First, let me say, most of college, regardless of major, requires you to re-think your time management skills from high school. Part of being a college student is being more independent and responsible for your own work. Best of all you get to set your own schedule, are you a night owl? Great work till 5 am and start your day at noon on the flip side if you do better in the morning sign up for that 8 am lecture and you'll be much more alert and get more out of it. Architecture likes to pretend its some sort of super scary bootcamp and that you'll never sleep and constantly have cuts on your hands from xacto knives and little bits of chipboard stuck to all your clothes. There's a lot of overblown myth when it comes to talking to students about what their school experience is like. I for one am a morning person, so I got to studio sometimes at 6am and worked (around classes & a job) till 11:30 or midnight. This is not an exceptional work time frame for college students in general so if you go with Biology, you may have equal changes of nights working on a research paper till 5 am as you do working in the architecture studio trying to get a final project done. Yes, I did go to bars, football games, parties and did generally fun things with my roommates just like all other students.

I don't know specifically about McGill as I did not go there but I did go to architecture for undergrad and I can't imagine its drastically different between any architecture program at the undergrad level. The phrase "architecture kills" only pertains to people with little to no time management skills, which I admit as an undergrad I had very little of, but if you stop pissing away the day on facebook and get down to business you'll quickly be that person leaving studio at 10pm or 11 pm instead of staying up all night. Don't let the architecture students you met freak you out. I'm in the midst of thesis in grad school right now and if a prospective student came to talk to me right now I would be the worst rep for the school in the history of the world. Architecture school is stressful, but it can also be incredibly rewarding and fun. (yes I said fun!) IF you want to do it, you'll figure it out soon enough if its for you. Good Luck !

Congrats on your acceptance! Don't believe the hype and just go for it!! You will know soon enough if it is for you or not. All-nighters are not a requisite of architecture school. Most of the people I knew in college who were up all night doing work spent most of the day just bullshitting anyway. Yes, it is hard work. Just find a healthy balance of work and play (and make sure you leave your studio building for fresh air and food every once in a while).

Also, FYI... if your end goal is to become a licensed architect, then you should go for the longer B.Arch degree. A 4-year B.S. Arch degree will not qualify you for licensure unless you go for a M.Arch later (check out the rules on www.ncarb.org) If you don't plan on getting a license, then it doesn't matter). At my school, the only difference between the B.S. Arch and the B.Arch was the number of studios and architecture-related electives you had to take.

Good luck!!

Congrats! Architecture school was the best time of my life. Yes you work hard but hopefully you'll work hard at any major. Most architecture schools have a large drop out rate in the first year because students go into it believing they like buildings but not understanding the passion and dedication you need to design them.  I have been out of school for years and even in my office still stay late and still during dead lines end up having to stay all night some times. but I am passionate about what I do and as much passion i put into my work i do put into the free time i have as well and take advantage of it. In school i stayed all night but i also belonged to several clubs and student groups. It can be done at any university, even in architecture, you just need to find out if you can take on the responsibility to balance your time.