<p>Hey. I don't know if this issue has been raised earlier or not but I would appreciate it if someone can answer. </p>
<p>I've been accepted to the Faculty of Arts and I plan on keeping Economics as my major but I've not been encouraged to attend McGill by a few second and third year students at McGill. The reasons are varied but the two main reasons are :</p>
<p>"You'll have a problem because you don't speak French. You'll also have a problem getting a job because you don't speak French and French is a prerequisite in most cases.</p>
<p>"The Faculty of Arts is not good enough as compared to other universities in Canada and in US. It is not worth it to go to McGill for a degree in Economics."</p>
<p>I think it'll be relevant to add that the total Aid and Scholarship I will receive in the first year is $13,000. Keeping all of that in mind, what is your opinion regarding the Faculty of Arts, the need to know French and the "worthiness" of the degree?</p>
<p>There is no need to know French at McGill, unless you are in Law or, obviously, the French department. As a student, you will not need to know French to function in Montreal. If you plan to work off campus, then a functional knowledge of French is usually required of course.</p>
<p>As for McGill Arts not being “good enough”, what facts are they giving you? Sounds like the opinions of a couple of bitter students. You may want to ask them what their GPA is?</p>
<p>If they are comparing McGill to MIT, Harvard, Princeton etc., they may be right. Did you or these students apply to and get admitted to these elite schools? If so, go. If not, what is the point. McGill Arts is as good as it gets in Canada for a major research university.</p>
<p>No I did not apply to any IVY as my SATs were :
SAT 2150
SAT II 800, 800</p>
<p>Well I don’t know the details of their GPA. But they did seem bitter. One of them is going to transfer to University of Toronto. He says it’s worthless to study economics at McGill and that I should instead chose a local university.</p>
<p>One more thing, for my first year at McGill, I’ll be getting $13,000 in total (Scholarship + Financial Aid). The comments on the worthiness of the degree are mainly raised because as an International student, the cost of attending McGill would be high. So the financial factor is a very important for me. Do you have any idea whether the Financial Aid I have received this year would be offered to me next year? What is the general trend regarding that?</p>
<p>As far as facts are concerned, I’ve been told that Economics at McGill ranks at 212th in the world. I am pretty sure that it is not a credible one. </p>
<p>Another thing they say is that I would have a problem getting a job after my degree due to various reasons, one of which is the fact that I can’t speak French.</p>
<p>If you notice, at the time of this paper, 4 of the top 300 Economists had McGill BA’s (8th highest…Harvard had 14) p.67.</p>
<p>If you wiki McGill you can see all sorts of rankings and achievements of McGill… including “In 2009, The Economist Intelligence Unit ranked the business school 75th in the world, and in particular, 15th in the world for breadth of alumni network”</p>
<p>Re: French. If you plan to work in Quebec after graduation, you will need to know French. Otherwise, there is no need to know French in the rest of Canada. </p>
<p>Scholarships are generally renewable if you maintain a certain (fairly high) GPA. With your SAT scores, that should not be a problem for you unless you get distracted by the party scene in Montreal. </p>
<p>Again, regarding your “friends”, while McGill is not MIT, Harvard or Princeton, anyone who says a McGill economics degree is worthless without being specific is a pretty worthless friend in my opinion.</p>
<p>I don’t have any definite plans to work in Quebec after graduation. That is too far fetched.
Also, I’m glad that the scholarship is renewable but what about Fin aid? </p>
<p>I’m asking as many people as I can for their opinion on McGill because I want to be sure that I make the right decision. Hence, the skepticism. Your input has been valuable. Thank you.</p>
<p>Question: For the people who received their bursaries/know something about it, it says we have to go through the government process of getting aid first.</p>
<p>I don’t want loans. Seriously. I just want the governmental grant and the mcgill bursary and scram. Did you have to go through the government aid process and skip the loans part, take the grant, and take the bursary, or do you have to take a loan from the gov.t before you are eligible for the bursary?</p>