Honest Q/A with Current McGill student!!

<p>I’ve heard that McGill economics is pretty weak compared to most Canadian universities. Their honors track is good, but apparently brutal (like MIT difficulty). An econ prof there said you’d be better off majoring in math if you want to go to grad school for econ.</p>

<p>SchrodingersBall, managerial economics offered by the management faculty is a joke. A major in economics offered by the arts faculty is less of a joke but still a joke. I am biased, but the only economics worth doing is honors. I am not saying this to be mean to the other programs but the fact is only honors economics is actually math rigorous with calculus, which is the step up from the chit-chatty economics of old. Honors econ is good but it isn’t exceptional either, but you do get respected for it.</p>

<p>Just test scores and GPA for regular application.</p>

<p>IAmPOS, you are absolutely right!</p>

<p>That professor is professor jennifer hunt, she used to sit on the admission office for harvard I think. She had a talk a few weeks ago and she said exactly what you said. Get all A with a few Bs. Take MATH whenever you can and you are good to go.</p>

<p>Honors econ is not brutal. It is actually very intuitive with some foundations in math. It has a hard reputation because it is in arts but it is math intensive so you get math-phobic arts students who take it and fail. If it is offered as a complement to mathematics in the faculty of science then everyone would take it as a bird class to use it to bump up their GPA. Also understand that MIT students on general is smarter.</p>

<p>Not sure if this is the appropriate place to post but would appreicate any input…
I am a senior form New York with 1389 SAT (Just took again) M 710, R 670 W 660 (SAT) I have a 3.7 unweighted average , rank 28 out of 260 ( just missed top 10%). Took about 5 AP’s, got mostly four and three college courses. Taking ACT next week first time. I am have been President of my schools Robotics team, played Varsity soccer, and a number of other EC’s.
I have never taken French ( Spanish only).
So what are my chances?</p>

<p>Also really how is McGill thought of in the US. No one here has ever heard of it!</p>

<p>Thanks so much!!</p>

<p>.</p>

<p>could u please help me out?</p>

<p>i applied for:

  1. BCom with undeclared major (thinking of econ or finance)
  2. BA in economics</p>

<p>im planning to go to a good business school for my MBA (but also wanna keep options open for law) so would i BCom be sutable for me.</p>

<p>since its not as hard as a joint honours in econ and finance, i think ill be able to get a better GPA, but will it help me on the GMAT.</p>

<p>also, is it possible if u can tell us ur grades that u applied to mcgill with.</p>

<p>thanks</p>

<p>How is the club scene in montreal? Is is european with techno, or american with their rap? Also is thursday night the start of weekend, and which techno club is the most popular with students?</p>

<p>ultimatelayout, you should get in. But it is not 100%. Boost up your test scores. McGill is not well known in the US among general populance. But some MNC do known of mcgill.</p>

<p>sheheryar93, yep BComm would be great for that. I had a 3.84 GPA and a 34 ACT.</p>

<p>eurosport360, it is rock and pop. Thursday night until Sunday night. There is a techno club called Frappe that is okay also a few on St Catherines.</p>

<p>ur great scores xplains y u find the honours easy…
sorry but i hav another Q… how hard would a BCom with a major in econ be as compared to ur honours, and is it easy to get a high GPA (main thing looked at by grad schools).</p>

<p>also, if i do well, would i be able to get into some prestigious business schools (top i canada/top 10 in america)???</p>

<p>thanks for the help</p>

<p>A major in econ would be really easy. It should be fairly easy to get a high GPA, but the core classes are curved (by faculty regulation) to a B average.</p>

<p>Yes, but you will need more than just grades.</p>

<p>k thanks, im happy that u say that since i keep on hearing how hard the workload is at mcgill + they deflate grades… so then thats not true right?</p>

<p>apart from grades, ill also study to do well on the GMAT and get some work experience. that should cover it.</p>

<p>The only instance of grade deflation that i know of is at the management core classes where under the faculty regulation, the average has to be in the B range.</p>

<p>thanks again. also, would u happen to know wat percentage of the overall GPA of the year does the management core classes consist of.</p>

<p>Nothing really “covers” getting into a top 10 b-school.</p>

<p>yea ur right, but would any1 happen to know if mcgill grads go onto good grad schools after they complete their undergrad degree?</p>

<p>I’m sure lots of them do. Just like at any other top 100 school…</p>

<p>Would you say that chemistry involves more labs and work than majoring in the life sciences? and does the chemistry department have grade deflation? in the US, people always say that the sciences require the most work (mostly in the lab). how much time do people normally spend in class/labs?</p>

<p>i’m going up there this weekend. any suggestions or anything to keep in mind?</p>

<p>Hi,
McGill is my top choice and I’m hoping to get into the science department there but I’m really not sure if my grades are good enough. I’m a US student and I was wondering if you could tell me if they look at the math/science grades more heavily if you’re applying for the science department. My grades are all A’s and B’s but the more recent maths and sciences have been B’s rather than A’s, which I’m working on bringing up.
I also didn’t realize that McGill was rolling admission, so I hadn’t planned on taking the biology SATII until january, if I apply now will not having that score delay my decision?
Thanks so much!</p>

<p>I have learned so much from your answers already! Thank you so much for all your help. I have a question for you.</p>

<p>I attend high school in British Columbia, and McGill is my dream school. I know that McGill admission is calculated on your top five academic subjects. My school only offers four courses per semester. Do I need to finish five courses by the self-reporting period comes around in January?</p>

<p>1081736, funny because I was thinking about honours in chemistry. Yes, i do believe there is more labs in chemistry. And they are harder and longer! You will have 5 hour labs. Also, one of the hardest classes in chemistry is something called analytical chemistry (we shorten it to anal chem) and it is basically 100% lab. Thank god it is only 1 credit though.</p>

<p>Not to take away anything from chemistry. The chemistry department at mcgill is one of mcgill’s better ones. There are many research opportunities and there are lots of chemistry graduates that go to really prestigious grad schools.</p>