on them

[Anonymous]

Good on the Canadians

[Anonymous]

Canadian schools get funded per.student enrolled

So the top schools all have a financial incentive to remain large in order to garner the most funding. Kund of like US hospitals and health systems - the top ranked institutions are all large because they get funded for volume of services.

Seonly, they publish program cut-offs to better guide students into the right "volume" categories to match faculty respurves, student demand versus pre-requisite skills, and program funding lines. All of which means the "selectivity branding" isn't as financially tied to revenue and prestige as it is ithe US.

[Anonymous]

I’m Canadian and can answer this.

We don’t apply to 10-15 colleges like Americans do; we apply to 2-4. All the top universities make clear a year in advance what the score/GPA cutoff is, so only the 95+ average students apply to U of T, for example. Your guidance counsellor would not let you apply or send out your transcript if you don’t meet the score minimum because you’d be wasting everyone’s time and hurting your high school’s reputation. Plus Canadian high schools don’t grade inflate. You add all these factors together, the whole process becomes much less mysterious and stressful, and acceptance rates are higher across the board.

The top universities there are more rigorous and tougher to survive than American ones (I also got a degree at a top10 in the U.S. and have families on both sides of the border), but getting in is much easier for the qualified candidates.

[Anonymous]

I went to a private school (not dc) where the counselors were well aware of the differences in the system. They steered some kids who were great test takers that did well under pressure (weed out tests, etc) but didn’t have many extracurriculars toward Canadian universities.

[Anonymous]

It is really only in the USA where "acceptance rates" are a metric to follow.

Many countries are self selecting, sometimes an application needs the support of the school's administration to proceed.

Its only in the US where you can apply as an individual to every college in existence, whether you're qualified or not.

And yes, it is a money game here.

In the UK it is 28 pounds to apply to 5 universities, the maximum allowed. And that system works pretty well.

[Anonymous]

We have the common app, and it is easy to apply to 20+ schools. Students apply to schools whether they have the stats or not. U Chicago encourages apps from
unqualified students because numerous Americans think a low acceptance rate means a school is good.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think Canadian schools tend to have higher acceptance rates, but lower 4-year graduation rates than US schools. There’s less advising and support generally. Please check me on this.

This is true. They weed out.