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Does anyone have any information on these schools? Are they good? Which school has the better science/math/engineering program? What kind of stats do you need to get in? Are the worthy institutions?

Thanks in advance.

By Dream5 (Dream5) on Monday, May 26, 2003 - 02:59 pm: Edit

University of Toronto holds 14 million volumes of books in its library; McGill university is called the CAnadian Harvard (some people call Harvard, American McGill).

Those two are quite hard to get into. However, their tuition is CAD10,000 a year and if you are canadian citizen, the cost comes down to 4000 and 1000(Quebec residence).

McGill certainly is well-known for its reputation around the world. The London Times ranked McGill #10 in the world following Harvard, Stanford, Oxford, Cambridge and Sorboune.

If you want to go into sciecne/math/engineering, you should consider University of Waterloo. They beat Harvard, MIT, Cal-Tech and Stanford in the Putnam Competition. Waterloo is the best in the field you are looking at. However, admissions to these top canadian schools are not any easier than Ivies.

Good luck

By Stanfordhopeful (Stanfordhopeful) on Monday, May 26, 2003 - 03:01 pm: Edit

"However, admissions to these top canadian schools are not any easier than Ivies."

Really? My school had 42 people accepted to McGill and only 8 rejected last year. GPAs 11 points lower than mine got accepted.

By Aznbrouhaha (Aznbrouhaha) on Thursday, May 29, 2003 - 09:09 pm: Edit

How do the canadian schools treat SAT / SAT II scores? Canadian students don't take them, do they?

By Dream5 (Dream5) on Thursday, May 29, 2003 - 09:47 pm: Edit

Stanford:

As I mentioned, it depends on which faculty you apply to.

By Canadian007 (Canadian007) on Thursday, May 29, 2003 - 09:56 pm: Edit

if u want to go to science/mathematics/engineering, there is NO other school in whole Canada compared to WATERLOO... they hav the biggest Faculty of Mathematics in the world!!! (BIGGER THAN MIT)... and their comp. sci and comp. engi. is also world reputed... Waterloo has ranked in the TOP OVERALL for 3 consequtive yrs in Macleans Ranking of Canadian Universities...

The only problem with them is that they are very selective.. most programs require high 80s - low 90s... this university also organizes many contests.. strong results in these contests may earn a student the offer of admission... EUCLID (math), Sir Isaac Newton (physics), Chem 13 (chemistry), Avogadro (chemistry) are few of them... find more info at www.uwaterloo.ca.... good AP/SAT will help.. but school grades worth more in Canada!!.. EC doesnt worth that much over here!((

Thier another strong point is their integrated Co-op system which allows students to earn about C$40,000-C$60,000 (over 4 yrs) while they are studying without having part-time jobs during study terms...

By the way, they are prolly the only Canadian university that formally asks "essays" from applicants...

and, although UWaterloo is such a hard place to get in for engineering/sceince students, they hav empty seats in some of the "low" demand programs...

"My school had 42 people accepted to McGill and only 8 rejected last year. GPAs 11 points lower than mine got accepted".... may b Canadian universities are not that hard as Harvard or MIT, but they are as ez as u think!...


P.S.: UofToronto, McMaster & Queens are also good for science/engineering.. UofToronto & McGill are good for Med... Schulikh (York) School of Business is the best for business in Canada.. they all want high 80s-low 90s in their program of specialties!!


(does any body disagree with wat i said???... i dont think so..)

By Intergamer (Intergamer) on Thursday, May 29, 2003 - 10:26 pm: Edit

actually, the university of toronto beat waterloo at the putnam, and they were both way below harvard and mit...but they were still both good - at least, they are probably in a league comparable to harvard and mit

By Canadian007 (Canadian007) on Thursday, May 29, 2003 - 10:39 pm: Edit

Being the best in Putnum or any other contest doesnt really matter to me.. those are for the "best of the best" student(s)... but for those who are really interested in some statistics:
This is the number of times a University has won the Putnum since 1938 and upto 1999

Harvard (22)
CalTech (9)
Brooklyn (5)
UToronto (4)
MIT (3)
Waterloo (2)
Cornell (2)
UWashington, St. L (2)
Michigan State (2)
Queens (1)
UC - Berkeley (1)
UChicago (1)
Case Western (1)
UC - Davis (1)

By Tank24 (Tank24) on Thursday, May 29, 2003 - 11:21 pm: Edit

Let me break this down for you...

