College Advice From A McGill Student

[rcamhess]

Sis how come you never warned the good folks that you were this physically sculpted brother lmao

[duncanclarke]

Just graduated from Queen's this year. As one of the biggest party schools in Canada, your point about finding the balance between work and social life was definitely the most significant thing for me. I saw lots of folks drift too far to one side of that continuum.

[thekevinfoster]

If anyone wants more advice, here is my spiel:

College is a place to explore. One of my early professors told us basically we are paying for help to figure out who we are. That said, I don’t think anyone should expect to know who they are or what they wanna be after school. That could even be considered a bad mentality. I think it better to look at passion and identity as something dynamic and more fluid. Really think about why you are doing what you’re doing. Don’t give yourself anxiety over it, to your best ability that is, but take classes because you are interested in what that class has to offer. Not every class is going to be amazing, but do your best to take ones that are good for you. Personally I don’t recommend majoring in something just for the money, but some may choose otherwise, power to you. But don’t be afraid to do something else. I have switched majors more times than I can count on a hand and I’m still pushing through. It’s okay to come out the other end and be like “what the fuck was I doing?” All you can really say is you took your best guess. Also, find the things that you value and give yourself time for that. When I say give yourself time, I mean schedule it out if you have to. Lastly, it is incredibly common to become jaded with college or classes (at least from my personal and peers’ experiences). Again, I encourage taking risks and changing it up if you feel that way. At some point you will have to commit to something, but that’s only until you finish school. Then, you’ve got a degree and can keep on trying to find out what the hell it is you want out of life. There’s always time for change and college is just one stepping stone on the path through life. It’s cliche, but true. Embrace your own experience, try your best to be present, make friends, and keep making more friends.

Good luck.

[admiralbenji]

I feel like I used to work with this guy. If it is him, his judgement and opinion is as on point as I recall.

[goodbyesolong]

oh no he's hot, smart and has a deep voice

[alyssaknappen]

just wanted to tell you that several of your videos have changed my life, thank you for getting me interested in philosophy, I major in it now and im heading to university of Chicago in the fall!

[santicraft]

Really needed to hear tip 4 or 6. Next semester is my last in university, and I've made zero friendships that survived outside of the classroom. I've managed to get good grades, but probably at the expense of a million things I would've liked to try out -- not to mention the amount of stress and the toll on my mental health. Despite being only one more semester, I've been dreading having to go another six months of my life like this, but your words helped me see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Thank you, love your videos. You should do more like this every once in a while.

[cakep.]

Mr. Phus 55, thank you. Uni's been rough on me and on this side of the world where schools haven't opened up. Lost a scholarship grant and am on the verge of losing another. Lost whatever identity I've had of being 'that smart kid.' Uni's got me studying more than I ever have and it's opened me up to the idea that I don't really know who I am or what I want (much like your videos have). Thanks again. Much love.

[lucas]

Videos like this are always such a profoundly direct interaction between two aspects of my life. I'm in my second year if Uni, and whilst your videos often relate to topics I study, they as a while exist as a separate, more whole part of my person I in turn try to reflect in school. Seeing the the reverse, the latter talk about the former, can be surreal

[theast.phillip]

This helped me so much, thank you for posting! I needed to hear some of this. I just started college after a gap year and it’s been such a mixed bag experience. Some days I feel like I’m sitting in my lectures for philosophy and anthropology (which, thank you btw. I feel like this channel helped me realize I wanted to work in those areas) and everything makes sense. Like, I really feel like I’m growing and understanding the world through these really interesting new perspectives. Other days I’m beyond frustrated dealing with the day-to-day struggles of college life. I don’t know what about this made me feel better but it helped so much. it’s just nice hearing it’s a mixed bag experience for most people. Anyways, I clearly ramble and am not one for grammar either lmao. But I really appreciate the post. Made me feel so much less weird abt everything going on in my life.

[zachiga]

This came at the perfect time.

I just got out of the US Marines and am going to school in the summer semester as a sophomore and am excited/scared. It’s a huge change and I’m more worried as being an older person just coming into school again after being away from it for several years. Thanks a lot! This channel is so great!

[tinytina]

it's the "french for dummies" book in the back for me..

[sndawihc]

I've been going through a bit at the moment, and i just found this video helpful. Studying has never really been my thing so it's been hard to adjust, i only discovered videos like this recently and they've helped me balance out the way i want to live and pave the road for my future. thanks dude.

[NILS]

The non-group group work is totally a thing. After almost burning out on a summer class because I wanted to get max score and was the only one putting work into the group project, I was so relieved when the current teacher asked if we wanted to do her class project as a group or individual... And she listened to my suggestion to structure the work solo. I grew to dread group projects 😂

[Vizceral]

If there's one piece of advice that I have for freshmen going into college : Get a summer job to save up money before you go.
The difference in quality of life when you go to college with money for groceries instead of struggling is astronomical. Minimize your suffering.
Good luck, you got this.

[nitrogen_p]

I’m at uni in France and one of my options was McGill, I’ve come to a realization talking to friends who went to unis all over the world: the universities might be different but the struggles are the same everywhere.

[Sam-bnbb]

I’m in community college (2 year) right now, but I’ll be transferring to a university eventually so this is great advice.

[patrikfrroku]

Wow man thank you so so much for this. As a freshman in a university I am unsure about this video was extremely helpful to me. I wrote down (approximately) your words from this that hold the most weight for me: Don't have any expectations... Creating the wrong impressions, messing up the interactions.... Be present. Pay attention to people. Appreciate that it's a new experience.

[wolverineg]

I definitely agree with balancing work and school, my freshman year I did so horribly I lost a critical scholarship but I also did bad socially, I was able to turn it around and get a full scholarship but I basically forsook any potential new relationships with people at the other 2 schools I went to after my first because I was so focused on getting the education. So I would definitely say take some time to get to know people and be social a lot of my trouble came from not doing that.

[adrienneroy]

I just finished my first year at McGill and I think what helped me the most was that "work hard play hard" is in fact very real and it doesn't matter how studious you think you are, you still need to play hard -- and it doesn't make you a bad or lazy student for taking time to have fun. Don't just work hard to play hard, but play hard so you can work hard. The workload is so much more intense than high school and it is impossible to manage it if on top of the work itself, you're super miserable. I can't stress how important the balance is.