McGill Nursing admission requirements: the low 80s range, proof of French and a four-year BScN from high school

McGill asks Ontario students for 4U English or French, 4U Calculus and Vectors, and two of 4U Biology, Chemistry or Physics. You report at least ten Grade 11 and 12 courses, including six Grade 12 courses. At least four of the six, and every prerequisite, must be 4U or DU.

Calculus and Vectors is required by name, so another 4U math won't replace it. Plan your timetable with our course planner.

McGill lists a typical minimum range for Nursing of the low 80s for Ontario students, both for the Top 6 average and for math and science courses. Students from other provinces see the same low 80s range for their Top 5.

A typical range isn't a guaranteed cut-off. McGill doesn't publish a Nursing acceptance rate; our McGill acceptance rate page shows the counts it does publish. Work out your average with our Top 6 average calculator.

BScN applicants must prove French proficiency. You're exempt if, for example, you studied at a French-language school for your final two consecutive years of secondary school, or completed Secondary 4 and 5 at a French-language school in Quebec. Exempt students upload a signed one-page statement naming the exemption.

Otherwise you need B2 or higher in each of the four skills: oral and written comprehension, and oral and written expression. McGill accepts tests such as DELF or DALF, TCF, TEF and McGill's own Certificate of Proficiency in French. If none of the exemptions fits you, plan to take one of these tests.

The reason is practice in Quebec: the province requires nurses to have a working knowledge of French. McGill notes its graduates who plan to work elsewhere in Canada or abroad don't have to meet Quebec's language requirement.

Apply online from October 1 by February 1, 2027. The fee is $140.16, and a second McGill application for the same term costs nothing extra. You don't send your OUAC number unless you're offered admission.

You self-report your grades in the McGill Applicant Portal and upload an unofficial transcript. The first period, February 1 to March 1, is optional. The second, April 1 to May 15, is mandatory, and McGill later checks every self-reported grade against official marks. Supporting documents, including proof of French, are due May 4. The Ingram School also has mandatory immunization rules for admitted students.

The BScN runs three to four years, including summer sessions. CEGEP graduates with a science DEC usually start in U1 and finish in three years. Students from high schools outside Quebec enter a four-year program, starting with a U0 year of freshman science.

U0 covers 33 or 34 credits: physics, general chemistry, Calculus 1 and 2, cell and molecular biology, an elective and Introductory Organic Chemistry in the summer term. IB, A-level and French baccalaureate students are often registered as U1 but moved to U0 if they haven't finished the needed courses.

Nursing courses start in U1, with pathophysiology, nursing in illness, infection prevention and control, health and physical assessment, and family development across the lifespan.

McGill's Nursing pages don't list a co-op option. Clinical work is part of the degree from your first nursing course, in McGill teaching hospitals, community health centres, schools and patients' homes. Clinical groups have six to eight students.

In your final term you can do the five-week clinical placement locally, elsewhere in Canada or internationally. Students practise first in the Satoko Shibata Clinical Nursing Learning Laboratories, with mannequins and actors who play patients.

The program is accredited by the Canadian Association of Schools of Nursing. Graduates can sit licensure exams in Quebec, elsewhere in Canada and other countries.

Students already in a nursing program at another university can apply to transfer. McGill credits courses it finds equivalent, often theory courses, but usually not earlier clinical nursing courses. You must take at least 60 credits at McGill to earn the degree.

If you already hold a bachelor's degree in another field and have no nursing background, McGill points you to the BScN or to its Master of Science (Applied) in Nursing, which is built for students without a nursing background. Graduates of Quebec's CEGEP nursing diploma (180.A0) apply to the separate Bachelor of Nursing (Integrated) instead.

Teaching is in English, but if French is your first language you can arrange to write papers and exams in French.

For BScN students admitted in 2026-27, McGill's fee tables list tuition of $12,985.50 for Canadians from outside Quebec, $15,472.88 with fees. International students pay $35,561.10 in tuition, $39,008.48 with fees. McGill notes nursing students also buy lab equipment, such as a stethoscope, and uniforms.

All applicants are considered automatically for a one-year $3,000 entrance scholarship if they meet the academic minimum. Major Entrance Scholarships, worth $3,000 to $12,000 a year and renewable for up to four years, need a separate application, due February 7 for Ontario students.

The French requirement is easy to miss. If your child doesn't meet an exemption, book a B2-level test early in Grade 12 so the results are in by May 4.

From Ontario the BScN is four years, not three, because of the U0 science year. Budget for that extra year when you compare McGill with Ontario nursing programs.