Quebec student applying to US MD schools, CEGEP transcripts?

[seagulu]

Hello all!

There was a question like this about a year ago but I'm still kind of confused as to how I'm supposed to list my CEGEP courses on AMCAS / how the transcript thing works. I'll list my questions below. I'll also add the school names in case someone has attended these schools and has specific answers for me: Dawson and McGill

1. I did my basic pre-reqs in CEGEP (gen chem, org, physics, english + the labs). Why doesn't AMCAS require a CEGEP transcript? Anyone who applied to AMCAS last year, did you send your CEGEP transcript regardless? If so, due to the fact that CEGEPs are not 'officially' recognized by AMCAS, did you send an electronic or mailed paper version? If you sent a mailed copy, how did you get that "Transcript Request Form" attached to your application? like do you just slap it on there with tape? 

2. 30 of the 56 credits I got from CEGEP courses were transferred to my university before I started my first year there. Theres a small section at the top of my McGill transcript that explains this, but the transcript doesn't actually list the CEGEP courses + grades that were transferred. How do I know which of the 30/56 credits were actually transferred to McGill if they weren't listed? 

3. I saw someone else say that they listed their CEGEP as a "Junior College" on the AMCAS app, is this correct?

4. At this point I've just elected to list all my CEGEP courses on AMCAS anyways. But is the first year of CEGEP a "freshman" year and the second year as my "sophomore" year....? But then what is my first (U1) McGill year classified as? Another "freshman" year? If thats correct that means the courses I took in my third (U3 - graduating) year are classified as my "junior" year?? (why tf do US schools use these names its so unnecessarily confusing). Should I list U1 as sophomore, U2 as junior and U3 as senior, instead?

5. I also did a graduate degree at McGill. Unfortunately for some reason the AMCAS system won't let me list 2 degrees (undergrad and grad degree) under the same College in the "Schools attended section". I literally have to add 1) McGill university for my undergraduate degree and then 2) relist McGill university to add my Masters degree. It wont let me add both under the same college because it gives me an error message that my "Dates are invalid". Fine. whatever. My only problem then is that I have McGill listed TWICE with TWO transcript IDs. But when you request your official transcript from Minerva (through NSC obvs) both your undergrad marks and your graduate degree marks are on the same transcript PDF document. So which transcript ID am I supposed to use when putting in the order on NSC? The first from my undergrad or the second from my masters? 

 

I know these questions probably seem so dumb but I've yet to find a clear answer on this. And AMCAS has only emailed me back generic responses that just regurgitate the AMCAS application guide PDF (which holds none of the answers to my questions). 

Thank you/Merci <3

[LongAgoPlacebo]

Hey, I'm the OP you're referring to (thanks for the summons). I think you'll be hard-pressed to find someone who went through your particular situation recently to give another perspective, even though we'd both welcome that. Remember all my knowledge of the process dates from 2020-2021.

1. AMCAS doesn't require CEGEP transcript because (I guess) they don't understand how it works and they don't want to bother understanding it for a minute population of applicants. I did not send my CEGEP transcript and even if I did AMCAS would have not used it to verify CEGEP courses. Can't help with your follow-up questions. Check if the rules changed concerning this (quick glance at the 2025 applicant guide shows it hasn't).

2. Yes that 30 transfer credit is standard (basically the equivalent of a full-time freshman year elsewhere). On my transcript under the 30 transfer credits I got exemption for MATH 133 (linear alg) and CHEM 212 (org 1) so I assigned it as 15-15 AP credits to these and AMCAs verified them as simple 'P' grade.

3. Yes that was me. How else would you describe CEGEP to Americans?

4. I put CEGEP Y1 and Y2 as freshman years, then U1 = sophomore and so forth as you said. They use it because it's some Ivy League tradition that entered into general culture and they love their American culture.

5. Sorry this situation didn't apply to me. I want to say I think the AMCAS people are smart enough to figure out to use the same transcript for both, but probably not. I would pay to send the same transcript twice using the different IDs.

Don't forget to submit your primary ASAP so you can submit your secondaries ASAP!

All the best with it