Medical School Acceptance Rates in Canada

All applicants should consider the requirements of each medical school as well as their acceptance rate before applying. 

The average acceptance rate for all medical schools in Canada in 2021 was approximately 5.5%. The total number of applicants, interview spots, and accepted students each year has been provided by the individual medical schools below.

Another important aspect to consider is the medical school’s policies for out-of-province applicants: Some schools have no preference, some schools have a small preference and some strong preference for in-province applicants (see below for more information).

Acceptance Rates for Each Medical School in Canada:

UniversityNumber of Applicants in 2021Number of Applicants Invited to InterviewEntering Class SizeAcceptance Rate
University of Toronto4,3196332595.99%
University of Western Ontario2,4154851717.08%
McMaster University5,8686002053.49%
Queen’s University5,7815131091.89%
Northern Ontario School of Medicine1,975335693.49%
University of Ottawa4,8026001653.44%
McGill University3,6956732155.81%
University of British Columbia2,55870028811.3%
University of AlbertaNRNR1628-12%*
University of Manitoba87735711012.5%
University of Calgary1,845NR1447.80%
University of Saskatchewan72735710013.8%
Dalhousie University1,777300-4001327.43%
Memorial University800**NR8010%**
Université de Sherbrooke2,852NR2197.7%
Université de MontréalNRNRNR13%**
Université LavalNRNRNR7.7%**
NR means the information is Not Released by the University
*Estimated but not released by University
**Estimated from past years acceptance rates

In-Province Medical School Acceptance Rates

Most medical schools in Canada explicitly skew their admission process in favour of applicants who reside within the province in which the medical school is located. This gives in-province applicants a much higher acceptance rate in some cases.

UniversityNumber of In-Province Students Applied in 2021Number of In-Province Students Admitted in 2021In-Province Acceptance Rate
McGill University23221888.10%
University of British Columbia150826817.8%
University of AlbertaNRNRNR
University of Manitoba44010423.7%
University of Calgary14581238.44%
University of Saskatchewan3409527.9%
Dalhousie University597*122*20.4%*
Memorial University350**7421.1%**
Université de Sherbrooke25861907.34%
Université de MontréalNRNR13%**
Université LavalNRNR7.7%**
NR means the information is Not Released by the University
*Statistics are for non-maritime students
**Estimated from past years acceptance rates

All medical schools in Ontario have no preference for in-province vs out-of-province applicants. However, the Northern Ontario School of Medicine does have preference students of rural, northern, and indigenous communities.

Out-of-Province Medical School Acceptance Rates

Some of the Canadian medical schools that favour in-province applicants explicitly state the maximum number of out-of-province applicants that they will accept as well as the total number of out-of-province students accepted. These numbers do not fluctuate much from year to year and are representative of what you can expect when applying in any given year 

UniversityMaximum Allotted Out of Province StudentsNumber of Out of Province Students Applied in 2021Number of Out of Province Canadian Students Admitted in 2021Out of Province Acceptance Rate
McGill University111,325100.8%
University of British ColumbiaNR1,050201.9%
University of Alberta24NRNRNR
University of Manitoba639961.25%
University of Calgary21387215.58%
University of Saskatchewan538751.29%
Dalhousie University9*1,132*10*0.88%*
Memorial University6450NR1.3%**
Université de SherbrookeNR1652917.6%
Université de MontréalNRNRNR2.8%**
Université LavalNRNRNR4.9%**
NR means the information is Not Released by the University
*Statistics are for non-maritime students
**Estimated from past years acceptance rates

International Medical School Acceptance Rates

Most medical schools in Canada do not accept international students. Those that do accept international students tend to have even lower acceptance rates than OOP applicants. Unfortunately, many universities do not release statistics on international students since a maximum of 2-3 are accepted and releasing the information could be seen as a breach of privacy. Those looking to apply as international students should check the individual university websites for more information.

Medical School Acceptance is much harder as an Out of Province Applicant!

Admission as an out-of-province applicant to Universities that have a preference is much more difficult to achieve as indicated by comparing GPA and MCAT stats of admitted students. 

Of all the provinces in Canada, Ontario students have the hardest time getting into medical schools because the Ontario medical school are the only schools that do not have a preference for in-province applicants. This is the reason that a large number of Ontario students end up studying medicine outside of Canada.

Understanding Medical School Requirements in Canada:

In addition to admission statistics, you should study in detail the medical school requirements before you apply.

If you would like an in-depth analysis of the dental school requirements for a specific medical school in Canada including average admitted GPA and MCAT scores as well as detailed information about the interview, autobiographical sketch, and admissions weighting statistics, the links below are a great source of information:

Also a comprehensive comparison of all 17 medical school requirements in Canada.

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