<p>word of notice all in science or engineering. avoid calc 2 for 2nd semester take it fall of your 2nd year if you have to. there is a very high percentage you will fail. like actually fail. that is all :)</p>
<p>I took Multivariable Calc in high school and from the course catalog it looks like I covered the vast majority of the material through Honours Advanced Calculus. Does anyone know how to obtain credit/exemption from the class?</p>
<p>allialli: McGill offers placement exams only for five 100-level math courses. Any possible more advanced credit or exemption would probably be on an individual basis. You should contact the mathematics department to see if it does anything on an ad hoc basis for students in your position.</p>
<p>Just as a high school single variable calculus class is rarely at the level of a McGill single variable calculus class, I suspect that most high school multivariable calculus classes are not at the same level as McGill’s Honours Advanced Calculus. While the topics are the same, the level of rigour is quite different. Most of the students in McGill’s first year calculus classes have taken all of the McGill topics in their high school calculus classes and have earned at least 90% in their high school courses; however, almost all of these students fail most of their McGill calculus quizzes (i.e. class averages are well below 50%). Most students at McGill do have the intelligence to realize that they need to start working harder after two or three failures, so the final average for the first semester calculus class is usually around 70%.</p>
<p>Course catalogues list topics but do not give any idea as to the rigour with which those topics are taught or examined.</p>
<p>@loststudent</p>
<p>That’s quite a combo of university choice you’ve got yourself there! I see you’re representing the SEC (!!) and you applied/got into McGill too that’s so awesome!</p>
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<p>No high school calculus will get you out of MATH 248 (honours advanced calculus, i.e. including vector calculus). C</p>
<p>Thank you very much, Blobof and violindad : )</p>
<p>I definitely understand that the level of most high school calc classes isn’t very high, but I would be inclined to believe that my class was taught at a higher level than most. In the past, students have recieved credit for the corresponding courses at Cornell, Princeton, etc by passing and in some cases acing the final exams. I assumed I would definitely have to take either a final or placement exam of some kind if this is even possible and would definitely be interested in looking at a more extensive syllabus to make sure that I really have covered the material extensively enough.</p>
<p>I did take the Calc BC exam last year so I know I get credit for at least MATH 140 and 141 (I definitely agree that they do way too much with the calculators). My mom is a math professor at a well respected public LAC, so I do have some general idea of how rigorous my class was in comparison to a standard college class. We covered more material than her classes do, but I would not be surprised if the McGill course goes into more detail than we did. If there is some way to get a better picture of what the courses cover, though, I would have someone around who could tutor me. </p>
<p>Blobof, my high school class is in the process of covering vector calc, including Greene’s Thm, Stokes Thm, Divergence Thm, etc. The only topic on either course that my teacher didn’t seem to think we had covered completely was orthagonal curvilinear coordinates - we did cylindrical and spherical systems, but not the generic cases.</p>
<p>Regardless it sounds like I should definitely talk to someone in the math department. Any suggestions on who it would be most appropriate to contact?</p>
<p>Thanks so much for your help!</p>
<p>wks2015:</p>
<p>There will absolutely people like you. There are all sorts of people. I’d recommend the dorms of Gardner or Douglas.</p>
<p>allialli: I would just call or email the math department to ask who to contact. One of the department’s secretaries should be able to give you contact information for the appropriate person. If this approach does not work, then you might try contacting the prof that teaches 248 (Pengfei Guan this coming fall).</p>
<p>I have a question regarding which route I should take in order to better prepare myself for graduate school (I want to become a Physicist).</p>
<p>Should I take the route to Honours Physics or Honours Mathematics and Physics?</p>
<p>Thank you :)</p>
<p>allialli:</p>
<p>Here’s what I found on McGill’s page:
“Seeing your academic advisor annually is a good idea, but going very much out of fashion. Sometimes advisors know of fixes to situations that students are not aware of. For example in Arts and Science, a student’s academic advisor has the discretionary power to make up to six credits of substitutions in the student’s program. If the student does not have an advisor, this option is not open. Some students who have not seen an academic advisor make horrendous errors in course selection.”</p>
<p>Reference: [Advising</a> & orientation for U1 students | The Department of Mathematics and Statistics](<a href=“http://www.math.mcgill.ca/students/undergrad/advising]Advising”>http://www.math.mcgill.ca/students/undergrad/advising)</p>
<p>allialli:</p>
<p>It sounds like you can ask your academic advisor to exempt you the course but the statement is still vague, what is “six credits of SUBSTITUTION” supposed to mean?
