Hi all! Admitted to McGill Faculty of Arts, but I’m super confused about how U1/U0 and Honours work at McGill. I have enough credits to start off as U1, but I am confused about how Honours would work because it requires 60 credits for my prospective major of psychology.
First of all, is starting off as U1 but taking 4 years to graduate a normal thing to do at McGIll? Would I just take 4 courses every semester instead of 5? And if I decided to graduate in 3 years, would I have to take 5 courses a semester? I feel like that is a lot of classes especially with the difficult courseload at McGill.
Also, would taking Psychology at the Honours level mean that I would have to take 3 Psychology courses a semester? That seems like it would leave little room for electives and other classes. Also, is it possible to do Honours and to graduate in 3 years? What would a normal schedule look like in that case? I know that many of the classes end up getting filled at McGill, and I worry that graduating in 3 years and doing Honours would be too difficult to fit all the requirements in. And since I’ve only taken one psychology class, if I change my mind about my major I don’t know what I would do! I guess I’m just confused about how the scheduling works at McGill and what a normal schedule looks like in these different cases.
@TomSrOfBoston Thanks for the reply! Also, most of my schools have a maximum number of APs you can submit for credit and don’t allow me to graduate in three years nor do they require so many courses for a major. I’m pretty sure that an average courseload in the US is 4 courses per semester. I could be wrong though?
Some US schools have a 5 course load, each worth 3 credits. Others have a 4 course load each worth 4 credits. In Boston for example Northeastern, Harvard and Boston University are 4x4, Boston College and UMass Boston are 5x3 like McGill.
Some people take 4 courses (usually if some of them are labs and worth more than three credits). I took 5 courses last semester and didn’t have an issue. I’m taking 4 courses this semester but that’s only because one of them is an advanced language course worth six credits, rather than 3 like a normal course. I got 30 AP credits (the cap) and right now am on track to graduate in three years, though it may been too early to say for sure.
@lolalollipop I can’t really answer this well. Most of my AP credits went towards general education classes that aren’t relevant to my major so I didn’t go into higher level classes with my AP credits as prerequisites. However, I am in some 300 level courses now as a first year student and I don’t find them to be too difficult. So generally I feel like I was well-prepared, but I can’t provide specific examples. The grading is harsher here but you just have to adjust to it. If you have the AP credit, you should use it, because you don’t really have a choice lol. A lot of people will be doing the same thing as you and you can always get help through tutors or whatever.
@yebhip I guess I’m just wondering whether or not graduating in three years would be a good thing? Do you know of people who have graduated in 3 years without doing cegep or people who chose to do 4 anyway even tho they have the credits?
Also I guess I’m worried about how impersonal the atmosphere could be at such a large public university. Do professors care? Do you feel like a number?
@lolalollipop I think a lot of people end up graduating in 3.5 years. It looks like I may do three, but for me it’s not something I care a lot about, it’s just how it’s worked out so far. It’s up to you, but I just think taking too many extra classes to make it last longer seems silly, though I understand taking four courses a semester instead of five. Though, so far, I’ve been fine with five. I think that in the big classes it can be intimidating to ask questions, but a lot of students don’t bother to talk to the professor, so if you actually want to, you can. There are usually a lot of TA"s in big classes as well. Also, this semester I have two 25 person classes. It’s not super common in the early years, but you’ll likely end up taking a fair amount of smaller classes by the time you graduate.I don’t really feel like just a number, but you certainly aren’t as coddled as you would be by some other universities.