McGill discontinues prestigious entrance exam

To attract more French-speaking students, McGill University is eliminating a prestigious entrance exam used by most North American universities. The Medical College Admission Test (MCAT), developed annually in the United States, is not available in French, which puts francophone students at a disadvantage, according to the Assistant Dean of Admissions and professor with McGill’s Centre for Medical Education.

“It’s a good test, and we wish it existed in French, but there are other tools that are just as good for evaluating students. We want to remove unnecessary barriers to attract top-notch students.” The test would not be easy to translate. It would take four or five years of complex work, Dr. Saleem Razack believes.