The Maclean’s ranking compares universities with similar structures and mandates. It has been divided into three categories:

Medical/Doctoral
Comprehensive
Primarily Undergraduate


Although universities are ranked under different categories, they are treated as separate but equal. Maclean’s ranks the schools on a range of factors in six broad groupings with slightly different weightings:

  1. student body
  2. classes
  3. faculty
  4. finances
  5. library
  6. reputation
 The Rankings Are as Follows:

Medical/Doctoral - The top five universities in this category are those that have a broad range of PhD programs and research, as well as medical schools.

  1. University of Toronto, Ontario
  2. Queen’s University, Ontario
  3. McGill University, Quebec
  4. University of British Columbia, British Columbia
  5. University of Western Ontario, Ontario
Comprehensive - The top five universities in this category have a significant amount of research activity and a wide range of programs – including professional degrees – at the graduate and undergraduate levels.
  1. Simon Fraser University, British Columbia
  2. University of Guelph, Ontario
  3. University of Waterloo, Ontario
  4. University of Victoria, British Columbia
  5. York University, Ontario
Primarily Undergraduate - The top five universities in this category focused largely on undergraduate education, with relatively few graduate programs.
  1. Mount Allison University, New Brunswick
  2. Acadia University, Nova Scotia
  3. St. Francis Xavier University, Nova Scotia
  4. Trent University, Ontario
  5. Wilfrid Laurier University, Ontario