McGill University in Montreal is a Canadian equivalent to the Ivies. It's one of the most cosmopolitan cities in North America and one of the safest, and McGill has a great international reputation. It's also a great value compared to the Ivies (for an international student, the cost of tuition is $8763-$15,000 CDN). To get a scholarship from an American High school, one needs a minimum of an A- over a two year period, a class rank in the top 5% of his or her class and a 660 in each section of the SAT (or 30 in the ACT). I'm surprised more Americans don't consider attending the best of the Canadian universities such as McGill, U of T, Queens and UBC. They provide a quality education at a fraction of the price of the Ivies.

By Canadian007 (Canadian007) on Thursday, May 29, 2003 - 11:41 pm: Edit

Tank24,
"It's one of the most cosmopolitan cities in North America"... are u talking about Montreal?? or Toronto?? Montreal is not the "best" place to be in for English speaking ppl... Montreal is also known as "mini-France"... ppl speak french there... when i first went there (i dint know French at that time).. i had hard time even to get a taxi...

ya... McGill is very good!.. but for science/engineering UWATERLOO is better...

by the way, TORONTO is the world's one of the most cosmopolitan cities...

By Dream5 (Dream5) on Friday, May 30, 2003 - 03:06 am: Edit

Montreal is a better city.

By Tuannguyen (Tuannguyen) on Friday, May 30, 2003 - 04:12 am: Edit

The quality of the top Canadian schools would be atleast in the top 20 internationally ranked (i think U of T, McGill and U Waterloo are).

Oh and McGill's Undergrad education isn't as good as it is for Grad. School. Almost no one at my school aims to go there for undergrad. Most of them are competiting to get into that McMaster Premed thing where only around 98 people get admitted in a pool of 2000+ applicants (all with 90% and above, around A- to A+ depending on what HS you go to and usually is a 3.8-4.0). VERY competitive.

By Tank24 (Tank24) on Friday, May 30, 2003 - 02:28 pm: Edit

Tuannguyen, you are talking about Premed...not engineering. Canadian007, I was talking about Montreal, and no Toronto is not more cosmopolitan than Montreal. Toronto is just a giant melting pot city. Also, I sincerely doubt that you had trouble getting a cab in Montreal because the majority (I'd guess 97%) of the people speak French AND English very well. Although you are correct about one thing...Waterloo is a great school for Engineering...so is Ottawa U

By Canadian007 (Canadian007) on Friday, May 30, 2003 - 02:36 pm: Edit

tank24, I dont know any thing about U of Ottawa or Carlton U... can u giv me some insight about those 2?... specially in Engi.

By Deepak (Deepak) on Friday, May 30, 2003 - 04:46 pm: Edit

U of T is a great school, my brother goes there right now. It is extremely competitive in biology and the sciences from what he tells me, so just be aware of that.
Deepak S.

By Stillwaters (Stillwaters) on Friday, May 30, 2003 - 07:29 pm: Edit

how are the university of toronto's english and international relations departments (do they have IR)?

By Tank24 (Tank24) on Saturday, May 31, 2003 - 08:31 pm: Edit

Canadian007, I'm from Ottawa so I can give you the DL on both Ottawa and Carleton. Carleton has a highly respected journalism program and humanities program. In terms of Engineering, they are best known for Aerospace Engineering. There are also great Co-op and intern opportunities at Carleton and Ottawa because of the proximity to a huge high-tech sector. Ottawa is also a beautiful city. The thing is, your experience might not be the same at Carleton as some other Universities because most students are from the area (85%) and communte to school. Rez life would be really different.

Ottawa's engineering program is very well respected, but obviously Politics and Law are huge there. It is a nicer campus than Carleton and is in the heart of the city with a better nightlife than Carleton, which is a little farther from the downtown core. Both are great schools in a great city

Stillwaters, the International Relations at U of T is a great program with endless opportunities. Also, U of T (St George campus) is right by Bay street and Queen's Park so there are some fantastic co-op and intern opportunities there as well (if you know people).

By Humburdy (Humburdy) on Saturday, May 31, 2003 - 11:04 pm: Edit

"this university also organizes many contests.. strong results in these contests may earn a student the offer of admission... EUCLID (math), Sir Isaac Newton (physics), Chem 13 (chemistry), Avogadro (chemistry) are few of them... find more info at www.uwaterloo.ca.... good AP/SAT will help.. but school grades worth more in Canada!!.. EC doesnt worth that much over here!(("

oh dear. contests. what's considered a "strong result"?
are contest results any use in us universities?

