Impossible to match to McGill without French?

[buddy72]

Hey all, I just wanted to ask if it is practically impossible to match to McGill if you aren't at least proficient in French? I presume that even if there isn't a hard requirement to speak French for their programs, there would be a soft requirement that would result in it being unfeasible to match otherwise. After all, even if you are in an English instruction residency program, I would think that you would be dealing with mostly French patients on a regular basis. 

I'm trying to figure out if it's even worthwhile for me to do McGill electives or to do a lot of networking there if I wouldn't have a real shot at matching without speaking French. 

[Edict]

Depends on the specialty probably to some extent, if you do a specialty with a lot more patient interaction, then more so than if you were to do one with less. I know people who've matched McGill Rads without speaking French. Do you have ties to Montreal?

[buddy72]

On 10/31/2023 at 1:03 PM, Edict said:

Depends on the specialty probably to some extent, if you do a specialty with a lot more patient interaction, then more so than if you were to do one with less. I know people who've matched McGill Rads without speaking French. Do you have ties to Montreal?

Thanks for your response. I have some ties to Montreal through schooling, but I am not francophone and don't speak French.

[Edict]

I think if you express your interest in learning in your personal statement or through some courses in your CV it could help.

 

As an aside, I do think you should think about why McGill? Where you do residency is often where you can find work, doing residency as an anglophone at McGill isn't as good of a strategy since it limits your job options in Quebec. If you are an anglophone without much interest in learning French, I would honestly suggest sticking to other programs. Residency is hard enough, I feel going to McGill (some patients will still prefer French potentially) gives you added work and challenges that if you don't enjoy tackling I would feel like would end up becoming a burden.