<p>Hi everyone. I'm finally coming to the conclusion of the college process and I have narrowed down my choices to two schools, bc and mcgill. I hope to study east asian studies as well as mathematics wherever I go. If you guys have any insight to what I should choose, please join in. BC seems as though as it would be a safer bet as I hear the academics at McGill are nearly impossible. McGill, on the otherhand, has the upperhand socially. Any help you could offer would be appreciated, especailly to students attending ethier school. Thanks again</p>
<p>You need to provide more input. Scholarships? Honors College? Out-of-pocket costs at each. What you see as the social differences at each school wouldn’t hurt either.</p>
<p>Ahh, well both colleges will cost about the same. I am not attending the honors college at either school.<br>
McGill’s social life, in my opinion, is better for a multitude of reasons. First, the school is in Montreal which is a great and diverse city. While BC is located right outside of Boston, more and more people tell me that students tend to stick on campus. In addition, kids at BC tend to be white, preppy, and arrogant. I was surrounded by these kids in high school and I hope to escape that cookie-cutter mold. (and a 18 year old drinking age doesnt hurt McGill)</p>
<p>Academically, however, I am scared I won’t be able to survive at McGill. I know someone who dropped out and he said it was a very difficult school. If anyone could speak to the validity of these statements, it would be appreciated. Thanks again</p>
<p>Checking your past posts I see that a year ago you were considering applying to the Ivies now you’re scared of competing at McGill? I’m not a math major but something doesn’t add up. ;)</p>
<p>93 percent of McGill students return for sophomore year versus 96 percent at Boston College. Both are quite good numbers that beat out a lot of hand-holding small LAC schools and this info is a lot more valuable than anecdotal info from your friend. </p>
<p>McGill is academically challenging but Montreal does offer a lot of temptations. The work hard/ play hard can work for some students while others … not so much.</p>
<p>While at Northeastern, I had friends at BC that were downtown as often as I was. Sure, it wasn’t as convenient for them (by a long shot) but certainly not a problem.</p>
<p>I would choose McGill. Montreal is a great city with tons of things to do, but it’s not overwhelming like NYC. McGill is highly respected all around the world.</p>
<p>Choose McGill. What a great school, and what a wonderful adventure to live in beautiful Montreal!</p>
<p>Yeah, McGill is looking very good. It also offers many more majors than BC. Can anyone speak to the overwhealming workload though? Also, is majoring in East Asian studies worthless? And if so, is there anything i can couple with it to find a good career?</p>
<p>McGill.</p>
<p>East Asian studies is NOT a worthless degree, don’t believe that garbage if anyone feeds it to you. Just knowing a language or two alone would make you highly employable.</p>
<p>Montreal is a great city, but much colder than Boston.<br>
The BC campus is much nicer looking and has much better facilities.
Mcgill is more diverse.
BC is a traditional college experience.
Mcgill is known for hard to deal with administration and large classes.
Both are supposed to be highly regarded.
I would choose BC hands down.</p>
<p>Be aware that “socially” at McGill may mean primarily off-campus, whereas social life at BC would tend to be largely campus-based. McGill is a great university, but doesn’t have the extracurricular campus culture that many Americans would think of as the norm of college life.</p>
<p>The biggest difference here is that BC offers the most complete “classic American” college experience (self-contained campus, big time sports, most students living on campus, lots of on-campus activities) of any university in the Northeast except perhaps Penn State (and maybe UConn?). Many people don’t care about such a thing, and are more than happy at places like the Ivies (smalltime sports) or NYU (small sports, no campus, minority living in university dorms).</p>
<p>I have first-hand experience with Canadian universities, and they are very different from this “classic American” college experience. Again, if such an experience isn’t important to you, then McGill offers an interesting alternative (though very cold weather, and the Canadians aren’t really friendly with Americans…don’t be surprised if almost all your friends end up being other Americans there…trust me on this one).</p>
<p>I was at McGill for one year and have also attended US universities.</p>
<p>McGill is far from devoid of on-campus life. There are many on-campus organizations and other ways to get involved on campus at McGill.</p>
<p>The major differences in campus life, compared to US universities, are that sports are far less important and far fewer people actually live on campus. Even so, there are still sports events if you want to attend them. And anyone can live on campus their first year. Even after the first year, many students live in the “McGill Ghetto”, a primarily student neighbourhood just east of campus. (It’s anything but a ghetto as the word is used in the US.)</p>
<p>Academically, McGill is challenging but not impossible.</p>
<p>And yes, McGill is very diverse and very tolerant of diversity.</p>
<p>
[QUOTE=Schmaltz]
. . . the Canadians aren’t really friendly with Americans…don’t be surprised if almost all your friends end up being other Americans there…trust me on this one
[/QUOTE]
</p>
<p>This wasn’t my experience at all. Most of my friends were Canadians or from countries outside North America. (McGill students are about 80% Canadian, 10% US and 10% from other countries.) In an entire year, I only met one person who was overtly unfriendly towards Americans.</p>
<p>Canadians are just as friendly as we are on average.</p>
<p>Montreal is dull, but don’t let that stop you from choosing McGill. have fun.</p>
<p>Yeah, I vote for McGill.</p>
<p>Boston is my favorite city in North America. Montreal comes in second. </p>
<p>If you can’t find many, many ways of having fun in either city it is you that is the problem.</p>
<p>Thanks for all the input, I really appreciate it. I feel as though Boston College is a safe choice, as I am familiar with the way American universities run. However, McGill could be a risk as I am unsure how challenging the academics are. I hear it is almost impossible to graduate with a 3.7+ gpa.</p>
<p>I do have a question about BC. My passion is East Asian studies and Boston College not having that major is definitley a bummer. What major at BC would complement a minor in East Asian studies and not take over my entire courseload. Mathematics? Economics?
Thanks again.</p>
<p>BC… more well known name…</p>
<p>^not outside the U.S.</p>
<p>BC is overrated. McGILL Montreal is amazing!</p>