Maclean’s Canadian University Rankings 2021 (Part 2)

For many years, students looking to pursue a post-secondary education in Canada have relied on Maclean’s University Rankings to help make their decision about where to study a little easier.

Earlier this week we took a look at the top schools by reputation. Today we’ll explore:

• Top medical doctoral schools
• Top comprehensive schools
• Top primarily undergraduate schools
• Top universities by student satisfaction

ApplyBoard Partner Schools

Maclean’s Top Universities by Student Satisfaction, Top Comprehensive Schools, and Top Primarily Undergraduate Schools lists include an incredible 28 Canadian ApplyBoard partner schools! We consider ourselves fortunate to work with each of our partner schools on our shared mission to educate the world.

* Denotes a tie

• Acadia University (Primarily Undergraduate #3, Student Satisfaction–Primarily Undergraduate #5)
• Bishop’s University (Student Satisfaction–Primarily Undergraduate #1, Primarily Undergraduate #7)
• Brock University (Student Satisfaction–Comprehensive #2, Comprehensive #13)
• Cape Breton University (Student Satisfaction–Primarily Undergraduate #6, Primarily Undergraduate #19)
• Lakehead University (Primarily Undergraduate #8*, Student Satisfaction–Primarily Undergraduate #16*)
• Laurentian University (Primarily Undergraduate #12, Student Satisfaction–Primarily Undergraduate #19)
• McGill University (Medical Doctoral #1, Student Satisfaction–Medical Doctoral #8*)
• Memorial University of Newfoundland (Comprehensive #9, Student Satisfaction–Comprehensive #14)
• Mount Allison University (Primarily Undergraduate #1, Student Satisfaction–Primarily Undergraduate #2)
• Mount Saint Vincent University (Student Satisfaction–Primarily Undergraduate #14, Primarily Undergraduate #18)
• Ontario Tech University (Student Satisfaction–Primarily Undergraduate #10, Primarily Undergraduate #11)
• Queen’s University (Medical Doctoral #5, Student Satisfaction–Medical Doctoral #3)
• Ryerson University (Student Satisfaction–Comprehensive #10, Comprehensive #12)
• St. Thomas University (Student Satisfaction–Primarily Undergraduate #11, Primarily Undergraduate #14)
• Trent University (Student Satisfaction–Primarily Undergraduate #7, Primarily Undergraduate #8*)
• University of Guelph (Student Satisfaction–Comprehensive #1, Comprehensive #4)
• University of Lethbridge (Primarily Undergraduate #2, Student Satisfaction–Primarily Undergraduate #8)
• University of New Brunswick (Comprehensive #6*, Student Satisfaction–Comprehensive #7)
• University of Northern British Columbia (Primarily Undergraduate #5, Student Satisfaction–Primarily Undergraduate #9)
• University of Prince Edward Island (Primarily Undergraduate #10, Student Satisfaction–Primarily Undergraduate #12)
• University of Regina (Comprehensive #15, Student Satisfaction–Comprehensive #15)
• University of Saskatchewan (Student Satisfaction–Medical Doctoral #6, Medical Doctoral #14*)
• University of Victoria (Comprehensive #2*, Student Satisfaction–Comprehensive #8)
• University of Waterloo (Comprehensive #2*, Student Satisfaction–Comprehensive #6)
• University of Windsor (Student Satisfaction–Comprehensive #9, Comprehensive #14)
• Western University (Medical Doctoral #8, Student Satisfaction–Medical Doctoral #10)
• Wilfrid Laurier University (Student Satisfaction–Comprehensive #5, Comprehensive #8)
• York University (Comprehensive #6*, Student Satisfaction–Comprehensive #13)

Canada’s Top Medical Doctoral Schools 2021

Maclean’s defines a medical doctoral school as a university with “a broad range of Ph.D. programs and research, as well as medical schools.”

Overall Ranking	University	Last Year	Student Satisfaction	Reputational Survey
1	McGill University	1	8*	3
2	University of Toronto	2	13	1
3	University of British Columbia	3	7	2
4	McMaster University	4	5	4
5	Queen’s University	5*	3	6
6	University of Alberta	5*	11	5
7	Dalhousie University	8	8*	10
8*	University of Calgary	9	14	9
8*	University of Ottawa	11	15	12
8*	Western University	7	10	7
11*	Laval University	12	2	11
11*	Université de Montréal	10	4	8
13	Université de Sherbrooke	13	1	13
14*	University of Manitoba	14	12	15
14*	University of Saskatchewan	15	6	14

Canada’s Top Comprehensive Schools 2021

A comprehensive school is a university with a “significant amount of research activity and a wide range of programs at the undergraduate and graduate level, including professional degrees.”

