<p>Hi guys,
I am an international student who was accepted to Mcgill for a BA. I applied for a Major Scholarship but was declined. Applied for a 10k bursary (actual need: 15k) but only got 5k when i desperately needed 10k. Is there anyone who has got more??? Can i appeal against this and if so is it recommended??
Again, i am considering applying for a work study thing. How much do you think that the horly pay will be? and for the accomodation, will i be selected for accomodation randomly or will it be first come first serve or will financial need and other factors be considered while giving you accomodation??
These are the first sets of questions that i desperately need answering!I hope any of you can help me....i will be extremely grateful!
Thank you very much
Gopal</p>
<p>anyone???PLEASEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE…I BEG YOU!LOL</p>
<p>Just be happy with 5k. I’m worse, asked for 13k and they gave me ZERO k !! I emailed them and they havn’t replied for freaking two weeks. McGill is in a financial crisis now. You should be happy that at least they do give you some aid. Do mind if i ask how much your savings and annual family contribution in the financial profile are?</p>
<p>my savings are Zero because i havent worked due to personal circumstances and my family can only contribute 10K so according to the cost of attendance guideline thing…im off by about 12-13k and whats more my government doesnt provide aid and i have no other sources left other that work-study which my mother is vehemently against as she feels i should study not work!
and idk about the loan! btw freeday did u get into imperial college london? I live in the UK as well but if you are thinking of going there how are you managing to pay??because my tutition is also the international rate which is stupid even tho i’ve lived here for two years with my mum living for 3, but im really annoyed that they want a PR even though i have a visa which will let me complete my studies!
Thanks anyway</p>
<p>I’m in a similar situation - my family can’t pay anything toward college and I just started working for the first time. McGill gave me $7,500, which was nice, but I still need to come up with about $14,000 to cover room and board and everything. Do you know if McGill gives loans or do you need to get loans through your country/private banks? I’m American, by the way.</p>
<p>infinity_360, I got into Oxford (Lincoln College) as well. But that’s exactly the point, it’s too expensive in London. But I feel that McGill might give me better chances if I want to go to the US for grad studies.
Btw I assume that you took A-Level like me. My guess is since our results are out too late, so our decisions were finalised after McGill’s aid run out. They probably have no money left to aid us mwhahaha.
Also On-Campus jobs are incredibly hard to find, I heard…</p>
<p>Hey
I applied for 10k for the entrance bursary and they plainly ‘refused’ my application, without even offering to provide a slightly lesser amount.
I have appealed against the decision to no avail ( as in they haven’t responded yet)
I’m an international student too! </p>
<p>Does anyone know about McGill loans? I read about them in the Student Aid section on McGill’s website. They’re supposed to be interest free until the due date.
Does anyone know if there’s any limiting amount for the loan? I’m planning to take a McGill loan to cover 3 years of tuition fee at McGill. (i.e. $49,500) Do these McGill loans provide such amounts, or are they essentially small amount loans meant for other purposes?</p>
<p>The other financial options I/we have are in-course financial aid, but then again, one needs to be eligible in order to receive the aid (and I’m not sure I’ll be eligible…I mean they didn’t think I was eligible for the entrance bursary…so yeah) and of course, work study, apart from other bursaries and awards based on academic performance. </p>
<p>Does anyone have more information about the aforementioned instruments of financial aid?</p>
<p>Jillianlwood:Well the Mcgill website about loans is quite confusing…Minerva has a section for Mcgill loans but he Mcgill website doesn’t seem to have a loans section now even though im pretty sure of looking at it before…they have updated some sections and made it more confusing!:(…but if they do give loans,will the interest rate they charge be similar to that in private banks??? </p>
<p>Freeday: Same here…I want to go to Grad school in the US and Mcgill is probably the best for me…seeing that i didnt apply for Oxbridge (i might not have got in anyway).lol…But yes it seems like the best option…but its stupid that we get less aid even though its meant to be ‘need’ based!</p>
<p>Lucas_tuscany: same as jillianlwood’s reply for me…i cant seem to find the loan section on student aid!:S…if they are interest free until the due date…it seems ok…but is it likely that you might be able to pay the whole thing off by the due date??another option is incourse major scholarships…</p>
<p>Btw does anyone know if the bursary amount you get remains the same over your period of study or can it change if you show better academic performance…as it says they are based on academic performance and demonstrated financial need?and what is the hourly rate given for work-study??</p>
<p>McGill does have loans … ONLY IF you’re Americans (US+Can). Good news is that we can apply for financial aid again next year. So if your family’s income gets worse or your grades get better, you have a better chance.
