Annual Maclean’s university rankings released: McGill, Simon Fraser, Mount Allison on top

TORONTO, Ont. – Maclean’s magazine has released its annual university rankings edition, and several schools are quite familiar with the top of the list.

The 20th annual issue, which parents and students consider the education bible, lists Montreal’s McGill as the best medical school for the 6th straight year, while the University of Toronto held on to the second spot.

B.C. ‘s Simon Fraser University tops the comprehensive category (referring to schools which have a significant amount of research activity and a wide range of programs at the undergraduate level, including professional degrees), while Mount Allison in New Brunswick came in as the top undergrad school for the fourth year.

“The now commonplace university tour with your parents, there was no internet, universities themselves were very closed off,” said MacLean’s Cathrin Bradbury, explaining that much has changed in the past 20 years.

“Now, it’s a much more open environment, and I think that this rankings had something to do with it.”

A four year degree now costs $60,000 on average. As a result, Bradbury said it’s extremely important that students, along with their parents, make the right decision.

“It’s a lot of money, and it’s a huge lifetime investment, and you want to get it right,” Bradbury told 680News.

Some schools have felt that the annual survey takes a distorted view, but Bradbury said the process of ranking each school has been changed throughout the years.

“We’ve used third party sources like StatsCan and all kinds of academics from across the country, so our data’s well-researched and very reliable.

“We started conversations with presidents, professors, students, their parents, that everybody can participate in, as a result, universities have become much more open about what happens.”

Maclean’s top 5 (last year’s rankings in parentheses):

Medical Doctoral schools:

1. McGill (1)

2. Toronto (2)

3. UBC (4)

4. Alberta (5)

5. Queen’s (3)

Comprehensive schools:

1. Simon Fraser (1)

2. Victoria (2)

3. Waterloo (3)

4. Guelph (4)

5. Memorial (5)

Primarily Undergraduate schools:

1. Mount Allison (1)

2. Acadia (2)

3. UNBC (3)

4. Lethbridge (6)

5. Wilfred Laurier (4)

For more on the issue, click here.