<p>Okay, so here's the deal. I'm a US student (Boston, MA area) accepted to the Faculty of Science/Biomedical Sciences Program and I'm planning to take either a bio major or psych/neuroscience major. My other choice for school is Boston College, and I'm trying to figure out where to make a deposit (I have five waitlists that I'm still hopeful for). I know that what medical school acceptance boils down to is GPA, MCAT, and ECs, but I am a bit perplexed about how McGill's pre-med program works. I really like BC, so I'm starting to lean that way, but if someone could give me a good explanation of the way pre-med works at McGill I would really appreciate it. Eight days left until I have to make a deposit, so there's not much time left. </p>
<p>Additionally, if anyone knows about the McGill neuroscience major, some info about that would be nice.</p>
<p>Premed works the same at McGill as at any university. There is a sequence of courses in science that you take that are required for admission to most medical schools. The Med-P program is only open to Quebec residents. It is similar to the 6 year combined BA/MD programs offered at some American universities. Not familiar with neuroscience, sorry.</p>
<p>Oh ok, thanks Tom. I was looking at the deadline for the deposit on their website and noticed “Pre-Med Admissions (MED-P)” which was separate from the Undergraduate Faculties so I was a little confused. </p>
<p>You seem pretty familiar with premed at McGill, so I have a few more questions to ask if you don’t mind.
Is there any advising set up for students seeking acceptance to medical school? I’ve read that McGill doesn’t do a great job (although you could argue that it isn’t their job to babysit students) with helping out undergraduates applying to medical school. Are students sort of left on their own to find internships and volunteer work? </p>
<p>Also, would you say that there are more or less internship opportunities for medicine in Montreal than in Boston?</p>
<p>The pre-med track isn’t institutionalized at McGill as it is at American schools; there isn’t an official advisory committee that checks your credentials or gives you letters of recommendations. As far as I know, no Canadian school does that. However, your Faculty (if you choose to meet with one) and Departmental adviser (more approachable) will both know what pre-req courses you’ll need to take for Med School Admissions and will be able to guide you through the process provided you ask them the right questions. Don’t expect them to be like your HS GC though.</p>
<p>The Science Undergrad Society does a good job of organizing symposia and talks about med school admissions and together with the Career Placement Services help students prepare for med school interviews.</p>
<p>Having done graduate work at the top American program in my field, I was more disappointed with their approach to placing students than McGill’s.</p>
<p>I am not very familiar with the Biology Program though.</p>
<p>BC is a very different kind of school. Visit both to decide, because it’s very easy to get poor grades at McGill and jeopardize your application. Friends of mine who did well at McGill have gone on to med school at Hopkins, Penn and Stanford. Good luck!</p>
<p>p.s. Interning off campus means you’ll need to know French to dip into Montreal’s fantastic biopharma industry+ you’ll need the right kind of papers</p>
<p>Whittle: Do you have any volunteer/work suggestions, both related to and not related to medicine, for those who don’t have a working knowledge of French? I’m interested in research and was planning on getting involved with that, but I’d like to spend my time doing more than just research.</p>
<p>If you don’t have working knowledge of French you’re pretty much confined to volunteering/working on campus or in enclaves in the western parts of the city such as Westmount.</p>
<p>McGill’s affiliate hospitals are good places to get medical research experience. They’re located in different parts of the city (with the exception of the Royal Victoria Hospital) so you’ll get to experience other parts of Montreal if you do end up doing research at any of those institutions.</p>
<p>As for non-medical experience try the Yellow Door. It’s a community organization, right next to campus and does a lot of good social work. The Yellow Door always need volunteers to help out with different projects. Volunteering there was one of the highlights of my time at McGill.
[Welcome</a> to the Yellow Door!](<a href=“http://www.yellowdoor.org/english.html]Welcome”>http://www.yellowdoor.org/english.html)</p>
<p>Furthermore, there is no dearth of student run clubs that do social work, since there is no dearth of wannabe med kids at McGill!</p>
<p>Can McGill hook you up with any internships in the US over summers and such? Or is that up to you to set up yourself? How is the advising at McGill? I’ve heard it’s pretty terrible, but the more perspectives the better.</p>