Overall Ranking	University	Last Year	Student Satisfaction	Reputational Survey
1	Simon Fraser University	1	12	2
2*	University of Victoria	2	8	4
2*	University of Waterloo	3	6	1
4	University of Guelph	4	1	3
5	Carleton University	5	3	9
6*	University of New Brunswick	*8	7	12
6*	York University	7	13	7
8	Wilfrid Laurier University	6	5	10
9	Memorial University of Newfoundland	8*	14	8
10*	Concordia University	10	11	6
10*	Université du Québec à Montréal	11*	4	11
12	Ryerson University	11*	10	5
13	Brock University	14*	2	13
14	University of Windsor	13	9	15
15	University of Regina	14*	15	14

Canada’s Top Primarily Undergraduate Schools 2021

The third type of institution, primarily undergraduate, is a university “largely focused on undergraduate education, with relatively fewer graduate programs and graduate students.”

Overall Ranking	University	Last Year	Student Satisfaction	Reputational Survey
1	Mount Allison University	1	2	3
2	University of Lethbridge	5	8	6
3	Acadia University	4	5	2
4	Saint Mary’s University	6*	16*	5
5	University of Northern British Columbia	2	9	10
6	St. Francis Xavier University	6*	4	1
7	Bishop’s University	8*	1	8
8*	Lakehead University	8*	16*	9
8*	Trent University	3	7	7
10	University of Prince Edward Island	11	12	11
11	Ontario Tech University	10	10	4
12	Laurentian University	12	19	15
13	Université de Moncton	14	13	13
14	St. Thomas University	13	11	17
15	Nipissing University	16	3	19
16	The University of Winnipeg	15	15	12
17	Brandon University	18*	18	18
18	Mount Saint Vincent University	17	14	14
19	Cape Breton University	18*	6	16

Canada’s Top Universities by Student Satisfaction 2021

To determine the Top Universities by Student Satisfaction, Maclean’s surveyed nearly 14,000 students across Canada on a variety of questions, including:

• Professors and staff
• Residence life
• Extracurricular activities
• Experiential education, e.g., Co-Op
• Mental health services
• On-campus sexual assault prevention
• Indigenous histories, cultures, and languages visibility

Maclean’s ranks the best universities by student satisfaction across the three categories of institutions previously defined: medical doctoral, comprehensive, and primarily undergraduate.

Medical Doctoral

Ranking	University
1	Université de Sherbrooke
2	Laval University
3	Queen’s University
4	Université de Montréal
5	McMaster University
6	University of Saskatchewan
7	The University of British Columbia
8*	Dalhousie University
8*	McGill University
10	Western University
11	University of Alberta
12	University of Manitoba
13	University of Toronto
14	University of Calgary
15	University of Ottawa

Comprehensive

Ranking	University
1	University of Guelph
2	Brock University
3	Carleton University
4	Université du Québec à Montréal
5	Wilfrid Laurier University
6	University of Waterloo
7	University of New Brunswick
8	University of Victoria
9	University of Windsor
10	Ryerson University
11	Concordia University
12	Simon Fraser University
13	York University
14	Memorial University of Newfoundland
15	University of Regina

Primarily Undergraduate

Ranking	University
1	Bishop’s University
2	Mount Allison University
3	Nipissing University
4	St. Francis Xavier University
5	Acadia University
6	Cape Breton University
7	Trent University
8	University of Lethbridge
9	University of Northern British Columbia
10	Ontario Tech University
11	St. Thomas University
12	University of Prince Edward Island
13	Université de Moncton
14	Mount Saint Vincent University
15	The University of Winnipeg
16*	Lakehead University
16*	Saint Mary’s University
18	Brandon University
19	Laurentian University

Join us tomorrow for the final installment of the Maclean’s University Rankings 2021, as we explore top schools by program, including biology, business, computer science, education, engineering, environmental science, mathematics, nursing, and psychology!

Ready to start your study abroad journey in Canada? Explore top schools on ApplyBoard.