It’s a Friday—already the weekend for Desautels students—and you need to vent and gather reassurance that other students are having a worse finals season than you. You don’t exit your bedroom and talk to your roommates. Instead, you turn to r/mcgill, McGill’s online campus. The subreddit boasts over 57,000 members and countless more casual scrollers. Here are some of the most notable posts from November, notorious for the joy and hope they bring students as we approach finals.
Saw a mouse in my bathroom – u/OkInvestment901
As fellow university students, we too would rather ask pest-related questions on a public forum than call an inspector, landlord, or worse, parents. Mice disappearing into wall crevices is a popular occurrence in the Milton Parc and Plateau neighbourhoods—one of us even left behind their own complimentary mouse pet in a move last May. Comments on this post range in their helpfulness. From advice on what traps to buy from Canadian Tire (not sponsored) to Speedy Gonzales quotes, you can rest assured that every question is a gamble on whether advice will garner a chuckle, or actually be useful.
AAAAAAAAAAAA – u/socoandcompany
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA.
Why are people having a sing-along in the library – u/lolakitty199
r/mcgill, if anything, is a great place to rant. This is not the first time we’ve heard of shenanigans in the library, and we’re sure it won’t be the last. Unless these people were part of the a cappella group that was visiting classrooms last week (and they nicely asked professors to sing), there is no reason we should be decking the halls in this place of study. Maybe the real reason McLennan is being renovated is to cleanse it of this energy.
Discouraged after bad grade – u/arkansas-girl
Most of us have been here. Whether it was a test harder than expected, a time where you didn’t understand the instructions, or simply a bad day, we’ve all been disappointed with a grade. Luckily, terminally online McGillians were there to help out this user with kind words and advice. Students suggested talking to a teaching assistant (TA), peer editing, and not being so hard on oneself. It’s nice to know that despite all the jokes, we’re all just stressed-out university students trying to get our silly little piece of paper.
THE FINAL EXAM SCHEDULE DID ME DIRTY – u/lolitart17
This one hits home. Whether it is three exams scheduled on the first day, or none until the very last and all your friends have gone home, the final exam schedule will always find its way to make you cry. Don’t listen to the haters who mention the complex logistics of scheduling almost 30,000 undergraduate students without conflicts—this one is about you and no one else, lolitart17! Feel free to use the final exam schedule as an excuse for your grades this semester, we will allow it.
WiFi on campus – u/BonusWorth
Functioning WiFi? No, sorry, that would be way too much to ask. What are you going to demand next? Affordable food options? McGill students have some kind of nerve.
should i be doing more? u/Affectionate_Being43
Oh god, here it comes: the age-old question of “Am I doing enough”? You ask yourself first as a first year but, trust me, chances are you will not find an answer until you walk across that stage in your pretty gown. However, it seems like trying to keep up with a 3.7+ GPA while getting internships and leading student clubs could quickly lead you to burnout. Our advice? University is a four-year-long journey, so take it one step at a time, and you might just end up achieving way more than you expect!
Where did all the geese go? – u/midwinter_stars
Finally, we’re asking the real questions. We had personally never thought about this, but now that you mention it, thousands of questions are running through our heads: What about the goats? Or the otters? Where have they gone, for God’s sake?! Among the answers given by users in this thread, we believe the most convincing is indeed the language laws. Think about it: Geese are unable to speak French. Their anglicizing effect on the province must have prompted the Quebec government to let the geese go.