Btw, the need-based part is bull**** lol. But I’m quite sure it does not involve any academic performance (at least for the entrance finaid). Last year, my friend did far worse than me but she still got 10k aid; and strangely her financial profile showed MUCH bigger figures than mine…
However, if you read the recent news letter, McGill is in a big financial crisis, so who got a few k aid should be grateful for that …</p>
<p>Oh what fun…no loans!:(…btw freeday i also heard ur from singapore??have you applied for NUS??..i’ve applied…but since im asking for fin aid…the only thing that i dont like is the bond thing…i wont be able to go to grad school immediately! but well if your singaporean…i think it has some good opportunities for you and whats more, it well reputed and the study abroad programmes are good…if you are looking for US education, i think something that is worthwhile is the joint degre with univ of north carolina at chapel hill…which is supposed to be pretty good.
well getting back to the point i am glad i got a bit of fin aid but im afraid i wont be able to go unless i find another source which i hope comes along in some way coz this is a great oportunity!costly to miss!</p>
<p>NUS is very good; Singapore is a beautiful country with great opportunities and nice people. BUT … it’s incredibly boring too. No I’m not Singaporean but I’ve been here for 5 years. NUS has 99% enrollment rate from Singapore, frankly it’s quite hard to fail NUS even if you’re from overseas. If your grades are not up to the standard of the programme you chose, they will just put you into a lower programme (even when you didn’t apply for it). And loans are guaranteed if you’re accepted, so … there’s just no feeling of achievement if you get into NUS (except maybe medicine or various scholarships). I did apply for NUS, they’re asking for my mother tongue exemption but I lost it mwhahhaha.
infinity, you can afford to study in UK but NOT Canada?? Btw if you take part-time jobs during summer, I think you will have just enough money…</p>
<p>i cant afford to study here…thats why i applied for Canada…lol…esp for the fin aid!and getting a job is super difficult coz everyone…literally almost everyone from every school has to look for a job so they can support themselves through uni and here the recession has hit very badly and there are also no on campus jobs around so it becomes even more difficult!
I know that you might not have a feeling of achievement with NUS…but that can come up for grad school can’t it?just a thought…im confused too!:(</p>
<p>well, you can go straight to grad in NUS and delay your bonds (assume that you get the loans or scholarships) … I heard such cases before. But you can forget about leaving Singapore afterward because your bonds will add up to 6 years, 9 years… By that time you will get a VERY stable jobs in Singapore. And I must say that it’s very easy to get a moderate-income job here. I just finished A-Level and already landed a part-time job with Frost & Sullivan with $2000 monthly. Funny thing is, an UNIVERSITY intern in my department only get $700 a month mwhahaha. And I’m pretty sure that living in Singapore is cheaper than Montreal. It’s your choice to choose.</p>
<p>woah 2000$…part time???how come??that will be enough to afford montreal wont it??lol…btw what about Oxford, have you accepted the offer??</p>
<p>btw…i read in an article…i think straits times…it said that ppl in Singapore are finding it hard to find jobs domestically as the whole economy is export focussed…which is a sector which is suffering due to the recession…so you must be awesomely lucky!lol</p>
<p>This is so interesting! I’m from Singapore TOO (but I’m not a Singaporean or a PR)! FreedayFF, are you doing NS? Or are you an int’l student?</p>
<p>I’m trying to choose between NUS and McGill. I called the International Student Services centre at McGill yesterday to inquire about the McGill loans. They said that McGill Loans will be offered to you only if they deem you fit for the in-course financial assistance programme. </p>
<p>Well, the thing is–they rejected my Entrance Bursary application (which means they probably thought I don’t need that financial assistance) So I asked them whether I would still be eligible for in-course financial aid IF I provided the same financial stats( annual income, etc) as I did when I applied for my entrance bursary. She said NO- I WOULD NOT BE ELIGIBLE! </p>
<p>She also said that I shouldn’t expect McGill loans to cover the entire tuition fees for a year. So the whole McGill Loan option seems quite risky to me. What if they don’t think you’re eligible? You’ll just be left hanging without any financial help in your 2nd year! </p>
<p>The worst thing is-- my current financial profile can’t get any worse. Although my dad had a good job a few months ago (salary was considerably high), he was retrenched in March because of the recession! And that means my current annual income is 0!! I told McGill about this in my entrance bursary application (and I even sent them the supporting documents) but they STILL REFUSED my bursary app! It just doesn’t make any sense!!!</p>
<p>On the other hand, NUS has offered me a full scholarship…so I’m gradually leaning towards NUS. </p>
<p>Does anyone know if we can avail of international student loans from private companies …?</p>
<p>lucas.tuscany, which jc are you from? I’m from acjc and I’m an asean scholar. Are you sure McGill loans are available for non-American students?? And about loans from private corps, I think it’s already too late. There’re plenty in Singapore though, look up in brightspark.
Btw, if your financial profile is so bad, how on earth can you even get a VISA in the first place ??</p>
<p>hey
I’m from NJ and I’m a scholar too. 
Yup, international students are definitely eligible for McGill loans.</p>
<p>And well, the visa thing won’t be a problem for sure. My financial condition isn’t that bad (well, my family’s quite well off actually despite this current situation) And that’s probably why McGill rejected my entrance bursary app. :(</p>
<p>hey guys, any idea how much the cost of living per month is going to be in Montreal (food, transport, basic personal expenses)?assuming that the housing is the lowest possible i.e. approx cad7000?
if my calculations are right with the living costs estimated at 900 cad a month…at the end of four years i will have atleast cad 88000 in debt in the worst case- i.e. no scholarship, no job ,etc…thats going to be fun!lol:p</p>
<p>worry about your visa first. If you don’t have enough saving to cover one full year, I doubt they will give you a visa. My friend is staying in a luxury condominium for 500 a month, so less than 5000 a year, which is still less than the cheapest rez. Food is cheap if you visit china town often. So yes 7k is enough. 88k loan mwhahha, I could have bought a Nissan GTR with that amount :D</p>