why mcgill

Colleges and Universities A-Z McGill University
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<ol>
<li> I am enjoying myself</li>
<li> I think emory is an incredible school.</li>
<li>I have friends that live in atlanta and have been there myself. I don't have any problems with atlanta. It sadly recieves the same stereotype that the rest of the super, religious right wing white south gets.
4.Why so bitter?</li>
</ol>

<p>and to end my post, McGill offers a better education than NYU imo.
Emory, NU, and McGill all offer amazing educations. I don't think the arguing on this forum is proper at all because everyones justifications for which school is only being based off of endowment or class size.</p>

<p>Berkeley has large class sizes for intro classes. Many of them are huge. Never stopped Berkeley from being on of the best schools in the world, did it.</p>

<p>Larger schools like McGill are much more independent in their educational approach than NU and Emory. NU and Emory are more student friendly. They welcome you, the teachers are more likely to get to know you. They are great professors.</p>

<p>McGill has great professors too. </p>

<p>All three schools are known for send off grads to great schools.
All have nobel prize winners (emory-1, NU-1 (as far as i can find on wikipedia),McGill-7)</p>

<p>All three are great and i dont think any backing of which ones are best by using simple student-teacher ratios, and endowment is a legitimate way to approach arguing.</p>

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<p>Adam, everything you're getting hot about, you inferred, I never explicitly said. I didn't say everyone in Atlanta was racist, I just said racism isn't very uncommon. You came into this with your baggage on the table, when you were better off leaving it at the door.</p>

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<p>I'm applying to McGill because I just love Montreal. My Grandparents live in Montreal and I have visited them since I was very young. In February I visited my brother who goes to school there studying History and I feel in love with the architecture of the buildings and the vibrant campus life. My only issue with Montreal is that some of the French speaking people can be very hostile to English speaking people.</p>

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<p>Everyone here seems to have mixed opinions about McGill. So far, most people have claimed that it has a good reputation, and great study programs. They've also stated that it has way too many students compared to teachers and that personal attention is lacking. I'm guessing Purdue and UT Austin are bound to be somewhat similar in that regard, correct?</p>

<p>But what about Uni of Waterloo and Uni of Toronto? How do those two compare to McGill? Are they more personal and better suited for Engineering?</p>

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<p>The reputable Canadian magazine called Mclean's consistently ranks UofT, Waterloo, and McGill as the top Canadian Universities. Don't cite me on this, but the general impression here, in Canada, is that an engineering education from any one of these institutions is a sure bet.</p>

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<p>i think the quality of all the engineering programs are great, but you are bound to have big classes. UT is over twice as big as McGill if i recall properly</p>

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<p>Is it also true that an undergraduate experience from a US university like Purdue, is more rigorous and gives you better vocational training for post-graduate life than a Canadian university like McGill? Or does studying in a Canadian university give you just as much opportunity to be successful in your vocational pursuits?</p>

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<p>I am no expert in comparisons between Canadian and American, but, in my experiences, the more prestigious universities are seriously lacking with regards to vocational training when compared to their, so called, "last chance U" counterparts. Lesser known universities, like Ottawa University, actually promote and intergrate Co-operative Education in their education system and account for co-op courses taken at the Highschool level, whereas McGill is known to be a "purely numbers" school with little or no regard for co-op experience.</p>

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<p>University of Toronto is not more personal than McGill, that's for sure, but quality of education-wise it's pretty equal (better in some programs, worse in others, etc). Waterloo is supposed to be the place for engineering (and computer science, and math) in Canada. They've got great co-op programs and will offer better financial aid than McGill. It's also great because Waterloo's a pretty boring town and there's not much else to do but study ;).</p>

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<p>Regarding Anik's question. Generally speaking, McGill is considered about as rigorous as universities get. You get no special attention, and the grades are insanely deflated.</p>

<p>McGill's rigor puts purdue to shame (as well as McGill's overall quality and international prestige)</p>

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<p>U of Toronto is a uni that's as rigorous as it is big. There are certain programs in U of T that (I've heard) make their students choose between the light of day and passing grade. Competition is fierce in many of the engineering science programs, a consequence of having 70,000+ students. Due to the weed-out mentality, U of T tries to cram as much material down their students throats, and then doesn't even let them regurgitate it. They're expected to apply their knowledge in ways that are pretty extreme (some intro courses have exams that would make upper-year students cry). </p>

<p>I have nothing but respect for anyone who makes it out of U of T alive. A lot of brilliant thinkers come out of U of T.</p>

<p>Waterloo is, IMHO, the MIT analogue of canada. It has some of the hardest programs in the country, and you constantly hear McGill students talking about their Waterloo contemporaries when they talk at internship workshops. These kids are machines, and will be a McGill grad's greatest source of competition in the job market. Bottom of the line, if you want an absolutely stellar engineering education Waterloo would be the place for you. If you're willing to, maybe, compromise for better international prestige, McGill might be the place for you (I only say that because I'm not sure how internationally known Waterloo is).</p>

