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<p>Difficulty and existence of curves varies from one class to another but grade inflation is unknown at McGill. If you work hard enough and know how to relax/procrastinate appropriately, getting good grades without going insane is doable.</p>
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<p>McGill students are quite diverse (particularly in terms of cultural background). If you’re sociable, you shouldn’t have problems making friends with the kind of people you’re looking for (there are plenty of bright and easy going ones, but not everyone is both, or either). And, in terms of international students, you won’t get a higher proportion anywhere else in Canada.</p>
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<p>Depending on your program, most of your classes won’t be huge after the first year or two. By the time you’ll have to ask for grad school recommendations, the average class size will have shrunk considerably. That being said, whether the class is huge or small, if you want good recs, you have to seek the attention of your profs as early as possible. They won’t come to you, you’re the one who has to show interest beyond regular attendance. Don’t be the quiet student with good grades that never said a word. Go talk to your profs during office hours, mention your intention to go on to grad school, ask about undergraduate research opportunities, etc. </p>
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<p>McGill isn’t a party school as much as Montreal is a party city. Tons of bars (drinking age is 18, and alcohol is not the forbidden fruit it may be on US campuses), clubs, restaurants, festivals, and entertainment forms of all kind. So there’s plenty of partying opportunities at any time, and you can engage in such activities as much or as little as you want (even not at all, I mean Frosh is a big waste of time and money). But if you do want to take advantage of what Montreal has to offer, please don’t stay within the limits of the McGill campus, the McGill ghetto and Crescent street…</p>
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<p>Yes, academic quality is high (classes are taught by profs, not grad student instructors, with rare exceptions for very low level material and summer courses), and, as mentioned before, if you seek them out, you can get undergrad research opportunities. Any program can be made as challenging as you want (if, by any chance, you find your early classes too easy, you can always find classes that are better suited for your goals).</p>
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<p>You’re absolutely right about taking nothing for granted at McGill, nothing’s given on a silver platter, and many times students have to figure things out themselves. The quality of advising can certainly vary a lot, some advisors don’t know the programs so much, others simply have lost touch with the student experience. My best piece on advice (pun unintented) on that is to ask the older students in the department. They have a much better perspective on which classes are worth taking and which aren’t, what’s a manageable courseload and which professors are more approachable and better instructors.</p>