<p>Hi Guys,</p>
<p>I'm back- ready to answer any prospective student questions about McGill admissions and student life... as well as whatever else you'd like to know!
My name is Sean, and I am a U1 student in a double degree program at McGill (BM/BA), and am heavily involved on campus... so most questions I should be able to answer or point you in the right direction!</p>
<p>Good luck to you as you fill out our all-too-easy application! Hope you choose McGill!</p>
<p>-Sean</p>
<p>hey thanks so much, i just have a few questions i went up last year and looked at it and loved it. how would you describe the student body, and also are classes graded on a scale? ( is it impossible to get As?) thanks so much!!!</p>
<p>It is quite possible to get an A, but the grading scheme varies from class to class .</p>
<p>Is montreal all that its cracked up to be?</p>
<p>Are Mcgill's classes as big as their reported to be?</p>
<p>If you could apply to university again, would you still choose mcgill?</p>
<p>Well, since rideltrain isn't answering stuff at the moment...</p>
<p>Depends on what you mean by "cracked up to be".</p>
<p>For large classes, it depends on the program and the year. Bio 202, calculus I- II, gigantic. Philosophy of ancient science, not so much. Most freshmen and first year classes are large, after that, it depends on the difficulty and the popularity of the course. Having majored in math, most of my classes from my second year on were relatively small.</p>
<p>Thirdly, yes definitely.</p>
<p>What are the advantages Montreal offers? And do you get the time to have some fun?</p>
<p>What program are most freshman students?</p>
<p>Is it the "Faculty of Arts and Sciences" and is that.. the equivalent to "Letters and Science College" in the US?</p>
<p>TellingOnYou: Montreal is cheap compared to other North American cities, safe and friendly (and the legal drinking age of 18 is more a suggestion...). There's lots to do outside of campus in your free time (the amount of which depends on your program and personal work ethics, first two weeks of the fall semester are usually good for partying, and there's a "study break" in the last week of february). The public transit system is pretty good, there are lots of nice restaurant, bars, clubs, etc. What else? A lot of bilingual people there too, so if you want to learn French it's a decent place*, though you can live there without having to say a word in French ever (like some McGill students do).</p>
<p>technika: I'm afraid I can't answer your question as people from Quebec like myself don't get to do a freshman year (because we go through something called cegep between secondary school, which ends in 11th grade, and university). Hopefully rideltrain, who started this thread, or someone else can answer it soon.</p>
<p>*if you really want to learn French I suggest you do some immersion elsewhere in Quebec though</p>
<p>Hey - my name is Laney and I'm a U0 student in Arts and Sciences. I'm a little behind here, but I'll throw in my brief opinions about all the questions...</p>
<p>The student body is VERY diverse. Most of the kids I've met are really smart, friendly, and hardworking - but you can find pretty much any kind of person.</p>
<p>A's are quite possible (all of 85-100% is an A), but it does depend on the course/teacher, and your own motivation. You have to be totally responsible for yourself.</p>
<p>Montreal IS an amazing city to live in. There's tons of diversity, culture, and fun and as a student you get discounts all over (Biodome, Art Museum, Planatarium, Botanical Gardens, etc). Even just the streets are fun to walk along (St.Cathrine, St.Laurent, St.Denis...). The first month or so of school, you have a lot of time to take advantage of it all - after that, once midterms hit things can get a little overwhelming (depending on the program). I didn't see much for the past two months besides my classrooms and my dormroom.</p>
<p>The classes are as big as they say for most freshman. I didn't have a course last semester that wasn't 400-500 kids, and next semester is even worse. But, again, it depends on what you study, and generally classes shrink as you get more focused and specific.</p>
<p>I would definitely choose McGill again.</p>
<p>I actually don't know what the "Letters and Sciences" program is, so I can't really answer that. Arts and Sciences is exactly what it says - you can take courses from both faculties, and have to do, basically, a double major - one in each. I will warn you that if you come in with no prior credits, then freshman year is very intensively science based.</p>
<p>Arts and Sciences is one of the smallest faculties. It's a fairly new program, more difficult to get into, and they're still working out the kinks (lots of kids have had trouble scheduling classes without having their science labs interefere with their arts lectures, etc, etc) but it's great for a student who wants to keep options open and get a better balance in their work. A lot of pure science or pure arts students I know say they wish they had more classes from the other faculty. As far as what program are most students in? I think the largest is the pure Arts, followed by pure Sciences.</p>
<p>Whew! OK, that was a fairly long post. I hope it was at least a little helpful. Keep asking away, kids! Best of luck!</p>
<p>Do you recall when yoiu received your acceptance to McGill? Is it a rolling admissions type thing, or do they notify all at once?</p>
<p>McGill doesn't do rolling so, unfortunately, you're just stuck waiting. The decision release date depends on what type of applicant you are, but you can check out this site for an approximate time:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.mcgill.ca/applying/decision/%5B/url%5D">http://www.mcgill.ca/applying/decision/</a></p>
<p>McGill is a terrific university; my father got his educ there. Though Montreal is getting rather less <em>attractive</em> the last time i went to visit... Just me though; McGill is considered one of the best in the world.</p>
<p>I go to the top school in the Bahamas. According to Mcgill the to the standards set by Mcgill for the Bahamas the BGCSE exams (GCSE equivalent) are the guidelines for acceptance Mcgill. I go to the only school that does the IB diploma here. I did the BGCSE exams last year and got all A's including math, phsyics and chemistry. How would Mcgill admissions evaluate me as a candidate for admission. Would they use my BGCSE exams and then use my IB predicted results as a supplement or just the IB. I also am going to do the sat and sat subject tests in math and physics. I would like to know because there have been students accepted into Mcgill from the Bahamas before but the they only had some A's in the BGCSE. BGCSE's are really easy compared to other forms of credentials like IB or AP or A levels. Most people here perform poorly on them as the national average is F+. Would this also be taken into consideration</p>
<p>I think McGill would be more comfortable evaluating your IB predicted grades...just because they're probably much more familiar with IB than with BGCSE's. I don't know what they'd actually do, though.</p>
<p>What are GCSEs?</p>
<p>English. Technically stands for General Certificate of Secondary Education but are only ever referred to as GCSE's. They're major exams taken in each subject in England (and in some other countries modeled after the English educational system) at 16 - American equivalent of the end of 10th grade. I don't know about the Bahamas specifically, but in England after GCSE's a university-bound student would do A-levels. For A-levels, you choose the subjects you'll study for the next two years, university admissions in England are based on A-level results.</p>
<p>What is the French program like? Is it especially hard? How big are the classes?</p>
<p>-Deion S.</p>
<p>What kind of IB predicted resultsand SAT scores would I need in order to have a good shot at admission at Mcgill?</p>
<p>Is anybody American applying to McGill??</p>
<p>My son is applying to McGill from a US high school -
this should probably be a new thread</p>