Medical School in Canada - Admissions

Admissions

Generally, medical students begin their studies after receiving a bachelor's degree in another field, often one of the biological sciences. However, not all medical schools in Canada require a bachelor's degree for entry. For example, Quebec's medical schools accept applicants after a two-year CEGEP diploma, which is the equivalent of other provinces' grade 12 plus the first year of university. Most faculties of medicine in Western Canada require at least 2 years, and most faculties in Ontario require at least 3 years of university study before application can be made to medical school. The University of Manitoba requires applicants to complete a prior degree before admission. The Association of Faculties of Medicine of Canada (AFMC) publishes a detailed guide to admission requirements of Canadian faculties of medicine on a yearly basis. The 2010 guide is available at http://www.afmc.ca/pdf/2010AdBk.pdf. The 2012 guide is available at http://www.afmc.ca/pdf/2012_ad_bk.pdf

Admission offers are made by individual medical schools, generally on the basis of a personal statement, autobiographical sketch, undergraduate record (GPA), scores on the Medical College Admission Test (MCAT), and interviews. Medical schools in Quebec (Francophones and Anglophone alike), the University of Ottawa (a bilingual school), and the Northern Ontario School of Medicine (a school which promotes francophone culture), do not require the MCAT, as the MCAT has no french equivalent. Some schools, such as the University of Toronto and Queen's University, use the MCAT score as a cut-off, where sub-standard scores compromise eligibility. Other schools, such as the University of Western Ontario, give increasing preference to higher performance . McMaster University strictly utilizes the Verbal Reasoning section of the MCAT to determine interview eligibility and admission rank.

The annual success rate for Canadian citizens applying for admission to Canadian medical schools is normally below 10%. Just over 2500 positions were available in first-year classes in 2006/07 across all 17 Canadian faculties of medicine. The average cost of tuition in 2006/07 was $12,728 for medical schools outside of Quebec; in Quebec (for Quebecers only), average tuition was $2943. The level of debt amongst Canadian medical students upon graduation has received attention in the medical media.