<p>I’ve just got admitted into the biomed&life sciences program, but I’m still not sure whether I should accept the offer. </p>
<p>I know McGill has an excellent med school that is very hard to get in, however, I’ve also heard that to enter a med school in Canada, the undergrad school name doesn’t really matter. That means I will be better off in a not so prestigious school (for example, my other choice is University of Guelph which is willing to give me a 2k entrance scholarship), because it’ll be relatively easier to get research and volunteer opportunities compared to being in a very competitive school like McGill. what’s your take on this?</p>
<p>It’s not that I must either squeeze into a med school or will just die after undergraduate studies, but could anybody enlighten me other possible career options for an undergrad student of life sciences program?</p>
<p>Also, how affordable/unaffordable is education in McGill? (for a out-of-province Canadian) I read that the school is stingy with scholarships, but how about financial assistance and bursaries or maybe even loans? It confuses me as my dad told me that Quebec is the province with the best education subsidy in Canada, so I’ve always thought I’ll give my family less of a financial burden if I go to McGill, but is that really the case?</p>
<p>Hi Econgrad, violindad, and other current students and alumni of McGill, I really appreciate the effort you have made in giving “insider information” to all these prospective students and I find it very helpful and valuable as I read through the 17 pages. </p>
<p>I am an international student who has just received an offer from McGill and I really feel excited!Here are my questions on both Academics and Money.(hopefully Econgrad could show up but I bet he’s cracking the materials for final)</p>
<p>Academic(Econ):</p>
<p>One concern of mine is that it looks like the Econ curriculum is pretty slow and there’re some undesirable restriction like credit limitation in taking classes. For instance, I guess McGill is probably the minority to divide intermediate level Micro into two courses. I would say after consumer and producer, government part should be left to public Economics, general equilibrium should be included in some mathematical Econ,…</p>
<p>Under the influence of my cousin who went to MIT, I have been studying Economics on my own since a long time ago. For instance, I have read quite a few Econ textbook at intermediate and grad school level like the ones written by Mankiw, Romer, Varian and Mas-Collel. Also I went to one of the top unis in the states and aced two upper division level Econ courses during my junior summer.
I know the important of putting this ECON250D1D2, or intermediate Macro courses on my transcript for my grad school application, but they are actually quite familiar to me so I wish to have heavier workload(in terms of both quantity[more credits] and quality[grad level] and just wonder whether McGill is flexible with that. I have friends studying at UC Berkeley and take like 24 credits a semester and cousin at MIT who did grad school level Econometrics in his second year of attendance. </p>
<p>(P.S. my math is pretty good and you can “assume” I could just handle the math in Econ and assume that I could handle all these workload, i just wonder whether it’s possible in policy to get permission for the following questions)</p>
<p>1) Is it possible to do classes more than the 19-credit maximum?
2) Is it possible to do grad school level classes(I know the max seems to be 6 credits, that is, two courses, but I really want more)
3) What about the undergraduate research opportunity? Are they really very accessible and the professors are more than happy to foster students?
4) I will be enrolled as a U1 student(as I have more than 30credits of APs)… I just wonder whether it’s possible in less than three years, say 2 or 2.5 years. ( I am just asking the possibility, I dont think I will actually do it)</p>
<ol>
<li>I wonder how hard it is to get scholarship and what’s the major requirement in being chosen(only grades?)</li>
<li>What about the bursary after being admitted? </li>
<li>What about the living expense?
