McMaster is a medium sized, full-service university offering educational programmes through six Faculties. The extensive activity in research, supported by more than $74 million in grants and contracts, means there are first-class libraries and sophisticated facilities. More than 13,000 full-time students attend McMaster University, 1,500 of whom are pursuing advanced degrees offered through the School of Graduate Studies. In Addition, about 4,000 part-time students are registered in the Fall/Winter session, from September to April, and 3,500 in the Spring/Summer session from May to August. The University also provides courses in centres located outside Hamilton, for which full credit is granted.

Most of the 1,000 members of the University faculty hold doctoral degrees in their areas of specialization. Faculty members are expected to teach both graduate and undergraduate courses and may be involved in the academic counselling of students.

The University's diverse academic programmes are supported by some fine, and even unique, facilities. The University Library is a member of the Association of Research Libraries and contains over 1.6 million volumes, and has subscriptions to nearly 14,000 periodical titles. The Library has an extensive special collections section which includes the Bertrand Russell Archives, 18th Century materials and major Canadian collections. Facilities for programmes in the Humanities include modern language laboratories, music rehearsal rooms, art studios, an art gallery and seminar rooms. The work of the Faculties of Science and Engineering is supported by sophisticated facilities, which include a nuclear reactor and Van de Graaff Accelerator. Computing facilities include mainframes, terminal clusters, and microcomputers. The Faculty of Engineering has arranged for students to lease or purchase microcomputers.

The recreation and intramural programmes offer more than 30 different sports in which over 5,000 students participate. The intercollegiate Athletic Programme provides 17 sports for men and 15 for women. The athletic facilities include a 50-metre pool, a 400-metre, all-weather track, as well as fully equipped laboratories for exercise, physiology and biomechanics.

McMaster campus, which is restricted to pedestrian traffic, is adjacent to the Royal Botanical Gardens at the western end of Lake Ontario. On-campus men's, women's and co-educational residences are available for about 2,765 students.

The University is minutes from downtown Hamilton, Ontario, and the activities that a major city has to offer. Students can get there by car or by taking one of the buses from the region's public transit system, which make frequent stops on campus.