3 ms·

> McGill is not a great university It still ranks pretty high: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McGill_University#Rankings_and_reputation https://en.wikipedia.or

by jordigh 12y ago

> McGill is not a great university It still ranks pretty high: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McGill_University#Rankings_and_reputation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McGill_University#Rankings_and... and they still sell those "Harvard: The McGill of America" sweatshirts every year. https://glasgowuniversityabroad0910.wordpress.com/2009/10/16/harvard-americas-mcgill/ https://glasgowuniversityabroad0910.wordpress.com/2009/10/16... That B. Ed. students are coming so unprepared from McGill is quite sad. Its liberal arts programme is also much bigger than Waterloo's, but comparable to UofT's.

100timesthis 12y ago
>"Harvard: The McGill of America" mmm and they didn't realize that McGill is in America too? May be the parent post has a point...
- jordigh 12y ago
  As a Mexican, I don't like it much either, but I'm also tired of trying to convince the world that America isn't the US. Here is some consolation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29g57XTYgLE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29g57XTYgLE
  - lotharbot 12y ago
    There are three [0] "America"s -- North, South, and United States of. Clarification is only required when context is inadequate to distinguish between them. Similarly, "star" can refer to a shape, a celestial body, or a talented/lead performer or athlete. You wouldn't interrupt a conversation about sports to say "stars aren't just guys like LeBron James; Aldebaran is also a star." That would be asinine and obnoxious. So please, out of respect for everyone's time and sanity, learn how to use contextual clues and stop trying to argue that "America isn't the US". [0] OK, there are actually even more "America"s -- a band, multiple cities, ships, movies, etc. But the contextual clues in this post suggested we had "large regions of land" in mind, so I left the other forms of "America" for the footnote.
    - jordigh 12y ago
      > "America isn't the US". Depends whom I'm talking to. When I talk to you and others like you, I'll be careful to note that unqualified "America" to you almost always means "the United States". It never meant that to me growing up, nor to a bunch of other people. However, due to the global influence of the US, most of the world considers "America" to be the "US". It's not really about context or anything that could be called objective. It just means different things to different people. And because for me "America" has very emotional meanings (such as for example, Morelos' proclamation that "... so Americans may only be distinguished by vice or virtue"[1] or Luis Miguel's song "América"[2], or Las Águilas del América [3]), I will never personally accept the meaning of "US" for "America". You may have other emotional attachments to the meaning of "America", so I will try to respect those when I use the word around you or others like you. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sentimientos_de_la_Naci%C3%B3n https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sentimientos_de_la_Naci%C3%B3n [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SL3u7qU_09w https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SL3u7qU_09w [3] note their logo: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Club_Am%C3%A9rica https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Club_Am%C3%A9rica
      - lotharbot 12y ago
        > "It's not really about context ... [it] means different things to different people." The identities of the speaker and audience are part of context. As you correctly inferred, if I'm speaking, an unqualified "America" probably means "the United States". If you're speaking, it probably means "the largest landmass in the western hemisphere". If we're quoting Obama speaking to the Senate, or Morelos during the revolution, we can infer what they mean by "America". Accept the meaning the speaker intends, when it's communicated clearly enough that you can infer it. That's how communication works.
        jordigh 12y ago
        > The identities of the speaker and audience are part of context. I cannot in general assume that information on the internet.
        12y ago
  - 100timesthis 12y ago
    I was depressed mostly by the very lame message, I just find it sad.
3pt14159 12y ago
Rankings and reputation are interrelated, but not the same thing. For example, rankings punish large class sizes, but well known professors like Larry Smith command 500+ person classes; simultaneously reducing rankings while improving reputation. I would argue that McGill hits the right numbers, and certainly has a great law program, but it is middle of the road in terms of reputation.

by jordigh 12y ago

100timesthis 12y ago

>"Harvard: The McGill of America" mmm and they didn't realize that McGill is in America too? May be the parent post has a point...

jordigh 12y ago
As a Mexican, I don't like it much either, but I'm also tired of trying to convince the world that America isn't the US. Here is some consolation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29g57XTYgLE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29g57XTYgLE
- lotharbot 12y ago
  There are three [0] "America"s -- North, South, and United States of. Clarification is only required when context is inadequate to distinguish between them. Similarly, "star" can refer to a shape, a celestial body, or a talented/lead performer or athlete. You wouldn't interrupt a conversation about sports to say "stars aren't just guys like LeBron James; Aldebaran is also a star." That would be asinine and obnoxious. So please, out of respect for everyone's time and sanity, learn how to use contextual clues and stop trying to argue that "America isn't the US". [0] OK, there are actually even more "America"s -- a band, multiple cities, ships, movies, etc. But the contextual clues in this post suggested we had "large regions of land" in mind, so I left the other forms of "America" for the footnote.
  - jordigh 12y ago
    > "America isn't the US". Depends whom I'm talking to. When I talk to you and others like you, I'll be careful to note that unqualified "America" to you almost always means "the United States". It never meant that to me growing up, nor to a bunch of other people. However, due to the global influence of the US, most of the world considers "America" to be the "US". It's not really about context or anything that could be called objective. It just means different things to different people. And because for me "America" has very emotional meanings (such as for example, Morelos' proclamation that "... so Americans may only be distinguished by vice or virtue"[1] or Luis Miguel's song "América"[2], or Las Águilas del América [3]), I will never personally accept the meaning of "US" for "America". You may have other emotional attachments to the meaning of "America", so I will try to respect those when I use the word around you or others like you. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sentimientos_de_la_Naci%C3%B3n https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sentimientos_de_la_Naci%C3%B3n [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SL3u7qU_09w https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SL3u7qU_09w [3] note their logo: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Club_Am%C3%A9rica https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Club_Am%C3%A9rica
    - lotharbot 12y ago
      > "It's not really about context ... [it] means different things to different people." The identities of the speaker and audience are part of context. As you correctly inferred, if I'm speaking, an unqualified "America" probably means "the United States". If you're speaking, it probably means "the largest landmass in the western hemisphere". If we're quoting Obama speaking to the Senate, or Morelos during the revolution, we can infer what they mean by "America". Accept the meaning the speaker intends, when it's communicated clearly enough that you can infer it. That's how communication works.
      - jordigh 12y ago
        > The identities of the speaker and audience are part of context. I cannot in general assume that information on the internet.
        12y ago
- 100timesthis 12y ago
  I was depressed mostly by the very lame message, I just find it sad.

3pt14159 12y ago

Rankings and reputation are interrelated, but not the same thing. For example, rankings punish large class sizes, but well known professors like Larry Smith command 500+ person classes; simultaneously reducing rankings while improving reputation. I would argue that McGill hits the right numbers, and certainly has a great law program, but it is middle of the road in terms of reputation.