page_title: Physicians in Canada
section_title: Medical school
hierarchical_section_title: Physicians in Canada / Education and training / Medical school
context_page_description: Physicians and surgeons play an important role in the provision of health care in Canada. They are responsible for the promotion, maintenance, and restoration of health through the study, diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment of disease, injury, and other physical and mental impairments. As Canadian medical schools solely offer the Doctor of Medicine or Doctor of Medicine and Master of Surgery degrees, these represent the degrees held by the vast majority of physicians and surgeons in Canada, though some have a Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine from the United States or Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery from Europe.
  In order to practice in a Canadian province or territory, physicians and surgeons must obtain certification from either the College of Family Physicians of Canada or the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, as well as become members of the provincial or territorial medical professional regulatory authority.
context_section_description: Generally, in order to be admitted into a Canadian medical school, one must have completed at least an undergraduate degree. 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.
  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 Critical Analysis and Reasoning section of the MCAT to determine interview eligibility and admission rank.
  There are currently seventeen medical schools in Canada. They offer a three- to five-year Doctor of Medicine (M.D.) or Doctor of Medicine and Master of Surgery (M.D., C.M.) degree. The only Canadian medical school to offer the M.D., C.M. degree is McGill University's Faculty of Medicine. Although presently most students enter medicine having previously earned another degree, the M.D. is technically considered an undergraduate degree in Canada.
  The annual success rate for Canadian citizens applying for admission to Canadian medical schools is normally below 10%. Just over 2,500 positions were available in first-year classes in 2006-2007 across all seventeen Canadian faculties of medicine.  The average cost of tuition in 2006-2007 was $12,728 for medical schools outside of Quebec; in Quebec (for Quebecers only), average tuition was $2,943.  The level of debt among Canadian medical students upon graduation has received attention in the medical media.
  Medical school in Canada is generally a four-year program at most universities. Notable exceptions include McMaster University and the University of Calgary, where programs run for three years, without interruption for the summer. McGill University and Université de Montréal in the province of Quebec both offer a five-year program that includes a medical preparatory year to entering CEGEP graduates. While Université Laval in Quebec City offers a four- to five-year program to all entering students (both CEGEP graduates and university-level students), Université de Sherbrooke offers a formal four-year M.D. program to all admitted students.
  The first half of the medical curriculum is dedicated mostly to teaching the fundamentals of, or basic subjects relevant to, medicine, such as anatomy, histology, physiology, pharmacology, genetics, microbiology, medical ethics, health law, and epidemiology, among many others. This instruction can be organized by discipline or by organ system. Teaching methods can include traditional lectures, problem-based learning, laboratory sessions, simulated patient sessions, and limited clinical experiences. The remainder of medical school is spent in clerkship. Clinical clerks participate in the day-to-day management of patients.  They are supervised and taught during this clinical experience by residents and fully licensed staff physicians. Typica
caption: The McIntyre Medical Sciences Building, central hub of the McGill University Faculty of Medicine
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