Moreover, I wonder whether it is possible to have multiple academic advisors and get exempted me more credits than just six(A lot to claim if possible, Multi-variable Calculus, ODE, PDE, Prob, Stat, Optimization). But still, some courses are still recommended to be taken at McGill cuz you want to put it down on your transcript to show good your math is, instead of just exemptions or pass of that course. </p>
<p>Just a bit of side note:
Are you a math major, I am pretty curious about what other people think about the curriculum at McGill.
Personally
a) I find the introductory classes too slow-paced:
1) Dividing Calculus into Differentiation and Integration
2)Linear algebra covered too many times(Math 133, and Algebra2
b) It’s weird to have 4 analysis and 4 algebra courses.
Four analysis is ok, though not many schools actually have analysis 3&4 which is about multi-variable analysis
Four Algebra is not ok. Algebra is mostly a two-semester course. Algebra I is too easy, Algebra II is essentially Linear Algebra, Algebra III&IV are real Algebra courses offered like in other schools
c) Too many Complex Variable/Complex Analysis courses, this is really confusing, if you check the curriculum out
d) Functional Analysis, Topology, Time Series are categorized as graduate courses. They’re tough, but most universities in US put them in undergraduate curricula.</p>
<p>On Economics side, they also divide too many one-semester classes into two. </p>
<p>Last but not least, if you wanna have a broader syllabus of Multi-variable Calculus, Check out Apostol’s Calculus Vol.2… Hella insightful!</p>
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<p>I doubt you can take more than one advisor, and the system won’t let you substitute more than 6 credits (two standard undergraduate courses; Minerva is way pickier than Mars to override things). And they don’t usually do substitutions for 300 or 400 level courses (unless coming from another university). MATH 222 as I said earlier can be “skipped” if you took something equivalent to cegep calculus 3, but ODEs they won’t give you (did your high school cover series solutions?), PDEs is even less likely. Probability and stats are out too (unless MGFs ring a bell).</p>
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<p>Have you taken these courses to make that claim?</p>
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<p>That’s pretty standard actually.</p>
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<p>That’s not how it works. MATH 133 is an intro course with the basic matrix operations and what not, more computation than proof based. Algebra 2 is abstract/proof based, and covers more advanced concepts. Heck, back when I took Regression and ANOVA it was all matrix theory, with a bunch of concepts I had never seen up to that point.</p>
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<p>Again, there’s actually little redundancy, they’re just labels that have other names elsewhere. Real analysis I is the intro, Cauchy sequences, derivatives/continuity done with epsilon deltas etc. on the real line. Analysis II has Riemann integration, and a tiny bit of topology. Analysis III is metric spaces, Analysis IV is measure theory. There’s analysis 5 and 6 too which are also graduate courses but can be taken in undergrad.</p>
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<p>Algebra I ain’t that easy (especially if taught by Loveys…), and I haven’t heard of high school teaching intro to group and ring theory. Algebra II is linear Algebra as mentioned earlier, the rest is more advanced group/ring theory and fancier stuff (Galois theory, for example)</p>
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<p>Too many? There’s MATH 249 Ad Cal II (honours but really, calculus with complex numbers, computationally oriented, for honours engineering/physics/applied), MATH 316 Complex variables (majors, computational) or actual Complex Analysis (4…), proof based, nasty. Most students will only take one of the three depending on the program.</p>
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<p>Again, that’s because they’re taught at the graduate level. I can make a probability course with only discrete random variables and the normal distribution with tables requiring only high school math. I can make one based on calculus with integrals and infinite sums and still call it “probability theory”. I can make one based on measure theory and call it “intro to probability”. They will present the same general concepts but from completely different perspectives, in different degrees of depth and with completely different purposes in mind. In fact, when it comes to prob and stats, just at the undergraduate level, McGill has three streams. Non-math (203-204), major (323/324) and honours (356/357). </p>
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<p>I wouldn’t judge this based only on the course calendar description.</p>
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<p>I’ll let you in on a secret: calculus books are expensive doorstops.</p>
<p>I should mention about substituting: replace course A in your program with course B since you took the equivalent of course A elsewhere (you don’t get the credits for course A but you can take any class that has it as a prerequisite).</p>
<p>Blobof:</p>
<p>I am grateful that you made such a concrete reply and added so many insights from an insider perspective. Heck, I have waited so long for a math major to show up. (still, kudos to econgrad, violindad, tomofboston, etc for their efforts here)</p>
<p>I suck at using quoting here, so bear with apostrophized quotes.</p>
<p>"Have you taken these courses to make that claim?’
