it seems to take forever to get into mugsi. Sigh:(

I've been trying 1-2 times per minute from 11:33 to 12, and 3-6 times per minute from 12 until now.

What am I doing wrong?

Originally Posted by Cassanova

1280 - New Management or not... the food their sucks. Waiting 3-4 hours in a line to party is a complete waste of time.

Textbook - Because of the outrageous prices and the stupid policy at buyback. 25-50% for a sealed book never opened good as new?!?!?! still in use btw.

Professors - In OUR first year BIO we had to deal with Dr. Jacobs, Dr. Wilson and Dr. Papa. You had it very easy my friend. Hatala is the perfect professor he is awesome. He made learning fun. I wish most teachers were like that and they are out there. Just some Professors hate teaching and just don't give a damn.

I don't go to 1280, so I can't say anything for sure.
Textbooks - I'm sure prices like that are everywhere, but buyback prices are stupidly high yeah, I suppose. I doubt it's too different other places though, like I said. You can't say Mac is a fail when it's like that everywhere.

Professors - I had it easy? I had Wilson, lol, and Hatala replaced Dr Lock who I hear is just as good if not better.

So as Jeremy says, Dr Jacobs was good, I had Dr. Wilson and though I don't particularly like her and don't find her effective I'm not going to complain. Can't say anything about Dr. Papa though.

Yeah, I'm sure some professors aren't the best, but my point is it's like that everywhere. It has nothing to do with McMaster on its own.

I think the point is that McMaster is no better, which is kinda fail. We're supposed to be one of the top 100 universities in the world, but we STILL have to deal with this kind of stuff....kinda fail if you look at it that way. We should be better than others, and expect better.

Originally Posted by Abid.Hasan

I've been trying 1-2 times per minute from 11:33 to 12, and 3-6 times per minute from 12 until now.

What am I doing wrong?

You need to be trying continuously from about 12:00. Reason I say 12:00 is that if you start at, say, 11:30, you only have 15 minutes once SOLAR opens. If there is a large amount of people already on MUGSI, chances are that SOLAR won't load, or it will lock up and become unusable until you exit and try to get back into SOLAR. Also, my friend said that she and a bunch of her friends logged in at 11:30 and all glitched out of SOLAR at 12:00.

So yeah.... try to get in continuously, and use more than one computer if possible. Last Sunday I started trying to log in at 12:00 am, got in at 12:01 am, glitched out in 30 seconds, then I got in again at 12:20 am, and SOLAR glitched out on me for my entire 45 minute period without me being able to add any courses, then I got back in at 1:00 am and it finally starting working properly.

Originally Posted by crazyfree

I think the point is that McMaster is no better, which is kinda fail. We're supposed to be one of the top 100 universities in the world, but we STILL have to deal with this kind of stuff....kinda fail if you look at it that way. We should be better than others, and expect better.

Lol, I've seen like 4-5 different versions of the 'List', which does indeed include McMaster, but because none of the 5 proclaim ANY sort of system besides the arbitrary "listed based on rank" and random numbers from 100.0 to 0 given, it seems kind of pointless to use it.

Sure we're in a top 100 list; but it's a lot harder to find out exactly for what reason we're there, if there's even a reason at all.

And deal with what kind of stuff? You want free textbooks or something? Perfect professors? Who cares about teaching, I thought University was about learning by yourself. As long as they do their job (hint: it's not teaching) then the professors are fine. And considering we are in this random 'top 100 list' I'd consider the professors clearly good at what they do.

Originally Posted by Alchemist11

Lol, I've seen like 4-5 different versions of the 'List', which does indeed include McMaster, but because none of the 5 proclaim ANY sort of system besides the arbitrary "listed based on rank" and random numbers from 100.0 to 0 given, it seems kind of pointless to use it.

Sure we're in a top 100 list; but it's a lot harder to find out exactly for what reason we're there, if there's even a reason at all.

And deal with what kind of stuff? You want free textbooks or something? Perfect professors? Who cares about teaching, I thought University was about learning by yourself. As long as they do their job (hint: it's not teaching) then the professors are fine. And considering we are in this random 'top 100 list' I'd consider the professors clearly good at what they do.

I agree, professors aren't highschool teachers. They aren't there to hold you hand through university (although some do, but I'm not going to name any). University is where you should learn to be independent. No one is going to hold your hand when/if you have to do your own research and no one is going to hold your hand through your career.

Originally Posted by Alchemist11

Lol, I've seen like 4-5 different versions of the 'List', which does indeed include McMaster, but because none of the 5 proclaim ANY sort of system besides the arbitrary "listed based on rank" and random numbers from 100.0 to 0 given, it seems kind of pointless to use it.

Sure we're in a top 100 list; but it's a lot harder to find out exactly for what reason we're there, if there's even a reason at all.

And deal with what kind of stuff? You want free textbooks or something? Perfect professors? Who cares about teaching, I thought University was about learning by yourself. As long as they do their job (hint: it's not teaching) then the professors are fine. And considering we are in this random 'top 100 list' I'd consider the professors clearly good at what they do.

