Getting into McGill

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:From what I am reading it seems to be mostly grades and SAT scores above a certain threshold, so if you qualify based on those, would you be in automatically?

No if you are above their GPA/SAT threshold cut-off, you still have only a 45% chance of getting in. So roughly 50/50 if you meet the cut-off.

I don't think that's true at all. There are no essays, no extra-curriculars under consideration. This is a European-style uni. They don't want to get to know you. They only judge based on scores, grades and types of courses you've taken.

If you meet the requirements for that particular program, then you do have a good chance. But I've never seen an actual probability attached. My understanding was that it was way more than 50% if you were at the threshold.

We did not actually put this to the test, since my kid was way above the threshold. Also, we're French, and we love Montreal. Some words aren't the same as in France, and the Quebec accent sounds a little peculiar to our Parisian ears, but it's rather endearing.

Is your child there? How do they like it? We're French as well so the tuition discount is very attractive. I am just worried it will feel European in a bad way: not as much campus spirit and fun as a US school.

No, he decided to go elsewhere because he realized he'd be too cold
But his younger siblings are considering it.
The lack of campus spirit doesn't bother us in the least - we visited some US schools that had, in our opinion, way too much campus spirit!

[Anonymous]

Their tuition for Internationals has tripled in the past five years, sadly.

[Anonymous]

Are test scores mandatory again for McGill?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are test scores mandatory again for McGill?

not for 2025

how about the french proficiency?

[Anonymous]

DC was admitted with 4.46/1540 in Fall 2022--not French proficient.

[Anonymous]

DC admitted with 1580 SAT. He is not French proficient, but we are Canadian so tuition is like cad $6000 which is way lower than in state

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:From what I am reading it seems to be mostly grades and SAT scores above a certain threshold, so if you qualify based on those, would you be in automatically?

McGill is one of those schools where getting in is the easy part. Once you’re there, it is a great education but no American style college picnic. Some American schools have reputations for grade deflation- Cornell, etc- but McGill is far more challenging in a way because it has a fairly strict B-/C+ average CURVE in some faculties, so no matter what, some kids are getting C and D and even F. So you’re previously straight A student will need to get used to getting much lower grades. I’ve seen kids be shocked to get a 55 on in an intro class that they worked hard for.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Pretty much, but the actual cut-off varies every year. The mininum requirements are listed. If a kid is right at that threshold, it might be tricky.

However, if your child is way above the requirements, then you can consider it a safety! This is really comforting for kids, considering the comparative unknowns and subsequent stress of US college admissions, where you never quite know what magic formula of extra-curriculars will push you over the edge. My son was in that situation. He was accepted, but ultimately decided it would be too cold for him in the winter (he's cold-sensitive), so he went somewhere warmer. My younger kids are considering McGill, however - they love the cold!

My kid got in with 1520, 4.7 (weighted) from DCPS; he probably could have gotten in with slightly less on SAT/GPA from what I read. It's kind of off the radar of most US-based students.

No essays, and pretty quick application.

This may answer my concern - the website for the metrics are for unweighted GPA - my kid has 4.65 weighted but falls below the 3.8 unweighted GPA that they state is the cutoff (and ACT score is far above the cutoff). Did your child's unweighted GPA meet the cut off?

How is that mathematically possible?

DP it is possible in almost every school in our area of Virginia because AP and DE get 5.0 for A and 5.3 or 5.5 for A+, depending on HS, and honors gets 4.5 for A and 4.8 or 5.0 for A+, many teachers give A+ to about 20% of the class (99-100 average), some classes that are harder have about half get B’s other classes only about 1/3 get B-something. It’s all over the place but the majority inflated. The median weighted is 4.25, some of them took easier classes and have 4.0 uw, others have 3.6 uw or lower. Add in no one telling rank until senior year when they tell you decile and it is really hard to figure out what schools to target