<p>Hey dkm, </p>
<p>I'm finishing up my first year in McGill's science program, so I'll give you the rundown, good and bad, about what you can expect from McGill life science.</p>
<p>you say: -the classes r too big and u cant really talk to ur professers unless u really try.</p>
<p>Noelle says: Science is McGill's second largest faculty, aside from Arts. However, they have much stricter program requirements than arts does, which leads to all science freshman, if they don't have exemption, having to take
Calculus
Chemistry
Physics
Biology.
In the first year. as you can well imagine this leads to very large class sizes. Usually though, there are several sections of each. Tips for getting into the smaller of two sections:
1. A class offered at 8:30 am will be smaller than that same class offered at any other time of day
2. A class offered Tuesday Thursday will often be smaller than a class offered Monday, Wednesday, and Friday
3. A class in Adams Auditorium is often smaller than a class in Leacock 132. </p>
<p>Yes, each of my science classes this term has been quite large, and one doesn't get to know the profs in class. However I haven't had a class yet with an unfriendly prof. I've dropped in on my prof's office hours several times, and they are there and ready to help you if you go to them. Additionally, several of them participate on the class message boards, not just to answer questions but to joke and chat with the students. Profs are nice guys. Yes, you don't get to know them just by attending lectures. But you don't have to go way out of your way to get to know them</p>
<p>Class size goes down too, with increasing year, as fields and courses become more specialized. Obviously some departments like biology will be larger than others, like Atmospheric and oceanic sciences. This is a fact of life. </p>
<p>You say: there are too many multiple choice questions and ur grade u get is basically consists entirely of how well u do these MCQs. furthermore these questions are extremly hard and its very easy to fail the finals. </p>
<p>Noelle says: Out of all the science courses I took this year, which were Chemistry 110 and 120, Calculus 140 and 141, and Physics 101 and 102, the exams were non multiple choice except for the chemistry courses. Exams were perfectly fair, grade distribution was normal, i believe. IN chemistry a mult. choice exam is fine because the questions are a lot more memorization based, and the calculations are simple. Physics and calculus all the exams and quizzes were show your complete solution, partial marks available type exams. For example, my physics exam last semester was a 6 question exam. Each question had multiple parts, though, and you were expected to work through each part thoroughly. I am not a physics person, I doubt that I got more than half of the answers right, but because of part marks and doing well on the assignment I got a B out of the course. As far as grades being impossible, McGill is known for hard grading, however it's not nearly as tough as Cornell (my best friend is studying there). Most people I talk to come out of classes fine. </p>
<p>You say:- the science program is extremely competative because everyone wants to go to medical skool, thus everyone wants high grades. mostly people wont help u because they fear the curve will go up. </p>
<p>Noelle says: I haven't encountered this one yet. My friends and I band together to help study for everything, tests, assignments, exams, labs, yeah. This may be true in later years or in really competitive departments (coughBiochemistrycough), but in general people are really nice. You can always make friends with upper year students, who are more than ready to spill the beans on a difficult exam or help you out. Though I can't imagine people at McGill being terribly unfriendly if you asked for help. You should see the class message boards for physics and chem. Everything you could want to know about labs, assignments, etc, is up there, anytime someone asks a question it is answered by fellow students wanting to help. </p>
<p>You say:-its not really a properly structured learning environment and basically just memorize 100 of pages of notes and do the exam. u dont get a chance to figure things out and learn by ur self</p>
<p>Noelle says: I don't understand this one. Obviously school is about studying, going to lectures, and understanding the course material. I haven't had a course yet where just memorizing the stuff was sufficient...you have to be able to understand the "why". Even in the large lecture halls, profs always take questions from students, or encourage them to discuss matters in depth during their office hours. If you want to explore an issue, I'm sure they'd be happy to help, or a TA during tutorials could help you as well. Yes, too many people only study so that they can do well on the exam, but there are many also who study for the sake of learning the subject. </p>
<p>You say:-u can get up to 8 or 9 teachers for one course making it harder to follow </p>
<p>Noelle says: yes and no. Chemistry this year I've had a total of 6 profs, 3 for chem 110 and another 3 for chem 120. For physics I had a prof 1st semester and a different one 2nd semester, and then for calculus I've had teh same prof year round (unfortunately). Biology I believe they had four profs, two a semester. I like it because it adds variety to the course, having different teachers teach different material. Each prof in chem will teach and then there'll be an exam on the material he/she covered. So it's not terribly disjointed. In fact, last sem. my favourite profs where the three i had for chem 110. </p>
<p>Regarding the medical/life science programs, some of them the information isn't too far off. Biology tends to be a very large faculty. Biochemistry is notorious for it's difficulty and the competitiveness of the students. If you wanted to go on to med school in the biochemistry area, I'd recommend a major in chemistry with a biology concentration, or vice versa. you can design your own majors, a friend of mine is doing one in neuroscience, if you coordinate it with your advisor. Anyway, you have to take the standard frosh courses your first year, then from there you'll get a better idea of which department and area you belong in. </p>
<p>McGill is a great school...I don't think you'll regret coming here. I've very much enjoyed studying here. Not that there aren't downsides, because there definitely are (large classes early on, crowded labs, etc), but the benefits outweigh the negatives.</p>
<p>And if it makes you feel better I've been happier at McGill than my best friend has been at Cornell ;)</p>
<p>Take care
noelle</p>