Physical and Occupational Therapy Programs

Our bachelors degrees in Rehabilitation Science provide access to applied master of science degrees in Physical and Occupational Therapy. These programs offer students a basic health sciences foundation and undergraduate-level courses specific to the practice of Rehabilitation Science.

McGill's School of Physical and Occupational Therapy emphasizes client-centred and evidence-based practice, clinical reasoning, ethics, teamwork, and professionalism as essential components for the development of humanistic, ethical, knowledgeable, competent, critical-thinking, and problem-solving therapists.

Physical and Occupational Therapy Admission Requirements and Application Procedures

Admission Requirements for Undergraduate Programs

Students are admitted to a 90-credit Bachelor of Science (Rehabilitation Science) – Major in Occupational Therapy or Major in Physical Therapy. The undergraduate degrees are designed to lead to a master of science, applied, in the same discipline, i.e., Master of Science, Applied in Occupational Therapy or Master of Science, Applied in Physical Therapy. For entry to professional practice in Occupational Therapy or Physical Therapy a Master's Applied degree in Occupational Therapy or Physical Therapy is required.

Thadmissions process is handled centrally by McGill Admissions. Academic entrance requirements are available at mcgill.ca/applying.

Additional entrance requirements may be mandated, as described at mcgill.ca/spot/admissions and mcgill.ca/applying/nextsteps/documents/additional. This includes CASPer test and French language requirements.

Applicants are responsible for ensuring that all requirements are met prior to respective deadlines.

Information is available from:

Enrolment Services, Service Point
3415 McTavish Street
Montreal QC H3A 0C8
Telephone: 514-398-7878
Email: admissions@mcgill.ca
Website: mcgill.ca/servicepoint

Students who are required to withdraw from either the Occupational Therapy or Physical Therapy program will not be readmitted to either program.

Quebec applicants who have obtained a CEGEP Diploma of Collegial Studies are expected to have taken the following prerequisites:

• Biology - 00UK, 00XU, 01Y5, 01YJ, NYA;
• Chemistry - 00UL, 00UM, 00XV, 01Y6, 01YH, NYA, NYB;
• Mathematics - 00UN, 00UP, 01Y1, 01Y2, NYA, NYB;
• Physics - 00UR, 00US, 00UT, 01Y7, 01YF, 01YG, NYA, NYB, NYC;
• CASPer: Applicants are required to complete an online assessment called CASPer, as a component of the selection process takecasper.com/dates-times;
• proof of French proficiency mcgill.ca/undergraduate-admissions/apply/submit-documents#additional.

Applicants who have completed a minimum of one year of college or university studies (or equivalent) are expected to have taken the following college/university-level courses and prerequisites:

• two terms of biology with labs;
• two terms of general chemistry with labs;
• one term of organic chemistry with lab;
• two terms of physics (mechanics; electricity and magnetism; waves and optics) with labs;
• one term of differential calculus;
• one term of integral calculus;
• CASPer: Applicants are required to complete an online assessment called CASPer, as a component of the selection process takecasper.com/dates-times;
• proof of French proficiency mcgill.ca/undergraduate-admissions/apply/submit-documents#additional.

Applicants from the United Kingdom and Commonwealth countries, with a French Baccalaureate or with an International Baccalaureate, please refer to details at mcgill.ca/applying.

McGill Inter-Faculty Transfer

McGill students applying for an inter-faculty transfer into the undergraduate programs in Rehabilitation Science (Major in Occupational or Physical Therapy) must have completed a minimum of two terms of study (24 credits) at McGill, and taken all the prerequisites:

• two terms of biology with labs;
• two terms of general chemistry with labs;
• one term of organic chemistry with labs;
• two terms of physics with labs (including mechanics, electricity and magnetism, waves, and optics at the university level) or three terms of physics at the CEGEP level;
• two terms of calculus (differential and integral);
• CASPer: Applicants are required to complete an online assessment called CASPer, as a component of the selection process takecasper.com/dates-times;
• proof of French proficiency French Requirements for Healthcare Professionals.

High school graduates from outside Quebec who have been accepted into a 120-credit Science program who wish to transfer into the undergraduate programs in Rehabilitation Science (Major in Occupational or Physical Therapy) must have taken the McGill courses and prerequisites listed below to be eligible to apply for transfer.

Note: McGill students who have completed fewer than 24 credits or who will have completed an undergraduate degree by August 1 of the entering year cannot apply as a transfer student if they want to complete the undergraduate programs in Rehabilitation Science and must apply through Enrolment Services. See mcgill.ca/applying.

Equivalent McGill Science Prerequisite Courses – McGill Inter-Faculty Transfer

Fall Term

Winter Term

• CASPer: Applicants are required to complete an online assessment called CASPer, as a component of the selection process takecasper.com/dates-times;
• proof of French proficiency French Requirements for Healthcare Professionals. 

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Alternatively, CHEM 212 Introductory Organic Chemistry 1. can be taken intensively in the Summer term in the month of May.

Students applying for an inter-faculty transfer into the B.Sc. (Rehabilitation Science) programs offered at the School of Physical & Occupational Therapy must apply directly to the School of Physical & Occupational Therapy. Students must complete an inter-faculty transfer form available on Minerva as of March 1, as well as the CASPer test for rehabilitation science, and French requirement mcgill.ca/undergraduate-admissions/apply/submit-documents#additional which complement the other elements in our applicant selection process.

All of the above documents must be submitted no later than April 1. Your application will be processed only if your file is complete. Late submission of documents or non-receipt of documents by the specified date may invalidate your application. Please refer to mcgill.ca/spot/programs/admissions-0/inter-faculty-transfers and University Regulations & Resources > Undergraduate > Registration > Interfaculty Transfer for details.

If you are accepted, you will enter the B.Sc.Rehab.Sc. program as a U1 student. Transfer credits that are applicable for the entire curriculum will be reviewed following admission, and up to 30 transfer credits can be counted toward your degree. All transfer credits must be requested and processed by December of the first term of U1. Progression through the curriculum is conditional upon successful completion of each year's courses. Since the curriculum is sequential, the order of the courses is set and only offered in that year of the program, i.e., you must complete all courses in U1 to proceed to U2, etc. Students are not permitted to mix courses from different years in the same year. Therefore, the time required to complete the B.Sc.Rehab.Sc. degree is fixed at three years.

Requests for all transfer credits (applicable for the entire curriculum) must be completed during the first semester in the program. 

1. Courses must be comparable in their content and in their method of evaluation to courses that students are allowed to take for credit at McGill; verify using the McGill Course Equivalency System at mcgill.ca/transfercredit/course-equivalency.
2. Course content must not overlap with courses already completed at McGill, CEGEP, another university, or elsewhere.

Note: Intra-faculty transfers (between Occupational Therapy and Physical Therapy) are not available to students in the undergraduate program. Students who wish to change programs can apply to the Qualifying Year of their desired program of study, during their final year of undergraduate studies.

Admission Requirements for Qualifying Year – Master of Science, Applied

Students seeking admission to the Master of Science, Applied in Occupational Therapy or the Master of Science, Applied in Physical Therapy programs who have undergraduate degrees other than the B.Sc.Rehab.Sc. Major in Occupational Therapy or the B.Sc.Rehab.Sc. Major in Physical Therapy from McGill University are required to complete a graduate Qualifying Year (QY) prior to beginning the master's program. Students apply through Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies to the master's program.

Students wishing to enter the Qualifying Year of the M.Sc.A. in Occupational Therapy or Physical Therapy degree must consult the Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies, School of Physical & Occupational Therapy's section, and the School of Physical and Occupational Therapy's own Admissions website.

Available Programs