MCATs not required

In researching Canadian Medical schools, I have come across a number of them, located in Ontario, which do not require the usual MCAT score as a condition to apply. Also, at least one doesn’t have the typical BIO/CHEM/ORGO/PHYS ‘specific requirements’.





Check the Ontario Medical School Admissions Service for more on this.





These schools typically base their selection on excellence of academic achievement, activities, referees … among other factors.





I am curious to know if this approach is also used at any US universities, and what comments people might have on this.





At 50, I’m non-traditional, yet my college/university were quite good: 3.9 & 3.67 GPA respectively. Also have a string of successes in business, sports & other personal endeavours over the past 20+ years. I’m wondering if I ought to consider applying to any of these schools!





René


Montreal

I have heard Johns Hopkins doesn’t look at MCATs as much but that may be hearsay.
What’s the deal with Canadian schools? Are they like other foreign schools? Is that the dumbest question ever.

I don’t think there are any U.S. schools that don’t require the MCAT. There used to be, and Hopkins was one of them, but I believe in the past few years everyone has fallen into line. As for what weight they put on the MCAT, you’ll hear lots of different things but the bottom line is, you don’t have any idea and it’s not usually cut-and-dried. The weight of the MCAT in considering an individual’s application is likely to vary based on what else is in the application.
Mary

Yeah, Hopkins requires an MCAT score nowadays.
The schools in Canada all seem to vary as far as their requirements. There is even a 3-year medical school in Ontario. A lot of the Canadian schools make it really hard to get in from out of provence though! And even harder from outside Canada.
At one time I heard that there was a medical school reciprocity agreement between the University of Manitoba and the U of Minnesota, Duluth, but I haven’t been able to confirm it. They are also opening up a new medical school in western Ontario, which I think is based out of Thunder Bay.