Who cares about teaching? It's about learning for yourself? Um sorry, while that is what actually happens, it doesn't mean it's what should happen. I didn't realize I was paying 5000 + dollars a year on tuition to teach myself. 0_o

I love Mac, but I was making the point that we have a right to expect more. Is there something wrong with that? Of course not. If I bought a computer and it was decent, but I couldn't view images on it I would want something done about it. I give a lot of my money to this university. If I can't pick the courses I want, or get taught by profs who can teach, there is in fact an issue. Especially when we are "supposed" to be a pretty good university.

Personally I just don't like SOLAR. That's about it. I even liked ELM. I was just pointing out that we do have a right to demand better, and expect better.

Edit: It has nothing to do with hand holding. One of my best prof this year basically threw us to the wolves and let us fend for ourselves BUT he was a very good teacher. The ability to deal with students, understand how to mark, how to teach etc. These are qualities one should expect from a prof. And while I've never experienced a bad prof in my entire one year here lol, I have heard of profs at mac that fail to meet such criteria.

I envy you people who have managed to get on to this damn thing...

And on that note, the Mugsi gods must have heard my prayers, finally.

Originally Posted by Erika0909

And on that note, the Mugsi gods must have heard my prayers, finally.

It was risky even taking the time to make this post...i would have treasured the few minutes granted by that piece of s*** system

Okay. Fine. I'm just frustrated with McMaster and its "software" okay?

Two years ago things were different. Dr. Jacobs is by far the worst first year teacher ever. He has a virus fetish. Read the comments check the ratings on Rate My Prof. He is terrible as a first year teacher. Dr. Lock is good too but Hatala is wayy better. He honestly knows what we are going through as does Lock but I just love Hatala and the way he teaches.

I agree that other schools might have the same problems but I'm at Mac so I can Rant about it. I'm just so sick of not being able to get into the courses I want, which is why I end up with lousy Professors. I know a lot of you have the same problem.... and we can't do anything about it.

And In my year during frosh Peter George said Mac is in the top 20 of the top 100 university in the world. If you were to conduct that survey now, Mac would be pas the top 50. Considering the ELM fail and Mugsi/Solar fail. Also ELM sucked. WebCT was just fine the way it was to bad half of you never used it.

Okay, if you assess all the universities in the world, I don't think our web servers put us over the top. I believe it's our research that really seals the deal. That and I'm guessing, but this is just a guess cuase it's late enough and I'm tired, how many students we attract and how many graduates we produce. While unfair or inadequate professors do make the university experience a lot more painful because they add that little bit of "oomph" to sour things as opposed to just keeping things a bit bland, which most people don't mind..we actually have professors who do research. Consider that some of these schools going into these "rankings"...at least some, aren't hiring professors, don't have labs, are experiencing investigations into the conduct of the administration etc. Things like harassment, lawsuits etc also probably factor in if we're looking at the large scheme of things. To put it concisely, people at Time don't really give a damn whether we got on MUGSI or not. They WOULD care if the professors striked, or that CUPE strike carried on for ages. When you picked Mac, and honestly now, if I told you "Man, course selection is going to be a pain in the ass and you're going to have a few awful professors" would you change your decision to go here? If you would, I think your assessment of what "good quality education" is, may be a pleasant hope, it is not a reasonable expectation. Consider Harvard. I think most of us can say, hands down, unless you get those "CANADA/ENGLAND/IRELAND/OTHER COUNTRY FTW MAN" or "PRINCETON ALL THE WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY YEAH" kids chiming in, that Harvard is pretty "up there". Do you know they are no longer accepting university transfer students because of limited residence spaces? People will STILL want to go to Harvard because as far as universities go, that's "one of the best".

It's like if I give you a pile of good, slightly bruised fruit and asked you to pick one. And you tell me that you saw this delicious apple that is made of gold. Well that's just dandy but that's not one of your choices. And we can "but what" all night long but the issue still stands. Until one of us creates a university or works toward implementing real changes like Huzaifa over there, complaining about it is pretty much equivalent to walking into a health clinic in the States and complaining that your insurance ONLY covers dental and health and drugs but not eyeglasses. It accomplishes nothing and you have a completely bitter perspective toward what you are experiencing. And it's not going to change a damn thing btw. University infrastructure, as we've all seen, takes a long time to work with. Quite frankly, we have it good as is, and compared to the rest of the world, if we're complaining about air conditioned classes, professors who show up and at least attempt to do their job, decent courses, HAVING textbooks etc...it's just really ignorant.

If you really feel so passionate that you emphasize these points on a continual basis, run in an election and start making the changes you want to see.

Originally Posted by vannasty

It was risky even taking the time to make this post...i would have treasured the few minutes granted by that piece of s*** system

ok I have started drinking.

4 times now it has let me put in my mac id/pw and press submit before changing its mind and telling me it's full.

Originally Posted by Abid.Hasan

ok I have started drinking.

4 times now it has let me put in my mac id/pw and press submit before changing its mind and telling me it's full.

LOL! Go in from maccess.mcmaster.ca and it won't ask you for id/pwd, so it saves time and you'll get in faster.