“I wouldn’t judge this based only on the course calendar description.”</p>
<p>No, I haven’t taken any of these courses and my high school doesn’t cover these topics either(not even integral calculus). However, anyone interested in Physics and Econ will be tempted to teach themselves Calculus/ODE/Analysis to uncover the most interesting topics ahead, even in high school. Books are indeed expensive, but a few glance at google searching “Calculus by Apostol, Analysis by Bartles/Apostol/Rudin, Algebra by Artin” can give you a lot of fun. </p>
<p>Moreover, I did not intend to judge, but it’s not hard to get a good idea what those courses have covered with course description, even without actually taking the class. Would you say you are not able to find out what Princeton and MIT Analysis/Algebra/Regression have covered by looking at their webpages? </p>
<p>“Again, that’s because they’re taught at the graduate level”
True, but that’s not relevant to the problem. The point I wanted to make was why would you leave these courses out of undergraduate curriculum and not let students have a taste what they are. In fact, most colleges in the US offer these undergraduate classes.</p>
<p>@Blobof:</p>
<p>And a few more questions. </p>
<ol>
<li><p>Substitution
From what you described, does it suggest
i)The course is exempted from your requirement(but not the credit)
ii) Still, you have to take another course to fulfill the credit requirement
iii)Pre-requisite requirement can be fulfilled
iv)The course is still printed on your transcript without a grade/without affecting GPA</p></li>
<li><p>Calculus
I have done AP Calculus BC so MATH140,141 can be avoided. Intended to do a Joint Honours in Math&Econ and have a good knowledge of Multivariable Calculus already, which calculus courses do you suggest ?
MATH 222 - Calculus 3
MATH 248 - Honours Advanced Calculus
MATH 314 - Advanced Calculus(I prefer 314 cuz it’s offered in the summer)</p></li>
<li><p>Teaching quality:
a) What do you think about the teaching quality in general? I have a friend(at Management Faculty) who warned me to avoid certain professors in the math deparment.
He has aced the three calculus/linear algebra courses and still said to me professors cared much much more about their research than teaching(at McGill Math department)
Do you find the statement inaccurate?
b) Which professors do you highly recommend (for classes, for advising)? or to avoid?
c) Last but not least,what textbooks were used in your analysis/algebra courses.(Bartles, Apostol, Pugh, Rudin, Artin?)</p></li>
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<p>I have loaded you with so many questionssss, sorry…</p>
<p>But thanks a million in advance.</p>
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<p>Self teaching is nice but you don’t get any credits or substitution for that. </p>
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<p>You can get an idea of what is taught with course descriptions but a cursary selection of topics does not give you quite sufficient information to say how equivalent, more or less complete, one course at university A is to a similarly named course at university B. And sometimes what’s in the course description can be pretty far from what is actually taught (e.g. what topics the profs will focus on and what is practically skipped). It can make big differences sometimes (for example, at the place I work now, math majors see multivariable calculus through the analysis sequence, which makes them great a proving abstract theorems in multiple dimensions but honestly, a lot of them can’t do a multiple integral to save their life).</p>
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<p>That’s more of a teaching staff/department focus issue. The math department at McGill is relatively small and some specific areas are underrepresented (applied math in particular), which is why you gets lots of algebra but very little relating to, say, financial mathematics. There’s no one to teach Time Series at the undergraduate level (well, perhaps there is now; back in my day even for the graduate course we had Don Dawson visiting from Carleton to do it) and so there was never a course made in the books. But in some cases the topics are covered through other courses, and just presented in different ways due to historical reasons (how the course calendar was created and evolved over the years).</p>
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<p>Everything except iv). E.g. I took Calculus 3 in cegep, so I never had to take math 222 at McGill and Math 222 never appeared in any form on my transcript. I went straight to MATH 248 without a hitch. </p>
