Is Brown or McGill harder to get into for an international applicant?

The biggest practical difference is that Brown uses a highly selective holistic review with very limited room in its entering class, while McGill admissions are much more driven by your academic record, prerequisite courses, and the requirements of the program you choose. At McGill, an applicant with exceptionally strong marks in the right curriculum can be comparatively predictable for some faculties, although competitive programs can have very high standards. At Brown, excellent grades and activities are necessary but do not make admission predictable because essays, recommendations, intellectual fit, and the overall applicant pool all matter substantially.

For an international applicant, Brown’s process is typically less transparent and more selective. Brown reviews applicants from a global pool and looks for unusually strong academic preparation plus a distinctive contribution to its community.

McGill also attracts strong international applicants, but its decisions often turn more directly on whether you meet or exceed the published academic expectations for your intended faculty. Requirements and competitiveness can vary sharply between, for example, engineering, management, science, and arts. Strong predicted or final grades, especially in required subjects, carry particular weight.

In short, Brown is harder to get into for most international applicants. McGill can be very demanding academically, especially in its most sought-after programs, but Brown’s broader evaluation and far less predictable selection process make it the tougher admission outcome overall.