McGill French interview?

[eggowafflerecall]

Will I reasonably be able to fumble my way through a 30 minute french interview for McGill psych? I have a background of French immersion, have lived in France (4 months), worked in "bilingual" environments (honestly mostly in English, though), and did a clinical elective entirely in French. I was thrilled when I received the interview but didn't anticipate an interview entirely in French, maybe only a few questions assessing my French ability.

On paper it might sound like I have a reasonable grasp of French but its been nearly four years since I've spoken it in any meaningful way. Comprehension and reading is not an issue, but I'm worried about being able to express myself adequately on even basic questions such as "why psych" without resorting to English. This isn't even accounting for any grammatical errors. I'm confident that if I do match to McGill, a refresher course and 1-2 months of immersion will sort it out. I would definitely commit to refreshing my French ASAP and I'd be very happy to, I loved learning French! But right now...

[Haribo7173]

Yes you will indeed have to do a 30-minute French and 30-minute English interview. I honestly don’t think they’re too harsh on grammar etc, they just need to see that you’re able to communicate your ideas. They say the minimum is an ER risk assessment. Honestly if you did a clinical elective entirely in French and you didn’t have any major issues, you should be ok. Saying a couple words in English is not a dealbreaker.
All this stems from the fact that there have been cases of almost unilingual Francophone or Anglophone residents  struggling majorly in clinical settings over the years when it’s clear that you need to be functional in both languages, even in McGill hospitals and especially in psychiatry.