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<p>Unless you can get credited/substituted MATH 222, you’ll have to take it. You’ll also have to take either MATH 248 or MATH 314. There’s almost no difference between the two, except that if you want to do an Honours degree and take MATH 314, it will only counts for half credits toward your degree, being a “regular major” course; but the content is practically identical to MATH 248. In fact, some profs won’t teach them any differently (I took MATH 248, my wife took MATH 314 in the summer with the same prof, it was identical down to the assignments and the mistakes in the assignment solutions). In terms of classmates, MATH 314 is mostly math majors; MATH 248 is easily half engineers and physics honours, it makes for a different atmosphere.</p>
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<p>Teaching quality varies a lot, and you have to take into account that it’s not high school anymore. Coming to university itself is a shock, the teaching approach is simply different and you have to adapt. That being said, some of the low level “service” courses are not “fun” to teach (large classes aren’t easy for the profs either, the whole planning and logistics of multiple sections and TAs take a lot of effort that detract from coming up with nice inventive ways to present the material). If you can skip MATH 140-141, by all means do (and don’t ever take 150-151) (those classes are better done in c</p>
<p>Since I will be entering as a Agricultural/Environmental major I will have to be attending classes at the Macdonald campus. I was wondering exactly how isolated is the Macdonald campus from the rest of the McGill community? What is your take on the Macdonald campus? And is it possible/feasible to live in the downtown campus’s residences and bus to Macdonald for classes? Lastly, is there a way to take most/all of my classes at the Downtown campus instead?</p>
<p>^^Mac campus is 25 miles west of downtown and it is fairly self contained. If you are really into Ag/Env, it is perfect. If not, you may not like it. While you can live downtown and take the Mac shuttle or public transit, it is a long commute. If you are enrolled in a Mac program, most of your classes must be taken at Mac The same courses are not offered downtown. In later years, one or two electives can be taken downtown each semester.</p>
<p>@Blobof: Thanks for your comprehensive and informative reply. Not only does it help with some important questions, but also it suggests great source for me to turn to in the future. I have been absent online for a few days to crack my AP exams, hopefully you’re still around. </p>
<p>I am an international student so I bet I will have to take one of the Multi-variable Calculus unless they grant me the substitution. </p>
<p>Do you mind commenting on the following professors’ teaching? They have some courses that I am interested in. </p>
<p>Algebra I/II = Heekyoung Hahn
Analysis I/II = Ivo Klemes
Honours Algebra 2 Henri Darmon (Great, you said he’s good, right?)
Honours Analysis 2 Vojkan Jaksic
Honours Probability = Johanna Neslehova
Honours Statistics = Masoud Asgharian-Dastenaei
Honours Algebra 3 = Jayce Getz
Honours Numerical Analysis = Antony Raymond Humphries
Regression and Analysis of Variance = Abbas Khalili Mahmoudabadi
Introduction to Stochastic Processes = William J Anderson
Honours Set Theory = James G Loveys(You mentioned his beard?)</p>
<p>I am not taking all of them at once though, but I am curious about these professors. </p>
<p>Thank you in advance.</p>
<p>Heekyoung Hahn is a recent hire, so I really don’t know.
Ivo Klemes is fine but goes really slowly and is a little monochord in tone
Darmon I mentioned before
Jaksic is OK
Neslehova is a recent hire, I’ve met her but never experienced her teaching
Asgharian is very good, but he gives tough exams (just so you’re warned)
Getz I have no clue (recent hire)
Humphries I don’t know, but he’s not a recent hire
Khalili’s a nice guy (I’ve seen a couple of talks by him, never took a class obviously)
Anderson has been on autopilot for years
Set theory is really hard, with Loveys or anyone else, but, as mentioned, Loveys shaves and gets a haircut once a year. He looks much older than he is, and has scared many aspiring students out of mathematics in Algebra I. </p>
<p>Of course, level 300 courses (except for calculus ones like ODEs) and above you will not take in the first year, so the teaching assignments are bound to change from one year to the next.</p>