<p>Not to be a debbie downer, but smart freshman kids (with over 90 averages) who party lot during U0 (McGill’s equivalent of freshman year) to make up for lack of social activity in their teenage years, don’t usually get med school worthy grades that year. Your quest for getting stellar med school grades while partying like crazy in Montreal is the holy grail of all freshman kids. The academic environment at McGill is nothing like that in your high school. First year science classes are harder, cover more material and therefore require more work. From my time at McGill, freshman kids coming from the American and Canadian school system generally find the first year science classes and lab work (assuming you are going to be int that Faculty) a royal pain. Not to say that you will too, but you’ve got to put in the hours buddy! It was the international kids coming from crazy competitive high schools who coasted through the first year science classes- they had already seen most of the material. However, once you’ve settled down and have gotten the hang of things, partying hard on the weekends in the subsequent years while maintaining a high GPA is more do-able.</p>
<p>That being said, McGill (unlike Western) isn’t a party school; Montreal is a party city (there is something awesome going on in the city 24*365!) McGill is so large and diverse that you won’t feel the need to conform/subscribe to a particular culture to fit in or find friends. McGillians are generally friendly people (and are often very well traveled, especially the international jet-set crowd) and there are lots of scholastic and extra-curricular opportunities on and off campus. However, don’t go in thinking you’ll automatically improve your French just because you’re in MTL; the ensnaring McGill bubble encompassing the downtown core can be very limiting in that regard.</p>