a) What’s the major expenditure other than tuition and residence&food for a normal person(assuming normal social interaction with people)
b) What’s the amount of it? </li>
</ol>
<p>P.S. Hopefully I could get answers by May 1st as I need to decide between some colleges. </p>
<p>xinzyl: For most (if not all) Canadian medical schools, your province of residence is a very important factor. The Canadian med schools that I know all keep most of their spots for their own province’s residents–they have only a few spots for out-of-province students (and the competition for those spots is always fierce). </p>
<p>My understanding is the same as yours in regards to the importance of a “name-brand” school: the Canadian med schools I know don’t place much or any weight on the prestige or reputation of your undergrad school (this is mostly because in Canada, almost all universities are reputable–i.e. they maintain standards similar to those of the better US schools).</p>
<p>While McGill tuition might be a bit lower than other provinces (for Canadian students outside Quebec, I believe it is about $6000 per year for most undergrad programs), McGill tends to have more fees than some other universities which can add an extra thousand or two. Many of the students that I’ve known have gotten what seems to be a fairly standard $3000 scholarship based on marks. </p>
<p>If you qualify for Canadian student loans, then you can attend any recognized school (in Canada or the US)–these loans are not attached to a school but to you. </p>
<p>The total cost of attendance (tuition, fees, board, room or rent, travel) for 8 undergrad months at McGill for an out-of-province Canadian student should be around $20 000 to $24 000. There are universities that have board and room that is considerably less expensive than McGill. Renting your own place can be much cheaper than staying in res, especially since McGill res usually has a mandatory very expensive meal plan.</p>
<p>McGill is one of the most expensive Canadian schools (for anyone outside of Quebec). I calculated it would be roughly $23 000 for me to attend first-year (that’s tuition, housing, meal plan, and books), while most schools of a similar caliber would be $15 000 - $20 000. Obviously it’s a lot more expensive if you’re international.</p>
<p>They have to charge a higher tuition to people outside of Quebec because the tuition for Quebec students is dirt cheap.</p>
<p>Hi everyone, I’m a Canadian PR studying internationally who just got accepted into Chemical Engineering I only got the email notification a few hours ago, however I have a few questions that I would like to ask…</p>
<p>2) Change of faculty/major: Well now actually I’m considering about switching over to Economics or Finance, so it is possible for a change of faculty/major before I enroll? AND, will this be complicated by the fact that I’m going to apply for deferred admission?</p>
<p>3) Academic questions regarding some courses that I’d ask later once I’ve done a bit more reading… </p>
<p>oh crap i cant edit the earlier post so i’ll have to post a new one…</p>
<p>Anyways, I’d like to ask some academic questions and I really appreciate all your help!</p>
<p>3) What’s the difference between taking a Ba in Econs in the Arts faculty and taking a Bcom in Econs in Desautels?</p>
<p>4) Likewise, what’s the difference between Honours, major/minor concentration, Joint Honours, and Joint Honours Component?</p>
<p>5) How is Desautels regarded as a business school? If I’m intending to work in banking/finance in future, do they look more at reputation of Desautels or McGill itself?</p>
<p>dear students of McGill,
thanks for all your patient answers in this forum; you are great McGill ambassadors!
My son is a junior in an international high school in Dubai that also offers both the American curriculum and the IB diploma. His high school CGPA so far is 3.5 and SAT I 2150. He has taken 3 high level subjects (physics, chemistry, history) and 3 standard levels (math, english, french). He wants to apply for an Engineering program at McGill and will be taking SAT IIs (physics and math 2) later in October.
What do you think are his chances of being accepted?</p>
<p>The econ department in general is very supportive (especially if you are in honors). Since it is relatively small, they treat you as a special bunch.</p>
<p>I think if you talk to the department head about these things, he may get you exempt from ECON 250/257. About the graduate level classes, you can definitely take them. But in most cases, you would need professor permission. So talk to them, explain to them that you want more challenging work and it will work. A friend of mine is taking really advanced game theory for example.</p>
<p>You can only take 6 classes a semester. Which is plenty! Honestly, six classes is a ton of work. Undergraduate research is available, but they are fairly hard to get. Most of them are in the areas of development economics. I think in terms of theoretical economics, more mathematical, is probably done more based on a case-to-case bases. Talk to the professor in your interest about his research and see if you can help him out. Outside of McGill, the Bank of Canada always recruit masters/PhD in the summer for econ research.</p>
<p>Scholarship is fairly tough. You need around 33/34 ACT or 2200 SAT for entrance. Once you are in school, 3.9GPA to get in-course scholarships. Bursury depends solely on financial need. Living expense is about 10k for 8 month I think. Major expenditures are like you said rent and food. But there is also phone bills, internet, electricity. It should be around 10k in 8 month everything together. This is outside of your mcgill fee (which is considerable if you are an international)</p>
<p>If you want to defer your admission, just email them. Don’t worry about the courses part, because that does not apply to you.</p>
