So I am in Grade 11 and I am trying to narrow down a university to go to in Canada. I plan to go to Harvard Law School after my undergrad and I know that it is a very competitive grad school. This means that besides my GPA and test scores, extracurricular activities and achievements are critical.
I am thinking of going to U of T or McGill University. Since I live in Toronto, I kind of want to live far from home. Anyways, I am just asking English-speaking McGill University students on how are they able to find extracurricular activities in a French-speaking city like Montreal?
What type of EC’s? Most EC’s are done through on campus groups. That is normal at any university… There are about 500,000 Anglophones in the Montreal area so there are many English speaking and bilingual organizations in the city.
Thanks for the response, TomSrOfBoston. The EC’s I am referring to are those that are done outside. For example, here in Toronto, I am interested in volunteering for the Toronto Police. However, if I move to Montréal, I do not think that the Montréal Police offers volunteer opportunities to those that can speak English fluently. I can speak French but it is only conversationally and not that informal.
Moreover, I am also asking about experiences, whether they would be academic or work experiences. I am thinking of interning for a lawyer but like what I said, I do not think Montréal has law firms that have employees and interns who can only speak English. I am sure they demand their employees and interns to be fluent in both English and French.
This is why my question is how do excellent Anglophones in McGill University, or in any other universities located in Quebec, find extracurriculars and experiences in a Francophone-majority city like Montréal?
You PLAN to go to Harvard Law? I think what you mean is you HOPE to go to Harvard Law.
I think of Montreal as a bilingual city. My French is fairly weak (the result of living more than 40 years in the US – it was much stronger years ago). When I go to Montreal I will start speaking French, but find that nearly everyone immediately switches to English, and in most cases appear to give me credit for at least trying to speak French. However, I will admit that pretty much everyone I can recall dealing with in stores, restaurants, historic sites, and other public services also was fluent in French as well.
As such I would think that finding things to do in Montreal would not be a problem. However, I can see that volunteering for example with the Montreal police (if that is even possible) might require a strong ability in French.
I am thinking that if I was in your situation I would probably take a very hard look at Queens University.