I’m a freshman at McGill in Quebec and I’ve decided at this point that it isn’t for me. I’ve been super involved in clubs (two community service clubs and on exec board as philanthropy chair for my fraternity) and made plenty of friends while I’ve been here, but academically it has been a disappointment. Most of the students seem pretty uninterested in learning and there are very few opportunities to get involved with the professors since class sizes approach 800 students. Additionally, during my senior spring, I discovered through an internship with a US Senator in DC that I really want to study American politics, which McGill is not suited for.
I went to a top New England boarding school (think HADES) and got a 3.2 GPA, which is about the class average. However, I had a 3.7 (probably top 20% of the class) during my junior and senior years, after I had gotten used to the workload. My ACT is a 34, but I have somewhat subpar SAT subject tests that are a little above 700 if I remember correctly.
At McGill, I had a 3.75 (top 20%) for my first semester, but I did withdraw from a calculus I class. I found that while I was doing well in the class, I didn’t really understand the material and that it would be better to take the course over the summer at a community college where I could actually speak with the professor in a smaller class size.
I know places like HYP are probably off the table, but I was thinking I might have even a small shot at a place like Dartmouth or Cornell. I’m also really open to other suggestions and would be very grateful for any ideas on potential fits / chances at different universities
P.s. I realize CC is typically a terrible place for this but really just looking for ideas for places to go / ballpark chances.
Don’t want to give away too much identifying information but I live in New England and my state school isn’t very good. Would be interested in some private schools in NE though
I don’t understand why you can’t study political science or something related at McGill. You could still pursue internships in the U.S. (or globally) in the summers. McGill is like an Ivy of Canada. It’s highly regarded and known around the world. Politics is global. Learning to get along in another culture and learning French while you are there can only enhance your qualifications for any job in politics. Studying politics with a different viewpoint than the American view can give you insights that could be rewarding throughout your career in politics. You can always pursue a graduate degree (if planned) in the U.S.
The only justification for a transfer would be if you got into Georgetown or George Washington U or something comparable in the DC area, with the logic that you want to be in Washington DC where the action is, so you can pursue internships during the academic year that wouldn’t be available otherwise. If you just plan to go anywhere to get away from McGill and study “American” politics, I think you will be disappointed (unless you are at least at a university at a state capital, like UT-Austin, where you can intern with state legislators or similar).
If you compare the actual courses in a political science major at McGill with those at a few American universities, I don’t think you will find a huge difference. A major in political science in the U.S. is not just a stack of courses on how the U.S. government works, but is usually more comprehensive than that. Besides, you don’t even need a degree in political science to pursue a career in that field. What were the college majors of current U.S. Senators? They vary. Some other useful majors include area studies and languages, public affairs, economics and psychology. Nowadays, skills in statistics, marketing and digital media are important in political campaigns. Public speaking and communications is always beneficial as well.
Have you lined up another political internship yet for summer 2018? I think your time and energy would be better spent finding and securing a great internship, than thinking about how to transfer.
hey! i’m in my second year at mcgill, and just wanted let you know that in terms of class size and academic content, i found things to greatly improve this year (i’m in Arts, doing joint honours history and IDS) we are 30 or less people in 3 out of my 5 classes. Then again mcgill is definitely different from American schools in a lot of ways and if you think you’d benefit from more personal attention that’s definitely fair. Feel free to pm me if you have any questions about upper-year classes. (PS you may want to wait for final letter grades to come out before anticipating your GPA…)