Why did McGill get rid of the MCAT?

[quibble]

Why did McGill get rid of the MCAT as a requisite component of the app? Now it is just optional?

I heard that McGill used to mandate it.. but it all changed in 2014?

How has this impacted the candidates and those accepted?

[insomnias]

17 minutes ago, lmck said:

Why did McGill get rid of the MCAT as a requisite component of the app? Now it is just optional?

I heard that McGill used to mandate it.. but it all changed in 2014?

How has this impacted the candidates and those accepted?

As an anglophone, it's difficult to do well on CARS/VR. Comme francophone, il peut être beaucoup plus difficile de réussir.

[SunAndMoon]

Put francophones at a disadvantage. Removing it allowed more ppl to apply, making entry more competitive for IP applicants.

[medium fundamental]

The change actually happened a bit earlier (2010) though...check out these articles

http://www.macleans.ca/education/uniandcollege/mcgill-eliminates-mcat-requirements/

What the above posters mentioned is right, it increased the applicant pool by a lot

https://www.pressreader.com/canada/montreal-gazette/20110614/282827892760794

I also recall there were some negative reactions about not just this change itself but the shift in selection process to have more diverse student cohort , I particularly remember reading these pieces a couple of years ago, interesting read

http://www.montrealgazette.com/life/Frustration+over+school+admissions+McGill/9806319/story.html

http://www.macleans.ca/education/post-graduate/changes-to-mcgill-faculty-of-medicine-admissions-are-paying-off/

[la marzocco]

There was an external review done on the admissions process at McGill back in October 2013. There's a few gems and goodies in there.

https://www.mcgill.ca/medadmissions/files/medadmissions/mcgill_external_review_2013_admissions_office_final.pdf

"As a derivative of this standard, with respect to the Medical College Admissions Test (MCAT), two arguments can reasonably be made. The inclusivity argument posits that requiring high-functioning English language skills to score well on the MCAT and be competitive constrains Francophone applicant chances, thus limiting diversity and having a negative impact on producing physicians competent in the culture of much of the province. The accessibility argument posits that the school should avoid any assessment tool that introduces a significant expense to all applicants (cost for the test for all; cost for travel and accommodation to Montreal for anyone living elsewhere in Quebec; cost for prep courses for those willing to pay) while providing relatively small incremental validity above and beyond Grade Point Average (GPA). Indeed, the incremental validity provided by MCAT is likely lower in Canada than in the U. S., given far greater heterogeneity in post-secondary institutional quality in the United States. Of the two arguments, the accessibility argument is the more cogent, but stakeholders have, given their sense of vulnerability, understandably but unfortunately focused on the less cogent argument of inclusivity, to the detriment of all parties. 

Fifthly, in both lay press and internet media, two changes – the establishment of the Office of Admissions, Equity and Diversity, and the removal of the MCAT as a requirement – have been presented by external viewers as intending to further the selection of Francophone applicants at the expense of Anglophone applicants. 

Whether the factors influencing withdrawal of the MCAT were the cost to applicants (accessibility) or the sense of unfairness to applicants less fluent in English (inclusivity), or both, the result is the same. Anglophones no longer hold that relative MCAT advantage over non-Anglophones."