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Old 05-14-2008 at 08:30 AM   #31
Chad
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Hey Avneet!

Multimedia is a highly competitive program to get into, and it's all based on marks. If you do well in your first year Communication Studies and Multimedia courses, then you shouldn't have a problem. Just work really hard in first year to ensure that your marks are high, and you'll make it through.

I would recommend doing Communication Studies with Multimedia, as I am doing now, as it is a nice blend of skills. Communication Studies in first year is a bit more theory, but sets the basics down for you and is still quite interesting. 1A03 (which is all you have to take in first year) covered a vast range of topics so you get to dabble in many things to see what interests you. It's taught by Dr. Sevigny who is a great prof. Multimedia 1A and 1B are also a lot of fun, the first being a lot of web design and graphics, the second being more graphics and art/design.

In my first year I also had to take CMST 1B03, which was the history of communications. Looks like new comers don't need to take that anymore in first year.

For CMST 1A, you can check out the course outline here, and view Sevigny's website here to see the lecture notes and sample exam.

As for a laptop, MacBooks are much cheaper than you may realize. You can purchase one for as low as $1,049! The base model regularly costs $1,149 CDN but as a student you can get a $100 discount. To get the discount you can buy from the McMaster Bookstore, or you can go to the Apple website and purchase from the 'educational' store. Click here, then click 'college/university' student, type your McMaster student number, and you get the discount. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND purchasing from the APPLE WEBSITE, and not from the bookstore, since the website ships things out much faster. I purchased my iMac from the bookstore and it took months to arrive.
Old 05-14-2008 at 05:20 PM   #32
Avneet
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Chad View Post
Hey Avneet!

Multimedia is a highly competitive program to get into, and it's all based on marks. If you do well in your first year Communication Studies and Multimedia courses, then you shouldn't have a problem. Just work really hard in first year to ensure that your marks are high, and you'll make it through.

I would recommend doing Communication Studies with Multimedia, as I am doing now, as it is a nice blend of skills. Communication Studies in first year is a bit more theory, but sets the basics down for you and is still quite interesting. 1A03 (which is all you have to take in first year) covered a vast range of topics so you get to dabble in many things to see what interests you. It's taught by Dr. Sevigny who is a great prof. Multimedia 1A and 1B are also a lot of fun, the first being a lot of web design and graphics, the second being more graphics and art/design.

In my first year I also had to take CMST 1B03, which was the history of communications. Looks like new comers don't need to take that anymore in first year.

For CMST 1A, you can check out the course outline here, and view Sevigny's website here to see the lecture notes and sample exam.

As for a laptop, MacBooks are much cheaper than you may realize. You can purchase one for as low as $1,049! The base model regularly costs $1,149 CDN but as a student you can get a $100 discount. To get the discount you can buy from the McMaster Bookstore, or you can go to the Apple website and purchase from the 'educational' store. Click here, then click 'college/university' student, type your McMaster student number, and you get the discount. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND purchasing from the APPLE WEBSITE, and not from the bookstore, since the website ships things out much faster. I purchased my iMac from the bookstore and it took months to arrive.
Hey thanks for the reply. Very helpful. Yeah I am going to have to work really hard in the first year, even though I want to have fun at the same time..haha. After looking at the Apple site again it looks like the prices aren't that bad for Macbooks. Are the video cards bad in Macbooks? Because the laptop I was talking to you about (Dell XPS) comes with a pretty good video card for about the same price. Also, are Macbook's only 13 inches? There is no 15inch model? Not saying 13 is bad but It could be a bit small. Dell XPS is 15inch aswell as 2.4ghz, 3gb of ram, 128mb card, for about the same price.
Old 05-15-2008 at 01:26 PM   #33
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The choice is up to you. 13inch isn't too bad... but then again I have a widescreen 15.4inch

Remember that Macbooks come with iLife for free... so you get some pretty sweet software included in the price (video editing with iMovie, iDVD to create professional DVD's, etc, etc). XPS probably doesn't come with anything except a trial of some crappy anti-virus software.
Old 05-17-2008 at 10:55 AM   #34
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can anyone comment about these courses: music 1A03 and 1AA3?
Old 06-13-2008 at 09:41 PM   #35
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Multimedia and Communications
I will be going into the Fine Arts program in September. I am considering doing a combined honours with another subject, possibly Communications or Multimedia, or at least taking them as electives.

