Smilemaker100 said:
You're wrong, there are "quotas" at McGill but they aren't blatantly discussed (especially for the competitive programs such as medicine,law,dentistry).I did two degrees at McGill and my dental degree elsewhere. I came to know enough people who applied and were rejected/accepted in those competitive programs who informed me about these quotas. The Quebec government is actually involved with these quotas. For instance, now they accept more French Canadians into McGill's med school than they did in the past.
Yes, Canadian dental schools are more competitive. No arguments there.
Overseas, I suggest you re-post in the international dental section, youll get more feedback there. The link that Smilemaker posted is a good start for you. From my experience (I did a thorough search for a relative of mine who was foreign trained), your best bet for a qualifying program (where you would do 2 or more years of dental school over again) in Canada would be Dalhousie, Toronto or Western Ontario. When I contacted McGill they told me they hadnt accepted anyone into a qualifying program in over 5 years and the last person accepted was a medical student. They accepted that person because someone in the dental class took a year of absence. So there is no yearly reserved seat if one opens up youre in luck. But chances are itll go to a resident of Canada or U.S. And again, you have a better shot in the U.S. (NYU, BU, UPenn). Once you finish there, you would be eligible to sit for the Canadian boards.
Smilemaker, again Ill state here that there are very few to no foreign trained dentists at McGill. This quota you supposedly speak of is pretty miserable (=0.5/year) see above post. Yes, there are many out of provincers - agreed, but thats a separate discussion than foreigners - perhaps this is where our disagreement stems from - huge difference between out of provincer and foreigner - i think overseas only cares about their chance as a foreigner. You are giving foreign students a false sense of hope here by grouping the two together. There are many Americans at McGill (pretty sure McGill has the highest percentage of American students and faculty in Canada). I went there for 2 years as an undergraduate Im from Connecticut. I have a good friend still at McGill med school. Med school admissions is an entirely separate discussion. Yes there always seems to be 4-5 from the US. Again this is not true for the dental school (I wish it was, Id go there in a heartbeat!) In Quebec, Canada, and here in the US there is a severe shortage of primary care physicians and rural ones as well. So I wouldnt doubt that the med school may have formed a quota for rural, francophone students. But again, this does not apply to the dental school, and even if it did, that would decrease the # of acceptance for foreign dentists and out-of-provincers. Doesn't apply to the law school either.
Overseas best of luck to you. Contact schools directly and ask what percentage of students are from where. Youll be surprised some are quite open with statistics. Dont rely too much on rumors, he-said she said stuff, the telephone game, etc.
