Maclean’s magazine has ranked Western as one of the top three medical/doctoral universities in Canada in its annual university rankings issue.

According to the rankings, Western placed third behind the University of Toronto and McGill University in the medical/doctoral category.

Western was also rated highly in a number of areas including libraries, alumni support and courses instructed by tenured faculty.

Paul Davenport, Western’s president and vice-chancellor, said there were two high points for Western in this year’s rankings.

“First, the recognition of the outstanding students we are recruiting — we have the highest average entrance grades and the largest proportion of graduating students, which is a tribute to our excellent faculty and staff,” he said.

Secondly, Davenport pointed to the results of the graduate survey — which premiered this year — in which Western did very well in terms of the satisfaction expressed by alumni regarding their Western education.

“Eighty-nine per cent of those who responded said their university education was playing a significant role in their lives now, [which was] the highest of any university,” Davenport said.

The overall results have shown what has been seen in other surveys: Western students are receiving a great social and cultural experience that they can appreciate while they are here and years later, Davenport said.

“We did very well again this year,” said Nick Staubitz, University Students’ Council President, adding Western excelled in the graduate survey.

He noted it expressed students’ satisfaction with their time at Western, adding the USC would like to think their programs helped to facilitate this.

“I chose Western, so I think it’s No. 1,” said Aziza Ahad, a third-year media, information and technoculture and political science student.

“Western is a great school; to be in the top three is quite an achievement,” said Kim Caines, a third-year Spanish and women’s studies student, adding Western has an extremely diverse student body.

“There must be some reason why [Western] is not ranked higher — but we don’t know what aspects of university they are looking at,” said Jessika Fink, a first-year media, information and technoculture student.