McGill was forced to defer his entrance to Dartmouth after his April 2005 diagnosis with Desmoplastic Small Round Cell Tumor, which came just two months before his graduation from Beyer High School.
After undergoing treatment at University of California San Francisco Medical Center, which seemed to eliminate the cancer, McGill came to campus as a member of the class of 2010.
McGill found himself well-suited to the College, John Pfister, McGill's first-year dean in the East Wheelock cluster, said, pointing to the student's enthusiasm for freshman-fall traditions like the Homecoming bonfire.
"He just really liked being a Dartmouth student," Pfister said. "He liked being here. He liked the environment. He liked the intelligent discussion."
At the conclusion of Fall term, McGill received word that his cancer had returned and went back to California to receive treatment.
Though his friends hoped that he might eventually return to the College, McGill's condition continued to deteriorate.
In an interview with The Modesto Bee, McGill's mother, Melody McGill, said that her son decided to stop therapy after approximately two months of treatment to enjoy his time left.
McGill's mother remembered his enthusiasm in heading to college for the first time.
"When he left, he was skipping down the hallway in the airport," she told The Modesto Bee. "He was just excited to move on with his life and start working on his goal of becoming a doctor."
McGill was following a pre-medicine track, perhaps inspired by his own condition.
"He thought that he would be able to help kids and understand what they were going through," Judy MacNeil, Pfister's assistant, said.
Despite having to travel back to California to see doctors at several points during his freshman fall, McGill established himself as a diligent student.
"He was a solid kid," Daniel O'Brien '09, McGill's undergraduate advisor in Andres Hall, said. "I think if I had to describe him in a word it would be solid. He really, really was driven. He really, really wanted to make something of himself."
McGill's intellectual side, his friends said, was paired with dedication to his peers and a love of good conversation.
"I'd go into his room, sometimes at three or four in the morning, and he and his friends would all be up sitting up laughing and joking around," O'Brien said.
Terra Branson '10, who lived down the hall from McGill in Andres, said that McGill had very much a "general first-year experience," exploring different areas and discovering an interest in international business.
"He was just trying to figure out what he wanted to do with his life and what he wanted to be passionate about," Branson said.
Despite McGill's enthusiasm for Dartmouth, Pfister said there was one feature of home life that McGill regretted leaving behind.
"One of his great laments coming from California was that we never had good Mexican here," Pfister said.
Pfister and MacNeil attempted to convince him of the merits of the Upper Valley's Mexican fare during a trip to Gusanoz's Mexican Restaurant in West Lebanon, to no avail.
McGill's friends, including members of the East Wheelock community, Pfister and MacNeil said, were supportive during both his time in Dartmouth and the months after his departure. MacNeil remembered one fall weekend when McGill had to return to California for medical reasons. Upon McGill's return early Friday morning, several of his friends met him with breakfast they had prepared.
Branson said that McGill was open about his illness with his friends, but did not spend much time dwelling on his condition despite the difficulties it sometimes placed on his life at school.
"He was glad he came here and had the time that he had and met the friends that he met," Branson said.
The East Wheelock cluster held a moment of silence in memory of McGill during Sunday night's cluster town meeting, an event that occurs each term.
Before the meeting, Pfister told The Dartmouth that he hoped people from across campus who knew McGill might attend the event and write down a memory of McGill to send to a celebration of his life to be held at the First Baptist Church in Modesto, Calif., on Oct. 5.