Are they two seperate programs, and if so, how are they different from each other? Is Communications more theory-based, and Multimedia more hands-on? Would you be learning about different topics, media, etc. in each of them? They both interest me, I just don't want my courses to overlap too much, I would like something more specific to what interests me.

I took Communications throughout high school, and really like making videos mostly, a little graphic design as well. Career-wise, I want to work for an arts publication, like a newspaper or magazine.
Old 06-13-2008 at 11:47 PM   #36
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CMST and MM is a popular combined program, but they are not the same. CMST focuses more on communication (hense the name, heh), and it takes into account writing, acting, the messages in what we watch and read etc. MM is more focused on web design, video etc.

Chad can elaborate on this further...they're his majors.
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McMaster Combined Honours Cultural Studies & Critical Theory and Anthropology: 2008
McMaster Honours English with a minor in Indigenous Studies: 2010
Carleton University Masters of Arts in Canadian Studies: 2012 (expected)

We are people of this generation, bred in at least modest comfort, housed in universities, looking uncomfortably into the world we inherit. -- Port Huron Statement



Old 06-14-2008 at 01:59 PM   #37
Chad
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Quote:
Originally Posted by EmilySusie View Post
I will be going into the Fine Arts program in September. I am considering doing a combined honours with another subject, possibly Communications or Multimedia, or at least taking them as electives.

Are they two seperate programs, and if so, how are they different from each other? Is Communications more theory-based, and Multimedia more hands-on? Would you be learning about different topics, media, etc. in each of them? They both interest me, I just don't want my courses to overlap too much, I would like something more specific to what interests me.

I took Communications throughout high school, and really like making videos mostly, a little graphic design as well. Career-wise, I want to work for an arts publication, like a newspaper or magazine.
Hi EmilySusie,

Communication Studies in university is not like it is in high school. Multimedia at McMaster is more like the Communication classes you're used to (graphic design, 3D, audio production, web design, etc). Communication Studies is more theoretical, as you said, and focuses on market research, media production and how media companies work, what goes on behind the scenes of the movie industry, the music industry, television broadcasting industry, etc. - policies that are in place, laws for content producers and artists, how to do research in media related fields - eg. how to create proper surveys, how to take a large collection of data or content and make sense of it and extract useful information out of it, etc.
Old 06-14-2008 at 08:52 PM   #38
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Thanks Chad and Lorend. That helps clear things up a lot. I think I'll probably focus more on Communications.
Old 06-14-2008 at 11:28 PM   #39
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No problem! Looking forward to seeing you around in September!
Old 06-16-2008 at 01:04 PM   #40
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Quote:
Originally Posted by kokosas View Post
If anyone has any questions about Honours English and/or Classical History feel free to shoot'em my way as those are my areas of focus!
In my first year I took the following:
ENGLISH 1C06
HISTORY 1AA3
HISTORY 1A03
HISTORY 1LL3
HISTORY 1L03
PHILOS 1A03
PHILOS 1B03
PHILOS 1E03
RELIG ST 1E03

So if you have any questions about those let me know!
Hey I'm interested in studying both English and Philosophy and I was wondering which courses you'd advise taking. I also wondered if you'd be able to help me understand how a Combined Honors degree with Social Sciences works...i'm a little confused.

Thanks so much!
Old 06-16-2008 at 01:11 PM   #41
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Inquiry?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Chad View Post
I can also discuss first year courses I took.

Courses I took in first year include:
- Inquiry
I read the description of the inquiry course and it was really vague. Can you give me an idea of what it's about? Is it worth taking?

Also, I've seen people mention that inquiry is a full year course, but the code is HU3. Is that true?
Old 06-16-2008 at 01:51 PM   #42
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Katie J.D. View Post
Hey I'm interested in studying both English and Philosophy and I was wondering which courses you'd advise taking. I also wondered if you'd be able to help me understand how a Combined Honors degree with Social Sciences works...i'm a little confused.

