<p>So I’m seriously considering on attending, but I’m still deciding between between McGill, UMich, and William and Mary. I’m thinking about doing history and learning a new language. It’s so hard to decide, and even though McGill’s tuition is so much cheaper than the other two schools, I still want to know if it’s worth it:</p>
<li>How hard is it to get good grades at McGill (Arts)? Any curves, or none?</li>
<li>Student body = what kind of people…bright, easy going…? I go to an academically competitive private school where 90% of the student body is Asian, so I enjoy being around people who are pretty smart or at least somewhat cultural/intellectual, but are also capable of having fun. Okay I know that sounds weird…but don’t judge. It’s also an international school so diversity is a huge factor for me. </li>
<li>I know McGill has HUGE classes, but since you don’t get to interact as much with the profs, is it going to be hard to get recs for grad school?</li>
<li>I’ve heard that McGill tends to have a reputation of being a party school…?</li>
<li>I actually want to go to college to learn, not just party, so I hope I get the most out of interesting material. Is the education/academic quality (stuff learned, profs, etc) high?</li>
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<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>P.S. I’ve seen my share of arguments on this forum…so if you disagree with me, do so with decorum, and if you want to judge me or whatnot, just keep it to yourself, please :)</p>
<p>My d. is just finishing her first year at McGill and is a history major and takes two languages. She has been extremely happy at McGill. She sounds a lot like you, liking very smart people, but also liking fun. As for huge classes, she’s skipped those because of 4 A.P.'s, so she actually entered as a second year student. This semester, except for one (out of five), she really enjoys her classes and profs.</p>
<p>Grade wise she is doing about a B+ overall and working hard to get that. She was an all A student in High School with very high SATS, etc, so that is a reflection of the grading. You will have to work hard as there is a curve and there are a lot of bright kids around.</p>
<p>As for diversity, there are many foreign students, from all over, and Americans, mostly from the northeast, many students from Quebec and Ontario and some from western Canada. She’s made friends with all of the above.</p>
<p>The only negative has been the lack of good advising. She is struggling a bit with that now. You have to be aware of that and not take anything for granted. The rest of the administration has been easy to deal with on the phone and in person.</p>
<p>As an aside, there is a lot to be said about McGill being less expensive then the other schools. I am one of those people who think going into debt for an undergraduate education is nuts. Now that the US and Canadian dollar are close to par, it is not the bargain it was and remember to add in the fees, but it is still not running close to the close to $50,000 per year that some of the US private schools cost.</p>
<p>One of the ways to make a decision is to think about whether you want to live in a large city (Montreal) a small city (Ann Arbor) or a place like Williamsburg. They are all quite different in feeling and culture, so you might want to think about what kind of environment would make you happiest, as the schools themselves are all very good.</p>
<p>Difficulty and existence of curves varies from one class to another but grade inflation is unknown at McGill. If you work hard enough and know how to relax/procrastinate appropriately, getting good grades without going insane is doable.</p>
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<p>McGill students are quite diverse (particularly in terms of cultural background). If you’re sociable, you shouldn’t have problems making friends with the kind of people you’re looking for (there are plenty of bright and easy going ones, but not everyone is both, or either). And, in terms of international students, you won’t get a higher proportion anywhere else in Canada.</p>
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<p>Depending on your program, most of your classes won’t be huge after the first year or two. By the time you’ll have to ask for grad school recommendations, the average class size will have shrunk considerably. That being said, whether the class is huge or small, if you want good recs, you have to seek the attention of your profs as early as possible. They won’t come to you, you’re the one who has to show interest beyond regular attendance. Don’t be the quiet student with good grades that never said a word. Go talk to your profs during office hours, mention your intention to go on to grad school, ask about undergraduate research opportunities, etc. </p>
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<p>McGill isn’t a party school as much as Montreal is a party city. Tons of bars (drinking age is 18, and alcohol is not the forbidden fruit it may be on US campuses), clubs, restaurants, festivals, and entertainment forms of all kind. So there’s plenty of partying opportunities at any time, and you can engage in such activities as much or as little as you want (even not at all, I mean Frosh is a big waste of time and money). But if you do want to take advantage of what Montreal has to offer, please don’t stay within the limits of the McGill campus, the McGill ghetto and Crescent street…</p>
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<p>Yes, academic quality is high (classes are taught by profs, not grad student instructors, with rare exceptions for very low level material and summer courses), and, as mentioned before, if you seek them out, you can get undergrad research opportunities. Any program can be made as challenging as you want (if, by any chance, you find your early classes too easy, you can always find classes that are better suited for your goals).</p>
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<p>You’re absolutely right about taking nothing for granted at McGill, nothing’s given on a silver platter, and many times students have to figure things out themselves. The quality of advising can certainly vary a lot, some advisors don’t know the programs so much, others simply have lost touch with the student experience. My best piece on advice (pun unintented) on that is to ask the older students in the department. They have a much better perspective on which classes are worth taking and which aren’t, what’s a manageable courseload and which professors are more approachable and better instructors.</p>