By Canadian007 (Canadian007) on Saturday, May 31, 2003 - 11:48 pm: Edit

humburdy,
"EUCLID (math), Sir Isaac Newton (physics), Chem 13 (chemistry), Avogadro (chemistry)".. are all offered by UWaterloo.. so, only they look @ these results.. specially if u wanna go to Engineering/Science/Math in UWaterloo, it is recommended that u write Euclid Math Contest..

in Euclid, being the top @ ur school or in the top 5% is considered good...

in Sir Isaan Newton Exam, being selected as a book prize winner is very good...

in Chem13 or Avogadro, being in the Top 5% is considered good..

and for US universities, it makes more sense to write US contests like AMC and AIME or USAMO (hard!!!!)..

UofToronto also has some contests like Leonardo Da Vinci and another Bio contest (i donno the exact name - i suk a bio:P)

basically, a contest performance can not earn u an "offer of admission" but it surely gives ur profile a better prospective...

By Humburdy (Humburdy) on Tuesday, June 03, 2003 - 06:08 pm: Edit

national biology competition ;)

hey...how come no one ever mentions Queen's University?

By Ivyleaguer (Ivyleaguer) on Monday, July 14, 2003 - 04:40 pm: Edit

Actually, Mcgill in Canada's rankings lags behind U of T #1 and Queens #2. it is now number 3 but up to last year was number 4 for years. It isn't really a part of the canadian Ivies at least not this year as it didn't join the rest of the schools on the high school tour down south (see www.canadianivy.ca). U of T calls itself the Harvard of Canada, Mcgill calls itself harvard of the North and Harvard is the Queens of the south-- so says Queen's. However ranking are rankings and U of T has topped the ranking for years and has the highest endowment and most prestigious international reputation (see Macleans.ca and the current rankings).

I say this: Mcgill is Canada's yale, U of T is Canada's Harvard and Queen's is Canada's. Princeton of the three I would say Mcgill is the weaker link. on a ranking done of universities world wide by an Asian University U of T ranked way ahead of Mcgill. while I say take this particular ranking with a grain of salt. U of T was FAR ahead of Mcgill. here is the link: ( mhtml:http://ed.sjtu.edu.cn/rank/rank-2003.mht!file:///C:/58E9C633/rank-2003.htm)

By Canadian007 (Canadian007) on Monday, July 14, 2003 - 05:42 pm: Edit

Maclean's Ranking of Canadian Universities 2002

BEST OVERALL
1. Waterloo
2. Toronto
3. McGill
4. Queen's
5. Alberta
6. McMaster
7. UBC
8. Guelph
9. Simon Fraser
10.Western 1

HIGHEST QUALITY
1. McGill
2. Toronto
3. Queen's
4. Waterloo
5. UBC
6. McMaster
7. Alberta
8. Western
9. Guelph
10.Mount Allison

MOST INNOVATIVE
1. Waterloo
2. Toronto
3. McMaster
4. Alberta
5. Queen's
6. Guelph
7. Simon Fraser
8. McGill
9. UBC
10.Acadia

LEADERS OF TOMORROW
1. Toronto
2. Waterloo
3. McGill
4. Queen's
5. Alberta
6. UBC
7. McMaster
8. Guelph
9. Montreal
10.Sherbrooke

also check http://www.adm.uwaterloo.ca/infoipa/macleans.html for rankings of 1991-2001...

By Loser1982 (Loser1982) on Saturday, August 02, 2003 - 05:10 pm: Edit

Do you have the numbers for 2003? Thanks!

By Canadian007 (Canadian007) on Saturday, August 02, 2003 - 07:57 pm: Edit

the 2003 edition will be published in September...

By Mike555 (Mike555) on Monday, June 28, 2004 - 11:26 pm: Edit

Nov 10, 2003 issue of MacLean's:

Best Overall: Toronto
Most Innovative: Toronto
Leaders of Tomorrow: Toronto

Top medical doctorate:
#1 Toronto (10th consecutive year)
#2 McGill

(I couldnt get the full rankings because I dont have the magazine, but these ranks are from these links)

McGill commenting on it:
http://www.mcgill.ca/reporter/05/macleans/

UofT commenting on it:
http://www.news.utoronto.ca/bin5/031110a.asp