<p>Questions about campus life at McGill:
1) Most freshman live on campus but move off-campus the next year. Does it make it hard to make friends? Seems like there would be lack of social cohension and make the college feel a bit like a "commuter" school? Don't know if that is true? Is there strong "school spirit" in the traditional American sense?</p>
<p>2) My son does not drink alcohol. I know in Montreal the drinking age is 18. Is there a lot of pressure to drink at school functions or parties? Or is it more like in Europe, where most people drink, but drink responsibly? Are there fraternities? In the U.S., much of the social drinking seems to revolve around them. It also seems that because of the drinking age and location, some guides have tabbed McGill as a "party" school. However, from people we know that have attended there (including some relatives), students seem to be very studious and focused on academics while still having a good time. Perhaps the guidebooks and some of the posts here have focused less on the academics. </p>
<p>3)What are academics like there? Given the size of the entering class, many of the intro classes must be large. My son will have completed about 12 AP classes before college. Will McGill give him credit or let him place out so that he can take higher level classes with less students per class?</p>
<p>1) It's not hard to make friends, whether you live on campus or not (most students don't live on campus, and most students coming from the Quebec education system start in U1 anyway). On the other hand, I don't think there is a strong school spirit in the American sense. The Canadian university system is definitely different in that aspect.</p>
<p>2) Alcohol is not a forbidden fruit, so there is no pressure to drink. But attending Frosh (regular SSMU, and faculty ones, but not Radical Frosh) ain't much fun if you don't drink (because it's mostly about drinking). Though in my personal opinion, Frosh is a waste of time and money (see point 1: making friends is easy, in fact, Frosh friendships may not last beyond Frosh). There are a few fraternities and sororities, but those are small and relatively obscure. So yes, McGill is more like Europe with respect to alcohol. </p>
<p>On the plus side, the official suppliers of SSMU are McAuslan and Boreale, local microbrews with great beers. Unfortunately this is underappreciated among undergrads, who tend to prefer quantity and lack of flavour over quality. McGill itself isn't really a party school, but Montreal is definitely a party city (so one can have the best of both worlds).</p>
<p>3) Some AP's taken may allow your son to skip some classes (this may require extra placement exams), in the sense, say, of taking calculus 3 instead of having to do cal 1 and 2 (this is just a toy example, I don't know the actual details/requirements to get directly into higher level classes, your son will have to ask his advisor for that); though I don't think they'll transfer credits (meaning the total number of courses/credits required to complete his degree will not be reduced).</p>