The association behind the Medical College Admission Test has pulled out of Quebec this year due to the province’s French language law.
Results of the medical test — colloquially called the MCAT — are considered as part of students’ application to many Canadian medical schools.
“Due to regulations outlined in Bill 96, which require that all business be conducted in the French language, we are unable to administer the MCAT exam in the province,” Javarro Russell, senior director of admissions testing services at the Association of American Medical Colleges, said in an emailed statement.
All four of Quebec’s medical schools — McGill University, l’Université de Montréal, l’Université Laval and l’Université de Sherbrooke — do not consider aspiring medical students’ MCAT scores. A McGill spokesperson says consideration of the MCAT during their application process was fully removed in 2013.
“Removing the requirement for Quebecers who completed CEGEP dates back even further,” the statement says, referring to the province’s publicly funded colleges.
But aspiring medical doctors in Quebec who wish to apply to schools in other provinces or countries will now need to cross the border to take the standardized exam. The nearest MCAT testing centres outside of Quebec are in Ottawa, Toronto and Burlington, Vt.
Many students do apply broadly to medical schools. On average, applicants apply to 16 medical schools, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges, which administers the MCAT.
The association declined to share with Canadian Affairs how many Quebecers on average take the test annually, or when its decision to stop offering the MCAT in Quebec was announced.
The majority of medical schools in the US and Canada require applicants to provide MCAT scores. Many schools in Ireland and Australia also require it. A 2010 study estimated about 3,500 Canadians study medicine abroad each year; more recent data is lacking.
Quebec universities do not plan on ever requiring the MCAT, said Dominique Dorion, dean of Sherbrooke University’s faculty of medicine and health sciences.
“We have a very stringent admission process, and MCAT is not part of it,” said Dorion. “The MCAT hasn’t been used in Quebec for eons.”
Instead, Quebec’s medical schools screen applicants through interviews, grades and CaSPR, a psychological test that evaluates one’s ethics and communication skills.
By contrast, the MCAT tests scientific knowledge and critical thinking, and is only available in English.
The Law School Admission Test — the LSAT — is a standardized test required for admission into most law schools in Canada. The Law School Admission Council, which administers the LSAT, did not respond by press time to an inquiry about whether it plans to cease offering the test in Quebec.
Like Quebec’s medical schools, law schools in the province do not consider the LSAT in their admission process.
Moving out
Bill 96, also known as the Charter of the French language, became law on June 1, 2022. It imposes French language requirements on businesses and the government.
In an emailed statement, the Quebec’s French ministry said the “Charter of the French language stipulates that the consumers of goods or services have the fundamental right to be informed and served in French.”
Educational activities can take place in a language other than French, but businesses must serve and inform clients in French if they serve a Quebec clientele, said the statement.
Quebec’s French language law has spurred businesses to move, or consider moving out of Quebec, Benjamin Bergen, president of the Council of Canadian Innovators, told Canadian Affairs in June 2023.
“A lot of companies have reached out to me saying, ‘Hey, is Ontario offering anything if we relocate across the river?’; ‘Is there stuff in Nova Scotia that we should be looking into?’” said Bergen.
“You’ll just quietly see jobs and offices ultimately leave the province. They’re already leaving,” said Bergen.
The Association of American Medical Colleges, which is headquartered in Washington, DC, employs more than 700 professionals, according to their website. It is not clear whether the association’s decision to stop offering the MCAT in Quebec has resulted in any job losses or the closure of a Quebec office. The association declined to provide further comment beyond its emailed statement.
Under Bill 96, businesses are required to justify to the provincial government why hiring a non-French speaking employee is necessary. Those who fail to achieve the required level of workplace fluency can face thousands of dollars in fines.
To accommodate the lack of testing within Quebec, the Association of American Medical Colleges says it will monitor testing capacity at its Ottawa, Toronto and Burlington sites and will add an extra test date.
“the MCAT tests scientific knowledge and critical thinking, and is only available in English”
By refusing to acknowledge the importance of the MCAT and LSAT tests in either language, Quebec professionals will find themselves behind the eight ball down the road. Will hospitals and academic institutions accept doctors and lawyers who do not have these credentials? Will Quebec soon find itself with a shortage of doctors as students leave the province? There are enough obstacles already in creating physicians and lawyers without Bill 96 interfering.