Since 2006, McGill University has sat atop the Maclean’s University Rankings for Medical Doctoral schools, one of the three categories.

But it’s sharing the top spot in 2019.

The University of Toronto tied with McGill as the top-ranked medical doctoral school in Canada. The two schools are long-time rivals for number one. Overall, Toronto has now topped the ranking on 13 occasions while its Montreal counterpart has held the honour on 16 occasions. This is also the second time the two have tied; the last was in 2005.

The Maclean’s ranking—now in its 28th year—is based on 14 separate indicators, ranging from success in obtaining research grants to spending on library acquisitions to student satisfaction. The tie was spurred by shifts in how the two schools performed on a number of these indicators. For example, the University of Toronto saw an increase while McGill saw a decrease for total research dollars (or the school’s total income from sponsored research divided by the number of its full-time faculty). The University of Toronto also excelled on the number of awards won by its faculty while McGill saw a drop on our survey of student satisfaction.

To appear on the Medical Doctoral rankings, universities must offer a broad range of Ph.D. programs and research as well as medical schools.

U of T also placed tops on the national reputational ranking, which surveys university faculty and senior administrators, business leaders and high school guidance counsellors.

For the fifth year in a row, Simon Fraser was number one for Comprehensive universities, or schools that have a wide range of undergraduate and graduate level programs as well as significant research activity.

Meanwhile, Mount Allison was number one for Primarily Undergraduate universities, those schools with relatively few graduate programs. It was also the top school in this category last year and has now held the title on 20 separate occasions.

Each year, Maclean’s makes adjustments to its ranking methodology to ensure it accurately reflects the concerns of students and their parents. This year, the magazine added a question to its student survey about the visibility of Indigenous histories, languages and cultures on campus. The responses to that question now contribute to the school’s overall rank for student satisfaction.

The full rankings are now available at macleans.com/education and on newsstands.

Medical doctoral school rankings



Undergraduate rankings



Comprehensive rankings

