McGill or bust!

July 4, 2007 8:39 AM

University transfer filter: Give me a candid opinion of my chances of getting into the university I want, as a transfer student?

I have a 3.8 out of a possible 4.3 as far as a GPA. I want to go to McGill. I'm undecided in my major, but I've narrowed it down to either psychology, which I like, or political science, which I'm good at.

Various friends say I'm a shoe in, but my Aspergers means that I can't tell if I'm being given pep talk or sound advice.

What should I take into consideration for getting in? I know I need to get an outline of all my courses so the credits may be transferred. Should I also butter up my profs for letters of recommendation? How do I communicate being in my various professors’ good books to my chosen destination, or does this not matter to them?

Would it help to make up my mind about my major? Right now it hinges on if I can hack stats, and I’ll know about that in about three months. Since transferring is my goal should I fixate on classes I like but have a lesser chance of making A+ in, or classes like the English stream, which I can typically do in my sleep, but find boring? In other words, bird courses or ‘wheee, fun!’ classes?

I have until May 1st of next year to prepare. Please help me start now, so I can be organized?

posted by Phalene to education (10 answers total)

I graduated from McGill back in 2000, so I may be a little out of date, but I don't think you should have any problems.

I suppose it might depend on where you are now, since you are transferring. They might also look at your high school marks (or SATs if you are American).

Getting recommendations from profs is a fine idea, particularly if you can get them to emphasise your lateral thinking skills, ability to communicate/argue/debate, rather than just repeating "this person got a good mark in my class".

What deadlines are looking at? When do you plan on transferring? Presumably you have left it a bit late to start this September...
posted by modernnomad at 9:17 AM on July 4, 2007

Sorry, just read that you going next year. So, yeah, you have lots of time. Definitely get strong letters from profs, as above. I think it would also be a good idea to declare on your application what you want to major in at McGill, why you are majoring in it, and why you want to major in it at McGill. I would check out their faculty webpages just so you can drop some names -- the politics dept is strong, so it would be a good idea to familiarize yourself with the research interests of some of the professors, and try and align yourself accordingly.
posted by modernnomad at 9:20 AM on July 4, 2007

From where are you transferring? Follow the university transfer requirements. That should be enough. If you want to know if your grades are high enough, poke around the McGill website for their internal statistics department. You could also ask advising what the average GPA for acceptance is.

For a major, I would pick whatever is the easiest to get into -- if you're transferring. WHen I transferred to university, many students applied to the Arts faculty, even though they wanted to go into business or some other faculty. Once they were in, they could apply for a transfer to the specific faculty.

If you aren't sure about stats, take the course off-campus at a community college AFTER you've been accepted to McGill. Don't transfer the course. If you want, you can then audit it at McGill. And then take it at McGill. This is what I learned many people do -- after I'd nearly graduated.
posted by acoutu at 9:22 AM on July 4, 2007

At the college where I work, we have admissions counselors who spend their entire day helping people exactly like you figure out what they need to do to transfer in. Have you talked to the counselors at McGill to see what they say about which classes it would be best to take right now? From what I've seen, generic classes (English 101, Intro to Biology) are more likely to transfer & count for your required courses at the new school than more specialized (or interesting) classes will.

Also, in our program, some majors are more desperate for new students, so incoming transfer students choosing a less-popular program might be given a little more slack when we're evaluating their academic records. I don't know if that's the case at McGill.
posted by belladonna at 9:31 AM on July 4, 2007

McGill is a little different from most liberal-artsy American schools in my experience. Basically, all they care about for admissions is numbers, numbers, numbers. It's nothing personal if you don't get in, it's nothing personal if you do get in.

Most likely, they'll only look at standardized test scores and GPA.

McGill's probably a great place for someone with Aspergers, because you pretty much never have to interact with your professors, so they'll never judge you for being socially awkward.

Remember to apply to the faculty of Arts (if you apply to Arts and Science, you'll have to double major in a hard science in order to graduate) It might not be a bad idea to add Arts and Science or Science as a second choice, especially if you're nervous about getting in (you probably shouldn't be) because it's pretty easy to transfer from those into Arts, and you can take Arts courses before you transfer. You can also apply to the faculty of Science if you're sure you want to do psychology and focus more on the science side of it.

As far as classes next year, check with the McGill student affairs office (514-398-4210) about which classes can count as transfer credits to your major. You'll be happy to get those out of the way. Other than that, focus on keeping your GPA up, and good luck! You sound like you have a great chance of getting in.

(sorry about the arts/arts and science/science rant - it blew my mind when I started McGill. Feel free to email me if you have any other questions)
posted by fermezporte at 9:38 AM on July 4, 2007

I strongly suspect that with your GPA, they are just going to rubber stamp your application right away. I doubt they will even care what your profs think of you. I know someone who had poor high school marks, got a year of good marks similar to yours at a smaller school, and then had no trouble transferring. I think that you do have to apply with a specific major and that it will help to have taken courses that would be included in that major. Call the admissions people at McGill: they are generally pretty helpful.
posted by ssg at 10:46 AM on July 4, 2007

In other words, bird courses or ‘wheee, fun!’ classes?

Your GPA isn't what to worry about this point- it's already pretty good and once you transfer, it doesn't count. You want to look over the course requirements at McGill, and take courses that will count for something should you transfer your credits over there. When I transferred, all foreign language I had taken counted as general credit, but I still had to take 2 years of foreign language at my new school, due to their placement exam. What a pain. Think about stuff like that.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 11:05 AM on July 4, 2007 [1 favorite]

FWIW, I've never heard of anyone in Canada needing letters of recommendation to transfer to another university. I have heard of people using them to transfer into engineering programs, but that's usually been where they've had around a 3.0.
posted by acoutu at 2:24 PM on July 4, 2007

I'm in a small Canadian university. I want to go to McGill because the environment here isn't challenging enough and as a person born in Quebec, it's likely I get super reduced tuition. It also fits into my goal of being bilingual (I have a basic grasp of French, I just need speaking practice). I see great merit in the advice to go forth and figure out what my soon to be profs specialize in; it’s what I did with the local ones. I'll add it to my to-do list.

Thanks all, for the clarifications and perspective. I hope I manage this!
posted by Phalene at 3:40 PM on July 4, 2007

talk to the admissions counselors. they deal with this all the time. it sounds like your grades are good, so i wouldn't worry too much. good luck! and good on you for seeking out more challenges in life. it'll take you far.
posted by thinkingwoman at 7:03 PM on July 4, 2007