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<p>Definitely worth it. I am at McGill right now, and its final exam season, and its ****ing hard. Isnt that what college is supposed to be about? At the end of the day, its hard to fail an arts course, but its even harder to get an A. Education is up to your son. You can pass classes without making a very hard effort, but McGill gives you all the resourced you need, its up to you whether to take an advantage of them. as a History students I have had the pleasure to meet brilliant professors who in many cases are also brilliant communicators. Economics, on the other side, is not as math based as in other places, mostly theoretical. You can complete your program taking the most interesting courses, though history is very eurocentric (where it isnt?)
As for the life, you get a bigger international experience than anywhere else in the United States. With my roommates, we have Asian, Africa, South American and European representation. And you will fit in if you give it a try. At the end of the day education is up to you, but you also learn how to ride the tides of bureaucracy, something with which everyone will eventually have to face. The city is gorgeous, the music scene as varied as possible, the food… meh.
At the end, I think McGill is a prove of character. The reputation is of party hard, study hard, but I’ve seen people taken this to extremes. The freedom is so much (or the control so little) that self-motivation is a must. I have had my hard semesters and some in which I have slacked, but I’ve learned so much in and out of classes.
I really recommend living the first year in residnce. You will get a chance to meet stoners and talk about philosophy with them, or the party animals, or the studious guys, artists and musicians, chess masters and amazing writers or people having a bit of it all, but at the end of the day, brushing the shyness away, you will meet stimulating people with who you will definitely want to live with next year.
I know this is pretty diosrganized but I hope it gives a holistic idea of what McGill is about, and the decision of whether to come here SHOULD be based on character, its not for everyone if you are not ready to “face the world” but the learning experience is invaluable and it pushes you to do things you never thought you could do–quick parenthesis, I am writing for a journal right now, when high school was all about sports for me. So, as a life experience, and life we have only one, it is definitely a yes.</p>

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<p>pd. My social skills are below average, but I found a place, so for those who aren’t as outgoing, do not fear. It takes some effort but you will find your niche.</p>

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<p>As a transfer from a large well regarded public university in the states, I have a few comparisons. McGill’s main attraction is it’s location. It’s why I decided to transfer here after two years. I’m in the math department, and I will say this about class size, is even at upper level, classes are bigger. I’m not talking 550+ students, but even in a 300 level math class you’re in a lecture hall with 90-100 people. It’s okay for some people, but I was used to having 30-50 people in upper level classes (and my previous school had 15k more students). I’m not horribly upset, it just makes class a little more impersonal. Before I found myself a little more engaged. In intro calculus courses I never cared, but when it got to the harder stuff, it’s nice to be able to stop the professor and clarify. </p>

<p>McGill is certainly worth considering though. To anyone considering paying $40k+, I just don’t think it’s worth it for undergrad, especially if you’re going to get a similar experience to your in-state research institution or McGill.</p>

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Can we pick up this thread nine years later? :slight_smile: My main question about McGill is this: People are always referring to the fact that “nobody will hold your hand.” Can anybody provide some specific examples of what they mean by this- especially in comparison with other schools?

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I’m wondering the same thing. McGill students - could you please chime in?

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@Sunnydaisies There is a new thread on this topic:
http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/mcgill-university/1975794-mcgill-i-wanna-hold-your-hand.html#latest

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“My McGill student will graduate prepared much better for grad school”

Yes, absolutely. One person I know did a Bachelor’s degree and Master’s degree at McGill, and then went to the University of Washington for a PhD. When he arrived at UW, his advisor very carefully went over all of the classes that he had taken, what he had learned, and what he knew. Finally the advisor said “You have already completed all of the classes that you need for your PhD, but you need to take two years of courses; You can take anything that you want for two years”. McGill had prepared the student so well for graduate school that he was essentially already done in terms of required material.

“Question: Do most students at McGill find their comfort zone after the first few months or do most kids struggle with grades the whole time?”

I think that the answer is almost the same as for any academically very challenging university: Some students (the smartest, hardest working, best prepared, and most “ready”) love it and do really well. Some students struggle the entire time. The difference between McGill versus Harvard in this regard is probably that if you aren’t academically up to flourishing at Harvard, and you aren’t an athlete, URM, or some other “hook”, then you won’t get in. Even if you are academically up to it you still very likely won’t get into Harvard. At McGill you might get in even if you aren’t strong enough to do really well there. The students that will do well at Harvard will also do just as well at McGill, and learn just as much.

Part of doing well at any academically challenging university is to know why you are there and know why you want to work that hard to learn your subject well. One former McGill student said to me “you have to want to do it”, another said “you have to know why you are there”. The same could be said of Toronto, MIT, Harvard, Stanford, U of Michigan, or any other strong school.

" …and is just as metropolitan and chic as Montreal."

Atlanta is a nice city (if you can handle the summers). Nonetheless, I got quite a chuckle out of this statement.

Certainly the bilingual nature of Montreal is a major factor in the experience of spending four years at McGill. You can love it, hate it, or have rather mixed feeling about it, but it will have an impact on your experience there. If you learn even a little bit of French it will enhance your experience living in Montreal (although this is not required at all to do well at McGill for four years). I might add that for an American living in a different country for four years will be a significant experience. The world might be a better place if everyone had the chance to spend four years living outside of their native country.