What advice would you give your first-year self?
Tips on navigating university life from The McGill Tribune’s editors Keep Reading
Campus Conversation: First year residence—a house or a home?
Editor’s note: For many McGill students, the first campus community that they encounter is in residence. The McGill Tribune Opinion section asked contributors to draw on their personal experiences living in residence (or not), to answer the question, “Do McGill residences facilitate community-building, and if so, how?” Bryan Buraga | Lucas Bird | Kyle Dewsnap | Gabriel Rincon Gardner Hall… Keep Reading
“McGill’s forgotten freshmen” Facebook group compensates for glitch
To overcome an error preventing some students from accessing McGill’s Facebook Community, first-year students and some students from other graduating classes have turned to the McGill’s Forgotten Freshmen (MFF) Facebook group. Membership to McGill’s Facebook community is required to access hundreds of groups affiliated with the university— users must link their registered McGill email to… Keep Reading
McGill Arts Freshman Program needs a rehaul
McGill's U0 Arts curriculum is failing its students. The Arts Freshman Program’s purpose is to encourage academic diversification, and provide students with a basis of knowledge in the liberal arts. It requires first years to fulfill broad credit requirements across three of four streams—social sciences, humanities, languages, and mathematics and sciences. Ideally, first-year McGill students… Keep Reading
Thought for food: A closer look at McGill Food and Dining Services
As Virginia Woolf said, “One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well.” Despite the numerous awards bestowed upon McGill Food and Dining Services (MFDS) over the past years, McGill’s dining halls are just not stepping up to the plate. The slew of praise and recognition for MFDS hides the… Keep Reading
McGill residences: More than just a roof overhead
McGill guarantees residence for all first-year students under the age of 22. Yet, the conditions of this guarantee are murky. McGill’s residence system intentionally accepts more applications than it has capacity for, counting on cancellations to accommodate all of the incoming first-year students. This year, without enough cancellations, McGill was faced with a housing demand… Keep Reading
Exploring loneliness within McGill’s nooks and crannies
Fear has an infinite number of personalities. Often times, the cliché examples come to mind, like phobia of spiders, snakes, or the dark. But there are fears that often go undiscussed, like the fear of being alone. It is a fear of living in isolation, of being devoid of the comfort that friends and family… Keep Reading
Freshman frustration: Breaking down the “best four years of your life”
Every September, almost 7,000 first-year students arrive at McGill and, after settling into residence and promptly ushering their families out of their dorms, eagerly dive into life’s next chapter. The expectation is that the next three or four years will be the best of their lives. But once the novelty of their new environment starts… Keep Reading
Advice to our younger selves: What we wish we had known
Regardless of how far you’ve travelled, coming to McGill is a huge adventure to embark on. Your first year is chance to reinvent yourself and push your boundaries. Try to look at each experience as an opportunity to learn more about yourself–the more experiences you have, the more you’ll grow. Keep Reading
First-Year Seminars aid new students’ transition into university
When I was finalizing my university decision, my biggest hesitation about attending McGill University was the sheer class size of core requirement courses for my then-major Economics. I had never had a class with more than 25 students throughout my elementary and secondary education, so I felt both overwhelmed and uncertain of how to navigate… Keep Reading
