Student report McGill University in Montreal, Canada
Elisabeth Falch Slinning: Elisabeth.f.slinning@student.bi.no
Should you have any queries, please do not hesitate to contact me at my email
address above.
Name of the university: McGill University
Exchange Semester: Winter 2009
1. GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT THE SCHOOL AND ACADEMIC
INFORMATION:
McGILL
From McGill Website: http://www.mcgill.ca/
The oldest university in Montreal, McGill was founded in 1821 from a
generous bequest by James McGill, a prominent Scottish merchant. Since
that time, McGill has grown from a small college to a bustling university with
two campuses, 11 faculties, some 300 programs of study, and more than
34,000 students.
BI has exchange program with the Faculty of Management a building located
downtown Montreal, close to the McGill Ghetto were most of the students are living.
MONTREAL
Montreal is a city in the French province Quebec. People speak both English and
French, but French is not necessary to get around in the city. McGill is an English
University and the classes are lectured in English with the required literature in
English as well. If you prefer to write the assignments and the exams in French this
is accepted.
STUDY STRUCTURE
The workload is heavier than at BI. Most of the classes have midterm and final
exams, group and/or individual projects and can also contain assignments, tests and
presentations. The semester is also shorter than at BI, you will finish at the end of
April and the semester is therefore quite intense.
You will receive information about what you need to cover at the exams and I found
the information during the semester to be satisfying.
You will have access to something called MyMcGill (Minerva), which is similar to our
Blackboard system at BI. Here you will find all of the information you might need,
but if anything is unclear the professors are happy to help, as well as the other
students. I found the professors to be very engaged in each student.
SOCIAL ACTIVITES
When it comes to the people of Montreal they are very proud of their city and is
happy to guide you or help you in any or other way. They are easy to get in contact
with and it is not hard to make friends in class. The school also have events
arranged by the students that you can participate in as well as a few events will be
hosted for the exchange students.
GRADES
Your grade in the course will not depend on only one exam. In the beginning of the
semester you will receive a course outline that shows how many percentage each of
the exams, projects etc. will count. E.g.: Marketing Research:
Evaluation
In-class Participation
Mid-term Exam (Chapters 1-11)
4 SPSS Lab Assignments (Chapters 12-19)
Group Project
-Research Proposal
10%
-Focus Group Results + Survey Design
15%
-Final Results Report + Presentation
25%
10 %
20 %
20 %
50 %
As you can see, some of the classes don’t have a final exam but a final group project
with a presentation. Be aware that participation in class very often counts, from
10% to 25% and will affect your grade. Here it is not only that you have to show up
in class, but it is expected of you to participate in the discussions of the day.
A
AB+
B
BC+
C
D*
(85-100%)
(80-84%)
(75-79%)
(70-74%)
(65-69%)
(60-64%)
(55-59%)
(50-54%)
F
(0-49%)
Satisfactory
Pass
Conditional
Pass
Failure
COURSES
I took one class extra at BI the fall semester (metode og dataanalyse) and withdrew
from one class at McGill due to the heavy workload. One of my classes was not
lectured from the Management faculty and was therefore hard to get approval of at
the university. I would recommend you to only choose courses at Management. If
you are taking the same program at BI as I am, the Faculty of Management at McGill
should have communication courses there so you might find the right courses.
Link to search with keywords: http://www.mcgill.ca/courses/keyword_search/
Link to all of Managements courses: http://www.mcgill.ca/courses/listing_search/
MY COURSES
Strategies for Sustainability
MGPO 440
3 credits
Management Policy: This course explores the relationship between economic
activity, management, and the natural environment. Using readings,
discussions and cases, the course will explore the challenges that the goal of
sustainable development poses for our existing notions of economic goals,
production and consumption practices and the management of organizations.
Offered by: Management
I took this course to cover the course “strategi” at BI. The course was heavy,
but nonetheless very exciting and relevant to the time we are living in now.
