MONTREAL — McGill University rose to the number 1 spot this year among Canadian universities in an annual ranking compiled by researchers from McGill University.
The order of the list was calculated using a number of criteria including: how elite the school’s alumni are (25%), how neat the university’s research is (30%), and how much more prestige the school has over other universities (45%). The McGill University Quality Ranking of McGill and not-McGill Universities (MQRMMU) began in 2005 to offset bad press as the University of Toronto pulled ahead in a number of international rankings. MQRMMU quickly became the go-to university ranking for students already planning on going to McGill.
“We’re very proud of our achievement this year.” said President and Vice-Chancellor Susan Fortier in reference to MQRMMU. “We have the best alumni, the best undergraduate programs, and [McGill] research is the most cited in Canada. Our papers have been cited 34, 501 times this year–” Fortier was then interrupted by a notification from her smartphone.
“–Oops, make that 34, 502,” she chirruped as she excitedly clicked a tally counter clipped to her belt.
Students at McGill were more humble about the achievement.
“I don’t think that this list makes us better than other students or whatever.” said U1 political science major Deborah Feinstein.
“But yeah, I guess it does make us better than other students. It’s, like, people call us ‘Harvard of the North’, right?” added Feinstein, pointing to her ‘McGill: Harvard of the North’ sweatshirt exclusively sold at the McGill bookstore.Ironically, next week, the MQRMMU will hold a ceremony honouring McGill with the award for “Most Self-Referencing University in North America”.
