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Comment by meetingthrower | Hacker News Reader

I am right now visiting McGill University in Canada with my son. He's applying to all the top universities in US, but McGill is a breath of fresh air:

A)They admit by strict gpa and SAT criteria. No essays needed! Got top scores, you are in!

B) they are cheap. For international, it's $32k Canadian tuition. This is almost roughly equivalent to in state tuition at U Michigan. For Quebecers, the tuition and fees are around $5k Canadian!

C) it's huge. 40k kids. And they are all the top kids. Canada builds big schools and just gets shit done.

The US system is just such BS. On our tour, the entire group was American, half of whom we're waiting on decisions from Ivy's which are released this week. It's crazy that the US is essentially inviting top students to leave the country for a great but much cheaper education.

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According to their admissions website they have strict GPA minimums but there is no guarantee (which is how I interpreted the statement "Got top scores, you are in!")

Additionally they don't require the SATs at although prior to COVID they also had a minimum score for that.

Incorrect - in discussing with admissions team they rank order the applicants based on their criteria (grades, SAT, and rigor of curriculum) and admit in a rolling basis from top of list down until they hit their capacity. So while the cutoffs vary year by year, if your scores are top scores you WILL get admitted (e.g, you cannot get any higher than a perfect GPA and a 1600 SAT.) They extended the SAT optional policy for this year, but expect it to be back next year according to most.

They will even admit in tranches at different times in the year. So if you are a top applicant you will find out earlier (early Jan) while those on the margin have to wait.

https://www.mcgill.ca/undergraduate-admissions/apply/require...

Definitely agree with all the advantages you describe. There's no reason to not consider UToronto, McGill, Waterloo, UBC, etc except perhaps that they don't use common app (though if I recall the application process was supposed to be much easier).

>it's huge. 40k kids. And they are all the top kids. Canada builds big schools and just gets shit done

If you have a kid who wants more of a small school vibe I think that's also possible. I didn't go, but UToronto does residential colleges more like Oxbridge, I'd imagine that helps greatly w/ encouraging socializing.

Might check out UToronto, thanks. We are east coasters and honestly also love the vibe of Montreal. So it is a wonderful school - surprised it is not more overrun by Americans (who represent less than half the internationals here.) Drinking age of 18, cheap cost of living, and hip areas like Plateau make it an awesome choice.

Applications could NOT be easier. Send in transcript and SAT. Done. (And if you are well above the cutoffs from last year, KNOW you will be accepted. No drama.)

I went to McGill as an American and I think it was a great choice. I mostly applied on a lark since, as you said, it was very easy to apply. Also as you said, tuition was a lot cheaper than comparable schools in America. Living in Montreal felt like I'd moved somewhere more like Europe, but it was still easy to visit family in Philadelphia.

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