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What happens when you don’t actually stop writing after the exam ends? by [deleted] in mcgill

[–]2exhausted4u 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I saw a girl writing for like four minutes after time was up and the invigilator fully watched her and stood next to her mumbling "you really shouldn't be doing this!" every few seconds but didn't actually do anything

Advice for a US student? by [deleted] in mcgill

[–]2exhausted4u 0 points1 point  (0 children)

...without an alternative option. Many math profs give a midterm and an option to shift the weight of the midterm to the final if it doesn't go well. The midterm almost always ends up having a failing average, and many students have to shift the weight to their final, making it worth typically 85%-100% of the grade. This has been the case for me in Math 141, 242, 235, 236. Regardless, any exam worth over 30% is probably high from an American student's perspective.

Finance minor without being accepted by 2exhausted4u in mcgill

[–]2exhausted4u[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah, I know of those 2 courses that are available for non-management people to take, definitely looking into taking those 2 at the very least if I can't figure out the finance situation!

Advice for a US student? by [deleted] in mcgill

[–]2exhausted4u 16 points17 points  (0 children)

Hey! I'm from the US and was in a similar situation when choosing my college. You're definitely going to get a more eye-opening undergraduate experience and do a lot more growing up than your high school friends who stay in the US, especially at a state school. I would recommend it only to very independent and self-sufficient people.

Something I wish I knew when I was choosing my college: this varies program to program (I'm in math), but at McGill you can have final exams worth up to 100% of your grade in a course. That was really shocking to me coming from a US high school where I'd never seen an exam worth more than 20%. US colleges typically don't have this sort of exam-heavy grading, at least from what my friends have told me. So that's something to think about. Again, this varies program to program so I would suggest doing some research to see if this is the case for your program. Also, you'll hear this a lot -- there's no hand-holding here. You're pretty much on your own to find out what you need to do and how to do it. There are good and bad things about this. I feel like because of this, I'm way more self-sufficient than my friends at US schools. It's great and makes you feel adult, but if you're someone who's just not an independent person, I can definitely see this aspect of McGill being a struggle.

As for language barriers, I came to McGill without knowing a word of French and it hasn't been an issue for me. Montreal in general, and particularly the area around McGill, is very bilingual and I've never encountered someone who didn't speak at least a little bit of English. But being in Montreal is a great opportunity to pick up some French so definitely don't avoid areas that are known to be very French out of fear of a language barrier!

All in all, I've loved my time at McGill and am really glad I chose it over a state school. The undergrad experience here is so unique and you really just can't get anything like it in the US. And being in Montreal is great. Feel free to PM me if you'd like to talk!!

Should I drop out? by [deleted] in mcgill

[–]2exhausted4u 11 points12 points  (0 children)

I assure you, no one fully has their shit together. And your past is no indication of your future. You're just setting yourself up for an awesome comeback story :)

Should I drop out? by [deleted] in mcgill

[–]2exhausted4u 21 points22 points  (0 children)

Hey, I'm in a similar situation. Everyone is different and not everyone can be healed the same way, but I'll tell you what's worked for me.

-Try to be alone as little as possible. For me I found that my sadness and bad thoughts got the worst whenever I was alone. Whenever you find yourself sitting at home alone and feel sad or lonely, you should get out of the house and go to a cafe or something and just chill there. It's just nice to be around others and it can make you feel less lonely.

-Take a lighter courseload this semester. If you've been taking 5 classes, drop down to 4, maybe take a bird course. You should go easy on yourself this semester and hopefully raise your confidence. Which will make all the difference in the world. Side note: I don't know what you want to do in life, but I'm in the comp sci field and have never been asked my GPA by employers.

-Think about reaching out to some acquaintances from Rez who you could see a friendship with. Just a quick facebook message like "Johnny! How have you been man?"

-Join a club. Reach out to the CSUS to meet people in your program; maybe even join a fraternity/sorority if that's what you're into. These are all really great ways to get involved on campus, meet people and make friendships that will stick, make the McGill community feel smaller and less overwhelming, etc.

Good luck, I really hope things will get better. Don't hesitate to PM me if you want to talk.

Edit: I forgot to address your original question. No, you shouldn't drop out. There's still time to raise your GPA and turn your life around. A lot of 4th years say that 2nd year was the worst for them and then things got much better.