McGill teaches in English and lives in French. Lectures and exams are English-only; your lease, your clinic and most part-time jobs are in French. Quebec also runs its own immigration paperwork on top of Ottawa's, so a McGill applicant files one extra form and pays one extra fee a student heading to Toronto never sees. In exchange: a university of 40531 students[1] under a royal charter of 1821, tuition frozen at your admission rate, and one clear January deadline. The obstacles here are administrative rather than academic, so they can be planned for.
Location
Montreal, Canada
Establishment year
1821
Students
31,581
International students
10,827
Female students
59%
2025
Rating THE
#45
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Scholarship options
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McGill: the short answer on cost and entry
Language of instruction
English; no French required for admission or coursework[2]
Students
40531 in Fall 2025, 10196 of them graduate students[1]
International share of the intake
28.84% of new undergraduates, 27.41% of new graduate students[3]
24 hours a week off campus in session, unlimited in breaks
After graduation
Post-Graduation Work Permit of up to 3 years
What McGill does well
🏥 Canada's oldest medical faculty still tops the national table
Medicine dates from 1829, and McGill has led the Maclean's medical-doctoral ranking for over two decades[1] — the table Canadian employers read.
💵 Your per-credit tuition is frozen for the whole degree from Fall 2026
The rate you are admitted on holds unless you break enrolment or switch programs[4]; compulsory fees still rise, so the bill drifts gently upward.
🔬 Research money is deep enough to reach students
Sponsored research income hit 749.2 million CAD in FY2024, third nationally. The Neuro is a fully open-science neuroscience institute[9], and McGill co-founded Mila, Quebec's AI institute.
🌍 Nearly three in ten classmates also arrived from abroad
Credential conversion, immigration advice and insurance are ordinary services here.
What McGill will not do for you
💸 The sticker price is close to the real price
There is no US-style need-based aid: entrance scholarships are merit top-ups granted automatically[10], not packages sized to family income.
🧾 Quebec adds an immigration layer before the federal permit
The Certificat d'acceptation du Québec comes first, the permit second: two applications, two fees, two waits, and a higher funds bar than the rest of Canada.
🇫🇷 Nothing in the degree needs French, everything around it rewards it
Leases, clinics and most customer-facing jobs run in French. Students who arrive with none cope, but pay in slower paperwork and a narrower job market.
🎯 A near-half offer rate flatters the competitive programs
Engineering, Management and Architecture set entry bars far above the B+ floor, and some routes are closed by school system: Social Work takes no direct entry from Indian credentials[11].
Two campuses and how McGill is put together
McGill runs 11 faculties plus roughly 15 schools and units, about 26 academic divisions[1]. Most sit downtown below Mount Royal; Macdonald Campus, at the island's western end, holds agricultural sciences, food science and nutrition — same degree, different commute.
There is no single McGill tuition figure: the rate is set per faculty, and the spread across programs is more than double. The right-hand column is McGill's first-year total, fees and insurance included.
Undergraduate program
Tuition 2026-27
First year with fees
Arts (BA)
38,714 USD
41,273 USD
Science (BSc)
46,447 USD
48,982 USD
Engineering (BEng)
46,720 USD
49,609 USD
Management (BCom)
51,394 USD
54,000 USD
Cheapest are Education, Social Work and Theology at 22,824 USD, then Nursing, Music and Architecture at 25,495 USD[4]. Graduate billing differs: a thesis master's costs 7,653 USD per term, a PhD 6,869 USD, and non-thesis programs charge per credit — 785 USD in the Fall 2026 cohort, 1,621 USD on the MBA[12].
Then the lines that decide whether a budget holds: insurance at 869 USD[13], residence rent of 444-1,290 USD a month plus a 4,409 USD meal plan in catered halls[14], application fees of 100 USD and 103 USD[15], 97 USD for the CAQ, and 108 USD plus 61 USD biometrics for the permit. The 2027-28 rates usually land in December.
One January deadline, faculty by faculty
Undergraduate selection runs on school results and prerequisites rather than essays: mechanical, and unforgiving if a subject is missing.
Check your school system's page and the program prerequisites: Engineering, Science, Nursing and Architecture want mathematics plus two sciences, Management mathematics in both final years[11].
Check the bar: a B+ average is the international floor[16], while competitive programs run far higher — 41 IB points for Architecture[17], US GPAs up to 3.95[18].
