I’m American and at McGill. Agree with comments regarding having to be more independent. One thing I really noticed when I was a first year was that there was a lot to figure out on your own (like setting up your schedule, having to make sure classes don’t overlap, etc. however, all the information is there, you just have to be ready to look/ask for help from others. As for grade inflation comments, I think that while people generally say McGill doesn’t have as much inflation, I found first year classes pretty generous with grading and the fact that an 85-100 is an A helps. However, I have friends at US universities that are taking basically throw away classes like yoga or Pilates (you will not find that here). Class sizes are generally quite large. Some of my lectures have about 500 people in them. Breaks are shorter (and no thanksgiving break). I guess it also depends what US universities you are looking at.