Information for New Students

Checklist for all new students:

1. Accept your offer of admission

   Who? All admitted students
   When? As soon as possible

   Make sure to accept your offer before the deadline in your letter of acceptance.

2. Sign into Minerva

   Who? All admitted students
   When? As soon as possible

   Minerva is McGill University's student management and information system. You will use it to register for courses, look up your financial balance, generate transcripts and enrolment letters, and so much more.

   To access Minerva, go to www.mcgill.ca/minerva. You need your student ID number (the 9-digit number starting with 261) and your PIN, which is set to be your birth date in YYMMDD format. When you sign in for the first time, you will be prompted to set up a new PIN.

   If you have trouble accessing Minerva, input your student ID number and press Forgot PIN. An email with reset instructions is going to be sent to your personal email address.

3. Set up your McGill email (username and password)

   Who? All admitted students
   When? As soon as you receive an email with the subject "IT Services for McGill Students" (or similar)

   When you confirm your acceptance to McGill, a unique McGill username is created for you: usually it is firstname.lastname followed by @mail.mcgill.ca. You will use it to sign into your email and most services at McGill, i.e., your email sign-in (email address and password) is the same as the username and password to sign into McGill service platforms. But first you need to set up your McGill password and options for two-factor authentication. Please note that your McGill email is the only authorized way for anybody at McGill to contact you. Make sure you check it often!

   To do so, please follow the instructions in the email exactly and immediately: the temporary password in this email expires after only five days! Also make sure to set up two-factor authentication (2FA) on your username and password.

4. Register for your courses

   Who? All admitted students
   When? Before the registration deadline (usually mid-August)

   Please see the registration tab on your left for details on how to register and what courses to register for.

5. Submit your legal documents

   Who? All admitted students
   When? By mid-July

   In order to be billed the correct amount, McGill needs some legal documents to establish whether you are an International student, Canadian citizen or Quebec resident. Your status will default to international student if you do not document your legal status.

   For Quebec residents and Canadian citizens, usually only the certificate of birth is required. For other situations, please see the website linked in the header. To submit your documents, follow the path to Undergrad & Graduate Students.

   Once you have submitted your documents, it will take a couple of days for them to be processed. You can monitor your status by checking in Minerva under Student>>Student Accounts>>View Tuition and Legal Status (be sure to select the Fall term from the drop-down menu).

6. Get your student ID

   Who? All registered students
   When? By mid-August

   Your student ID card gives you access to essential services on campus like the library, labs, athletic facilities, residences, cafeterias, and more.

   If you are moving into residence, make sure to upload the photo for your ID at least one week before move-in date. You will need your ID for access to the building!

7. What do I need to bring?

   Who? All registered students
   When? By mid-August

   Please note that at least one fall course requires that you wear steel-toed boots and work gloves during the labs for safety reasons. You must provide these yourself, and bring them for the first week of the term.

   For textbooks and supplies, the instructors of each course will mention what is needed in their course outline distributed in the first class. There is no need to buy any textbooks or course packs before the start of classes. Bring paper/notebooks and pens/pencils to your classes (starting with orientation).

   It is recommended, but not mandatory, to have your own laptop. You can access the computers in the labs and libraries on campus. However, if you prefer to have your own laptop, it should be a PC (Windows) or MacBook (macOS), not a Chromebook. Throughout your time at FMT, you will learn and use the programs in the MS Office suite, and they cannot be installed on a Chromebook.

8. Plan your finances

   Who? All students
   When? As soon as possible

   In order to plan your finances during your time at McGill, you need to understand how much everything costs. Please review the tuition calculator for the current tuition and student fees that apply to you (choose Farm Management and Technology under Degree, and your residency status).

   Planning to move into residence? Please check the cost of living in Laird Hall here!

   For tuition and student fees, you will get billed twice a year (beginning of August with a due date of end of August, and beginning of December with a due date of late December). For housing, you will receive a monthly e-Bill. You can see your e-Bills in Minerva, under the Student tab>>Student Account Menu.

   If you are planning to apply for student aid, all applicants for McGill aid must apply for maximum government aid or other assistance as early as possible in order to receive their funds by the start of the semester. For Quebec students, please consult Aide financière aux études for information about student loans. Our institution code is 699600 and the Farm Management and Technology program code is 152B0. For more information on student financial aid, contact Macdonald Campus Student Services.

