Choosing colleges

[damian]

So most of my college apps fell through for one reason or another. I got rejected from Cornell, JHU (blessing in disguise?) and Northwestern, and waitlisted from Tufts. I'm also fully expecting a rej from UChic. Meh.

The only schools I got into worth looking at are McGill and Boston College. For the life of me, though, I can't seem to make up my mind. I mean, I think it goes something like this:

McGill
+One of the best schools in Canada
-...it's in Canada (My parents know a family friend from McGill; only got into med school on the 2nd year that he tried even though he had a decent GPA. I don't know any Canadians, but they do seem like they might be kinda weird.)
+drinking age is 18 (I think that must have at least some advantages)
+Montreal just seems like a kickass town from what I've seen of it
-It's just not a "normal" school, if you know what I mean. That goes back to the whole Canda thing.
+/-It's huge, dunno if that's a good or bad thing.

BC
+Generally seems good. Not special, but at least people know what it is.
+Seems as though the people there are fine, although my sister said that they're a bit on the preppy side
-It's in Boston. Maybe it's because I live near there or because I've seen all the wrong places, but it seems like one of the most boring cities on Earth. I'm not 21 either, so that'll probably take away some of the fun of being in a city in the first place.

I'll be doing premed most likely, by the way.

Any thoughts?

[Warren]

McGill, it's cheaper, and BC is a waste of money, a huge load of money, $38000 a year. Boston's a great city, I don't know what you're talkin' about. Also, BC is one of the ugliest schools I've ever seen (MIT is really ugly too), just a row of grey buildings...oh, and "on campus" housing is never guaranteed, that would suck being a freshman being forced to have your own apartment and stuff. Don't worry about Canadians, they're great, Quebecoids are cool, just don't be a stupid American, and don't make fun of the French. And the age thing doesn't matter at all man, it's essentually anarchy when you're in college. And as the size, I go to Michigan State, a population of 46,000 students, I just got back from dinner, and it was a 40 minute walk away (a special caf, a group of us went, super good pasta thing). I love having a giant population, especially coming from a tiny crappy town in Massachusetts, I don't know much about Acton, but I don't think I'll ever move back to Massachusetts. I'll visit though. And if you don't like the cold, well, Quebec is gonna be pretty assbitingly cold. But you know New England too, so...weather sucks in general, I question why I moved to Michigan...but I love it here.

[damian]

BC campus ugly? You sure you're not talking about BU?

Acton is in the boonies. Nothing happens here. At all.

[Warren]

I probably am thinking of BU...

And I grew up in Mendon, the Mendon-Upton school district, and WAAF, the most popular radio station in Massachusetts, did a comprehensive survey of Massachusetts and deemed my little town and Upton as the most boring region of Massachusetts. Don't say nothing happens in Acton, I have to drive 20 minutes on the highway to go to the nearest McDonalds (not that I would ever go there). I liked Massachusetts, though the ONLY thing to do is 1: go to the mall, or 2: go to the movies. That's it. Now I live in Lansing, Michigan, the capital for all you people who think Detroit is the capital. It's so nice being close to stuff to do, and close to people.

[James S]

[chuck]

[David Horn]

I would strike Oklahoma off any potential list:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4395857.stm

[Brig]

Canadian girls for the win!

[sandmann]

Chuck, I highly doubt going out-of-country for undergrad will help you get into med school. I think just about every grad school in the nation knows that America has the best undergrad collges, period. That said, McGill is a good school.

BC is a gorgeous campus. The people there aren't just a "bit" preppy -- there are tons of preps. There are also plenty of other people, too. It's a bit snobbish, but not as bad as other places. Boston is a really, really cool city.

There's my stream-of-consciousness assessment of BC. I'd choose BC over McGill any day.

Actually, are you paying for school yourself? Student lones are dangerous. If your parents are fronting for it, go to BC. If not, I'd give McGill more consideration.

[Chris Edwards]

[Warren]

[Maf54]

[sandmann]

[David Horn]

[damian]