Thanks so much!
Hey Katie,
English 1C06 is a good class if you're getting your feet wet with English. The requirements for an English Honours student make sure that you have to take at least 6 units from 4 areas of English: Early Brit Lit, Modern Brit Lit, Canadian/American Lit, and Cultural Studies Lit/Theory. See what I'm talking about here.
1C06 allows you to get a feel for many different areas of English. You start with Beowulf and 16th century literature and work your way up to modern literature. You do everything from full novels, poems and plays. Don't worry, Shakespeare is not included.. I'm sure you got enough of him in high school (although you can and most likely will have to take him again if you plan to major in English).

1AA3 and 1A03 (Long Genres and Short Genres) are also some good ways to get into the English field. Most students take one or both of these in their first year as Humanities. I personally enjoyed Longer Genres better but that was simply because the prof who taught Short Genres was pretty dry. If you enjoy literature I think you'll do fine in these classes.

As for Philosophy, it depends on what kind of philosophy you're looking for. If you like Mill, Descartes, Hobbes, Jung even Plato then I suggest you go with classes like Problems of Philosophy 1E03 (see the review here) or Philisophical Texts 1A03 (see review here). If you're more in to social, political, moral or ethical philosophy and things that deal with our society I suggest Philosophy, Law, and Society 1B03 (see review here). Now, I gave all those reviews, and I will be honest, I hated Philosophy, Law and Society 1B03 because the prof was a disaster. But I always enjoyed the content of the course and the readings. As I've been told on the review, the prof has changed from Dr. E. Gedge and is now a more pleasant experience!

As for the combined honours program, see the link here for the actual breakdown. Now my combined honours is with Classics and English, although Lorend (MacInsiders VP) has a combination of Social Sciences and English degree she may be able to get into detail with you. What I do know about the combined honours is that the units required of you obviously go up, but each degree leaves room for the other when you combine them. So if you look at the link it says 36 units for other subject being studied. It also says beside it that social sciences may require more than 36 units. All that means is that to do an honours in Social Sciences you may have to do more than 36 units. Never fear, many people do this all the time. Again, send Lorend a quick message via her profile here.
Also, you may contact the Social Sciences and/or Humanities Departments.

I really hopes this helps you, if you have any other questions you send me a private message or reply here!
Best of luck!
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Hon. Classical History and English Language and Literature


Last edited by kokosas : 06-16-2008 at 01:53 PM. Reason: forgot to add a link!
Old 06-16-2008 at 01:55 PM   #43
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Can anyone give a good description (other than the one presented in McMaster Calender) of what actually is "ENGLISH 1BB3 CULTURAL STUDIES AND CONSUMER CULTURE"

This course seems really interesting, but I don't know what it is? Anyone care to explain what exactly it is about?
Old 06-17-2008 at 08:16 AM   #44
Chad
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SYNC, Cultural Studies and Consumer Culture looks at what goes on behind advertising (focusing on magazines and graphic ads) that get people to buy products. Interesting course. Check out my course review here.

For LAURA, Inquiry is a general description because the course is basically very flexible and is different depending on what prof you get. You can read my course review here.
Old 06-17-2008 at 08:17 AM   #45
Chad
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For those applying to FIRST YEAR HUMANITIES, I posted something that may be helpful in this thread.

Quote:
If you look at the Humanities requirements (click here) you will see that it says the following:

Quote:
Requirements:
  • Students admitted to Humanities I {0700} must complete 30 units as follows:
  • 12 unitsfrom Course List 1 (should include six units in each of two subjects listed above)18 unitsElectives, which may include courses from Course Lists 1 and 2
So it's telling you that you need to have at least 12 UNITS from COURSE LIST 1 and that you have to take 6 of one type of subject, and 6 of another.

Basically it means that they want you to take four 3-unit classes from 2 subjects, reason being that once you get into second year if you want to major in any of these subjects they almost always require you to have BOTH 1A03 and 1B03 classes from that subject. Almost all of the subjects have at least two classes (except for CMST which only has 1A03).

So you pick out two groups of 6 and then you pick other courses to fill your electives (the example below shows what it may look like if you decide to take all Humanities courses for your electives)




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