<p>for number 3 of your question, i dont think so, the class gets smaller once you are in upper years. getting one or two recommendations from prof is easy task</p>
<p>I thank my stars every day that I applied and got accepted here. This is truly an awesome place to experience the newfound freedom of college, learn how to be independent, and enjoy new life experiences. I can guarantee you that none of your aforementioned schools will have as diverse (culturally) a student population as mcgill. As for smart people, there is no shortage. Don’t write someone off here because they party (some of “those kids” probably will probably do better than you on your next essay or test). </p>
<p>I don’t know where people get the impression that this is a party school. To echo Blobof, it’s not. It just has the fortuity of being in a city that likes to have fun (i.e. think the inverse of Albany, NY). </p>
<p>If your concerned with pre-grad school grades: goto your state school. If you want an educational experience that’ll make you work for every A (if you get any at all): come to mcgill. Chances are, you’ll finish your degree here and not want to go through any more education for a while. Don’t worry about grad school. </p>
<p>p.s. I’ve heard that some of the U2/U3 Arts students that survive the weed-out make kids at the ivy leagues look like slakers. “The level of discourse between [some upper level students]…it was humbling to know I go to the same school as [them]” -that’s basically a verbatim quote from a friend of mine.</p>
<p>WOW THANK YOU SO MUCH! I didn’t expect answers to be this deep, but they’re all great!</p>
<p>MellowMom:
Your d. does sound a lot like me! It’s always awesome to meet people that are like me. Which 2 languages is she taking? So she entered as a second year student after 4 APs…wow. Which ones? I will have 8 APs (or 9 if you split Micro and Macro Econ into two) by the end of this school year. I wonder if I’ll be eligible for advanced standing too…</p>
<p>I think my biggest concern right now is the administration, I hope I can handle that. And I’d take dense education experience with B’s over wasting my time with A’s anytime. I always love a challenge.</p>
<p>That being said, McGill is definitely staying #1 on my list for now.</p>
<p>My questions are still open to more answers! Your input will be appreciated :)</p>
<p>“Your d. does sound a lot like me! It’s always awesome to meet people that are like me. Which 2 languages is she taking? So she entered as a second year student after 4 APs…wow. Which ones? I will have 8 APs (or 9 if you split Micro and Macro Econ into two) by the end of this school year. I wonder if I’ll be eligible for advanced standing too.”.</p>
<p>My d is taking French and Italian right now. The French she already had, she just started the Italian at McGill. She also wants to take German. I can’t remember which AP’s McGill took, maybe it was more then four, but with the number of AP’s you have taken, you might have a good number of credits going in. You may not want to graduate in three years, though, because that may restrict your class choices to only your major and minor subjects.</p>
<ol>
<li>Grades in Arts should be easier to obtain. (not sure, depends on the professor though)</li>
<li>McGill has the highest percentage of international students, but University of Toronto has more asian people. (McGill has higher diversity, half of our population came from out of Quebec, where as in UofT 85% of the students are from Ontario) </li>
<li>In upper year classes, the classes get smaller. You will have plenty of chance getting a recommendation from a prof. Get it from 3rd or 4th year professors.</li>
<li>Yes, McGill is some what unique. It’s known for both academics and partying. </li>
<li>You don’t have to party it’s not a requirement.</li>
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<p>To Baseballnerd: “It is McGill official policy that all grades should fall within the range B- to B (65% - 74.99%)” (taken right off of my MGCR 352 course review powerpoint). This should tell you a few things, one of which: it doesn’t matter if the grading is hard, all grades will fall within that grading range. That also being said, I’ve heard of situations where classes have all done really well (i.e. everyone gets 80%+ on their tests/assignments), and then were all curved down accordingly (this is more common, however, in engineering). </p>
<p>Not to rip on management kids, but in general, I’ve noticed your average management student is just slightly above mediocre (or I guess average here). When they find something hard, you can assume that even a slightly competent student will find that same thing of laughable difficulty. Look at any professor’s “ratemyprofessor.com” scores within management. If that prof teachers a course with any math what so ever you’ll see a majority of comments like “this class was SOOOOOOO hard”, with the occasional “I don’t know what everyone else was talking about. I’m a [insert any other faculty name except education] student taking this as an elective, and it was by far my easier class of the term”.</p>
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<li><p>Depends.</p></li>
<li><p>McGill is “diverse” in the yuppie sense of the term. To me, if a bunch of yuppies wanted to design a school where they could stay within their $6 coffee bubbles but could occasionally step out and experience some token diversity, McGill would be for them. To be fair to McGill, I find that most other universities fall along the same line in this regard. The other Montreal schools Universite de Montreal and Concordia are much more diverse in terms of substance.</p></li>
<li><p>By third or fourth year you should be on pretty friendly terms with enough profs to garner a recommendation.</p></li>
<li><p>Yes, McGill is a party school. Montreal is a party city.</p></li>
<li><p>A lot of interesting stuff can be taken from McGill, depends on what you’re interested in.</p></li>
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