   *Students who are waiting for government aid to pay their fees may apply for a fee deferral online via Minerva under: FinancialAid/Awards Menu>>Defer Payment of Tuition Fees>>selecting (Government Student Aid).

This may concern you: please check!

1. Accept your housing offer

   Who? All students moving into Laird Hall.
   When? Before deadline (usually mid-June)

   If you have checked the box for residence accommodation in your application, you will have a housing offer waiting for you in Minerva. Sign into Minerva and navigate to the Student Housing Status menu under the Applicant tab. Follow the steps to accept or decline your offer before the deadline mid-June to have a place guaranteed!

   If you have not checked the residence accommodation box in your application, but changed your mind and would like a housing offer, please contact us at fmt.macdonald [at] mcgill.ca.

2. Parking on Macdonald Campus

   Who? All students parking on campus (commuters or staying in residence)
   When? Late July

   To park your car on Macdonald campus, you need a parking permit. The number of parking spaces on the Macdonald campus is limited, and permits will be reserved for Macdonald Campus students, studying full time on the campus.

   To make sure you get a parking permit (there are less permits than students who want to park!), you need to send in your reservation form as soon as the parking office releases it, usually in late July/early August. Please monitor the website linked in the header starting mid-July to know when the reservation form goes live.

3. Review your health and dental insurance

   Who? All students who are covered under a supplemental health and dental plan
   When? By mid-August

   Canadian students are automatically enrolled in supplemental health and dental insurance. The student plan is unique in that it helps fill the gaps left by provincial health care.

   If you are already covered with by a supplemental health insurance through your parents or employer, you may opt out of this coverage. If you would like to do so, please visit: https://www.studentcare.ca/rte/en/McGillUniversityMacdonaldCampusMCSS_ChangeofCoverage_OptOuts. Opt-outs are possible between mid-August and mid-September.

4. Receive academic accommodations

   Who? All students who have received academic accommodations in high school
   When? August

   If you have received academic accommodations in high school (like exam accommodations, using a computer during exams, etc.) you will likely be able to receive them at McGill, too. In order to start the process, we encourage students to contact Student Accessibility and Achievement (SAA) before or by the time you start FMT to make sure you can receive the accommodations by the time your midterm exams start. You can make an appointment with SAA following the link in the header.

5. Send us your final transcript

   Who? All non-Quebec Canadian students
   When? July

   Please have your school or guidance counsellor send us your final (graduating) high school transcript as soon as it is available to fmt.macdonald [at] mcgill.ca. We will also need your birth certificate to create your Quebec permanent code, your unique student code required to study in Quebec.

Register for your classes

Steps to register:

1. Go to Minerva: www.mcgill.ca/minerva
2. Enter your 9-digit student ID and 6-digit PIN in the left-hand block, click Login
3. On the next page click the Student Menu link
4. Click on Registration Menu, then go to Quick Add or Drop Course Sections under Step 2 (you already have the CRNs)
5. Select the term for which you want to register (Fall 2025 or Winter 2026) and submit
6. Enter the correct CRNs in the boxes at the bottom of the page, click on Submit Changes. *If you cannot enter all the CRNs because there are not enough boxes, click on Submit Changes, then return to Quick Add, enter the remaining numbers and press Submit Changes again.
7. To check if you are registered for all your courses in one semester, go back to the Registration Menu, and click on Step 5: View Weekly Class Schedule.
8. Repeat the process for the other term.

Please remember that some courses require that you input 2 CRNs in side-by-side boxes. If you get an error message, it may be because one lab group is full; use the second CRN from the brackets to register for that lab, and re-enter the first. Example: if you are not able to register for Soil Fertility with the CRNs 561 and 562, go back and enter 561 and 563.

You can register for both terms now. Once completed, you are officially registered. You can view your timetable in Minerva.

It is very important that your registration be done as soon as possible and no later than August 14. A late registration penalty will be applied if you register after this date. Do not wait until the last minute because you might forget.

Program start

The Farm Management and Technology program starts on

Monday, August 18, 2025 at 9 am with a mandatory orientation day and English placement test.
Location: Centennial Centre CC1-150

Regular classes start on Tuesday, August 19, 2025 at 8:30 am.