It takes a different and alternative approach to how business is and should
be done. It might not be the correct course to cover “strategi” but I
recommend the course. You have to be able to debate and the goal of the
class is to find new business strategies that will give financial returns, but
that doesn’t compromise the environment. My Professor (Margaret Graham)
was very engaged in the class. She was quite strict, but she really cared
about each and every student and wanted us to understand, not just get
good grades. She teaches the class because she wants to change the world
and looks at the students as the new decision makers of the world.
Marketing Research
MRKT 451
3 credits
Marketing: Theoretical techniques and procedures common in marketing
research. Topics include: research design, sampling, questionnaire design,
coding, tabulating, data analysis (including statistical techniques).
Specialized topics may encompass advertising, motivation and product
research; forecasting and location theory.
Offered by: Management
I took this class for the course kvaltitative metoder, but it can also be taken
for the course metode og dataanalyse. The prerequisites for this class are
marketing and statistics. In this class we had a lot of guest speakers that
were working with marketing research. We also visited a company called ADHOC Research that does only qualitative research. Here we were divided into
different groups, some of us being the focus group and some of us being “the
clients” watching and taking notes of the focus groups. The course emphasis
on practice and therefore it doesn’t have a final exam only a mid-term. But it
has 4 SPSS lab assignments and a final group project. Here we had to do
marketing research for a real client in Montreal. We had to do everything by
our self from making the proposal to doing focus groups, create and conduct
the questionnaire, doing the analysis in SPSS and then make a report and
present it to the class and the clients.
I really recommend this class. The professor was great and the project was
fun.
Media Relations
CPRL 225
3 credits
Public Relations: Techniques used by organizations to communicate with
stakeholders through public information media will be examined, including
the media's context, objective and constraints using current issues in media.
Offered by: Career And Management Studies
Here we also had guest speakers from every media platform. Here we had
mid-term, individual project, presentation and a final exam. The class was
not as heavy as the two others. I will not write as much about it as I can see
that it is not being lectured in 2010.
2. PRACTICAL INFORMATION
You will receive an information package not long after applications. I received mine
from 4 to 6 weeks after application. You have to apply to the school online. This is
not hard and you will receive information from BI how to do this step by step.
VISA
Due to the short semester (only 4 months) you do not have to apply for a visa. It is
only if you are staying 6 months or more that this is necessary.
COSTS:
The books and the course packs can be quite expensive, but there is also
possibilities to by some of these used.
You will get a monthly bill for the use of printers, copyrights etc at your Minerva
account. As in the U.S the taxes are not included in the price of products and will be
added at your receipt.
ACADEMIC CALENDER
As mentioned the semester lasts 4 months. The end of the classes is around the 15th
of April and the official end of the semester is the 30th of April, but it depends on
when your last exam is (it can be earlier).
I arrived at January the 3rd two days before school start. I recommend you to get
there a few days before start to in order to get the housing situation done. For more
information about this, look under “housing” later in this report.
RECEPTION
The reception was good, but it is a lot of exchange students and therefore the
student advisers are very busy. I recommend you to do most of the research by
yourself. Have a few extra courses as extras if you need to change one. Make sure
they are approved by BI before you leave as this can take longer time when you are
there than you have. The first weeks is a trying period called ad-drop period were
students can try the classes and see if they like them or not and have the
opportunity to change courses. After this period you cannot enter any new classes.
HOUSING
I did not have a place to leave before I arrived, but it was not hard to fine one.
The most students are living in the McGill Ghetto close to the school, but everywhere
in Montreal Downtown should be livable. The area called Plateau is a nice area, but
further away from the university, but the metro system in Montreal is well attained
and McGill has its own stop.
You have the opportunity to live at the school campus or in an off-campus
apartment. There are different ways to find an apartment. The school can help you
with finding an off campus apartment or you can find one yourself e.g. from
craigslist.
McGill Residents: http://www.mcgill.ca/residences/
Link McGills site off campus: http://www.mcgill.ca/offcampus/
Craigslist: http://montreal.en.craigslist.ca/hhh/
Note: The renting prices doesn’t differ much from the ones in Oslo
WEATHER:
In the winter time it gets very cold in Montreal, but the winter doesn’t last as long as
in Norway. Still you should bring a lot of warm clothes and jackets. In March the
spring is already started and in April it was already starting to get really warm.