<p>I am not sure why you applied for chemical engineering if you want to do econ and finance. If you want to switch faculties, you have to enroll in your current faculty for a year, and then switch. I think in your case it is best to just apply to McGill again next year, this time to Desautels or Arts.</p>
<p>The difference between Arts and Desuatels for econ is nothing in terms of academic. The econ classes will be the same. However, in Dsautels you have to take the core classes. They include intro to marketing, information systems, organizational behavor, operations management, ethics in business, blah blah blah. There are a lot of them! So in Arts, you don’t have to take them, and you can take electives instead (maybe another major or minors)</p>
<p>Honors is harder and more prestigious. Major and Minor are just a different name for a major + a minor. Joint honors are 2 honors together (they are special programs, eg. econ + finance, econ + accounting, econ + math, etc)</p>
<p>Desautels is okay as a Bschool. If you are in the top 10, you can get some IB jobs. If you are in the top 2-3 then you go to wall street. If you are once in 3 or 4 years, then you go a hedge fund. Employers will look at desautels.</p>
<p>aresenaleung: Living expenses are likely to be more than $10 000 for 8 months. You mention residence: the cheapest is just under $7000; if you want internet in your dorm room, it is an extra $400; the cheapest meal plan is about $5500. Personal expenses (subway passes, toiletries, the occasional meal out, a couple of weekend nights out . . .) will run you another $1500 to the sky’s the limit (some of the wealthier non-Canadians blow over $1500 in a single weekend). Travel to and from McGill will depend on how far away you live. But let’s assume 0 for travel. Books will run you about $1000 per year (possibly more depending on what you take). So you are looking at about at least $16,000 per 8 months on top of tuition.</p>
<p>If you rent your own place, then you will save considerably on food (it should be about half the cost of a meal plan unless you eat out frequently). An average rental is about $500 per person per month (more if you want to live close to campus; more yet if you want quite a nice place; more if you want a place by yourself; you can bring it under $500 if you live further from campus, share with several others etc.). However, most leases are 12 month and it can be tough to sublet in the summer because everyone else wants to sublet. So you may end up paying 4 extra month’s rent that you don’t use.</p>
<p>Adding to what Econgrad has already said, being enrolled in Desautels is also more expensive than Arts but we have our own exclusive career services department.</p>
<p>I’d say that if you want to go into academia, Arts Econ would be a more ‘chill’ experience since you don’t have to go through the hassle of taking the Core classes. If, on the other hand, you want to work in business, I’d recommend Desautels because they have resources to facilitate networking with companies.</p>
<p>@econgrad and Andrewheat, thanks for your replies!</p>
<p>The rationale for applying to chemical engineering then was I wasnt sure of what I wanted to do, but a few months have passed and I believe I have a clearer picture. Hmm so you’re saying that I should reject McGill this year and apply again next year? </p>
<p>Is it possible to request for a change of course after I’ve been granted deferral (which means to say, i’m not fighting for a spot in Desautels this year)? Does having deferred admission make it easier/possible to change faculty before I enter McGill?</p>
<p>Thank you for your reply in such a timely fashion. I just decided to accept McGill’s offer after reading these posts. </p>
<p>Just curious, I have a few more questions.</p>
<p>1) You mentioned the econ dept is relatively small. I just wonder how many students are there in the Econ major/honors. Isn’t Economics the most popular choice in most schools, maybe after business ? </p>
<p>2) Another thing is that I may want a joint honor in Econ and Math, but before I actually finalize to that, I would like to do a bit of Finance. As a Joint Honor/Majors in Econ and Finance, do you get career support from the Management Faculty like finding an internship or sth? </p>
<p>3)How do you like the honor program so far? I have little understanding what the “Advanced Economics” is for given the fact that no school I have researched on has courses like this one. </p>
<p>Again, thank you for your reply, I have found it tremendously helpful.</p>
<p>Thank you for your informative reply. That’s really helpful.</p>
<p>Just to add something for the latecomer, as an interational student, there will also be a bit expenses on Airfare. I guess it will cost me quite a lot of money.</p>
<p>So I am probably going to McGill next year in Montreal… and I am stressing about which Rez I should make my top 3…</p>
<p>I want to have a nice community feel where like you can see everyone a lot and floors become really close. I want a single dorm, but in the same hall as all the other dorms. I want co-ed! And I want a good party scene, but not outa-control…</p>
<p>I heard New Rez was good location, but *******s? And upper Residents are cool but pain in the ass to walk all the way up that hill? Are the upper residents really that outa the way from your classes?</p>
<p>So which is the biggest party one?</p>
<p>Like, I want to be able to make a lot of new friends easily without having to travel to other dorms. And I don’t wanna travel a long distance to class…</p>
<p>Ahaha I know I sound picky but I’m just confused i guess</p>
<p>Currently my choices are
1)Gardner
2)DOuglass
3)New Rez</p>
I only got the email notification a few hours ago, however I have a few questions that I would like to ask…</p>