Written by Kelly Baker
McGill has one of the highest international student populations of any university, somewhere around 18 percent. That said, a significant portion of that percentage is American students, which doesn’t help the diversity. Still, there are a lot of students from all over the world, and there are so many different languages and cultures represented. Even many of the Caucasian students hail from outside of North America or have lived and traveled around the world. The most represented minority is Asian, with many students coming from China, India, and all over the Middle East. Going to McGill, one comes in contact with so many different ways of doing things, and one comes to realize that each way is embedded in a specific culture.
Contrary to popular (American) belief, the population of Canada is not solely comprised of white lumberjacks. Canada has a huge immigrant population—in fact, it has the highest per capita rate of immigration in the world. However, despite having many international people of color, it seems that there is a slight lack of national people of color at the school. Race in Canada is a very different thing than race in the United States. The McGill application does not even ask for the race of the applicant, indicating a very different approach to Affirmative Action. This does not mean that ethnic tensions do not exist in Canada, nor does it mean that Canadians deny that they exist. They just go about things differently. When it comes down to it, McGill, like Montréal, is exceptionally diverse and exudes a very international atmosphere.