McGill or Queen's - History MA

[Torontonian131]

Hi, all. I've recently been accepted to a number of graduate schools in Ontario and Quebec and I'm trying to decide between my top three choices. I plan on doing an MA in History.

1. McGill

- Offers a TAship of up to about $4800 if I apply for it.

- Tuition plus rent and living expenses are around $12,000 for the year.

2. University of Toronto

- Offered no funding to any MA students.

- Tuition is about $8100 but I live in Toronto so I won't have to pay rent.

3. Queen's

- Offered me a TAship and scholarship totalling more than $8000 in funding.

- Tuition is about $6000 and rent will probably make it $10,000-11,000 in expenses.

Now, I'm planning on applying to some American or European universities for my PhD, and I was considering McGill because it's supposed to have a high international reputation, in addition to being ranked the best in Canada for History. UofT is good and reputable but supposedly bloated, and I've heard they pay little attention to their Master's students. Queen's has been enthusiastic, offering me good funding and they invited me to a recruitment event so I could tour the campus and meet the faculty and students. They are also pretty good in terms of reputation and quality of teaching. I just heard it had more of an undergraduate focus, whereas McGill is a research university with an emphasis on graduate work. I'm also not so sure whether Queen's is well-known outside of Canada.

I know your university's reputation isn't as important as your supervisor, your performance and your accomplishments, but I want to make a decision that can put me in the best possible position to get into a school like Stanford or maybe even Princeton. Does anyone with experience or knowledge of these schools have any advice to help me decide?