Book IELTS or TOEFL unless exempt — four years of English-medium schooling, IB English at 5 or A-level English at C qualify[5].
Apply online, pay the fee, upload Class X, XI and interim final-year results; predicted grades are refused from Indian applicants.
Send official documents by the stated deadline, accept the offer, then start the CAQ.
Graduate admission is departmental; the university deadline is only the outer limit.
Choose the department first and, for a thesis program, find a supervisor whose funding covers you.
Check that department's deadline — many close before the university date, some on 1 December[19].
Have scores sent electronically from the test centre; paper reports, IELTS Online and One Skill Retake are refused[6].
File transcripts, references and a research statement, then apply separately for funding.
Stage
Timing for Fall 2027 entry
Undergraduate deadline, applicants schooled abroad or in the US
15 January 2027
Graduate deadline, international applicants
15 January 2027, earlier in many departments
McCall MacBain Scholarship, 2027 cohort
1 June to 19 August 2026; 23 September for Canadian and US universities[20]
CAQ
on receipt of the offer; about 25 business days once documents are confirmed[21]
Entrance scholarships need no separate form: first-time applicants are considered automatically on merit, international students included; transfer, mature, exchange and part-time students are excluded[10]. Music, Law and Medicine add their own awards. The graduate headline is the McCall MacBain Scholarship, open worldwide for a full-time master's or second-entry professional program: up to 30 full awards covering tuition, a stipend and relocation, plus 100 entrance awards, on a separate application[20]. Departmental funding usually beats central awards; see our guide to scholarships for international students.
Working in Montreal, during and after
On campus there is no stated hour cap; off campus the limit in the key facts applies for as long as you stay enrolled full time. In Montreal, French gatekeeps customer-facing jobs, so plan on campus work in year one.
The post-study permit above carries no field-of-study restriction, but it does require CLB 7 English or NCLC 7 French, a newer condition that catches graduates out. The Career Planning Service covers CVs and employer events; McGill's survey of 2023 alumni reported 92% employed or studying further, on 602 replies from over 5700 contacted[22] — a signal, not a promise.
Order official transcripts the day you decide to apply: schools in India, Nigeria, Ghana and the Philippines often need weeks to release sealed copies, and McGill wants results at three stages. Documents not in English or French need a certified translation of your diploma and transcripts, so budget the turnaround too.
Do not convert your own grades: McGill publishes country-by-country requirement pages and reads marks in your own system. If your qualification has no page — common for A-level and UAE-curriculum applicants — ask Enrolment Services rather than assume an equivalence. Sequence the money too: the fee falls at submission, the deposit follows the offer, and the CAQ wants proof of a year's living costs, so start the bank paperwork early.
French, the CAQ and other Quebec questions
Do I need French to study at McGill?
No. Teaching and assessment are in English, and Quebec's rule that 80% of a cohort reach Level 5 spoken French binds Canadian students from outside Quebec, not internationals[2].
Is McGill test-optional for the SAT and ACT?
For Fall 2026 entry McGill ran a test-optional policy across eight program groups, excluding Music and Religious Studies[18]. Confirm it for your intake year before skipping a sitting.
What if my CAQ has not arrived by the start of term?
You cannot legally begin without it, and McGill warns that starting without valid immigration documents risks deregistration[21]. Apply the week your offer lands.
How does McGill compare with the University of Toronto?
The University of Toronto is larger and splits admission across three campuses; McGill is compact and routes paperwork through Quebec. Compare programs, not names.
Does Quebec also require a provincial attestation letter?
Not as a separate document: in Quebec the CAQ performs that function, and it remains mandatory. Master's and doctoral applicants at public institutions are exempt from the attestation requirement for the 2026 allocation year.
Field and paperwork tolerance decide this one. Choose McGill when your subject sits in health sciences, neuroscience or AI, when you want a research-heavy English degree for less than a US private university, and when a bilingual city appeals.
Look elsewhere if you depend on need-based aid, if your field needs a formal co-op program — internship provision varies by faculty here, so check the department — or if Quebec's paperwork would delay your start too far.
Check before you apply
Your program's prerequisites and grade bar, not the university-wide average.
Whether your department closes earlier than 15 January.
Proof of funds for the CAQ, on top of first-year tuition and airfare.
The tuition table for your intake year — that rate is the one frozen.
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