# I'd love to help you, but that means I'd have to listen to you **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 9, 2006, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-love-to-help-you-but-that-means-id-have-to-listen-to-you/339217 "2006-01-09T21:38:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Helen\_s\_Eidolon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Helen\_s\_Eidolon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helen_s_Eidolon)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2006, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-love-to-help-you-but-that-means-id-have-to-listen-to-you/339217/21 "2006-01-11T21:21:18Z")
I’m 99.9% sure that a McGill degree is equivalent to a 4 year degree outside of Quebec. I’m not in the med tech boat, but I did apply to several grad school programs that required a ‘four year degree’ and NO ONE had any issue accepting my McGill degree. ---
**Author:** ![Antigen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/848f3c/32.png) [@Antigen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antigen)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2006, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-love-to-help-you-but-that-means-id-have-to-listen-to-you/339217/22 "2006-01-11T22:59:10Z")
> [@Helen's Eidolon](#): > > I’m 99.9% sure that a McGill degree is equivalent to a 4 year degree outside of Quebec. I’m not in the med tech boat, but I did apply to several grad school programs that required a ‘four year degree’ and NO ONE had any issue accepting my McGill degree. I’m fairly sure of this too - I think the woman I was talking to just didn’t want to bother thinking about it or looking it up. I’m seeing my profs again on Friday, and they may have some encouraging news for me. If not, my boyfriend said he’s going to march into the ASCP offices in Washington DC and keep arguing and asking to talk to snarky people’s bosses till he finds someone who knows what they’re doing and can give me the information I need. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Cerowyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/82dd89/32.png) [@Cerowyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cerowyn)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2006, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-love-to-help-you-but-that-means-id-have-to-listen-to-you/339217/23 "2006-01-11T23:58:16Z")
> [@saoirse](#): > > Also, your 3-year program is the equivalent to our four-year program. You just did it in three years. If you had gone through the American school system, you might have taken 18 credit hours per semester and 9 every summer, you’d complete a four year degree in just three years. It would still be a four-year program. Actually, she did it in five years, sort of. 🙂 In Quebec, there’s a sort of two year junior college stage after [three year] high school called CEJEP. There used to be a similar problem in Ontario, but it was for out-of-province students. High school here was _five years_ (grades 9 to 13), meaning that non-Ontario high school students usually had to take a bunch of "0-level’ courses at Ontario universities. ---
**Author:** ![Ogre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecb155/32.png) [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2006, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-love-to-help-you-but-that-means-id-have-to-listen-to-you/339217/24 "2006-01-12T00:07:21Z")
Wait. So you’re saying it’s not a 4-year degree, then? Pffft. Don’t call us, we’ll call you. If, you know, we can figure out how the buttons on the phone-thingy work. ---
**Author:** ![anu-la1979](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/47e85d/32.png) [@anu-la1979](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anu-la1979)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2006, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-love-to-help-you-but-that-means-id-have-to-listen-to-you/339217/25 "2006-01-12T00:31:39Z")
Speaking as a McGill alum now living in the US (dual canadian/american citizen), really don’t bother calling anyone in the U.S. and trying to explain the educational system. It’s just a road to them getting extremely confused and there’s no point. You have a B.Sc. so just tell them you have a B.Sc. and additional credits in the medical technology field. I attended grad school in the U.S. and I would just let them call me if they had an issue with why I only went to undergrad for three years. Oh, and most importantly, get your canadian transcripts translated-they don’t use percentage marks here. You’ll need to get it done in letter grades. I think seeing 84% freaked them out more than anything else (“why are you so mediocre?”). And yes, a McGill degree is 100% accepted as a 4-year degree in the U.S… It’s a really well-known school, even in the US. My sister and I both have degrees from McGill we completed in three years and I think out of the two of us, only 1 of us got a “huh?” response for graduate schools (I’m in law and she’s in med). ---
**Author:** ![anu-la1979](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/47e85d/32.png) [@anu-la1979](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anu-la1979)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2006, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-love-to-help-you-but-that-means-id-have-to-listen-to-you/339217/26 "2006-01-12T00:39:58Z")
Call up the registrar’s office and ask them to send you a certified copy of your transcript in American letter grades. This will include your total credit hours and a notation of your degree (B.A., B.Sc…whatever). It will also give a credit hours breakdown in case your certification requires a showing that you took certain classes. You’ll have to pay some money and it takes the lazy fucks a few weeks but you’ll get it. This is what I put on file with the LSAC or whatever their name was and only Baylor University questioned me on it. I hope that helps. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2006, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-love-to-help-you-but-that-means-id-have-to-listen-to-you/339217/27 "2006-01-12T13:35:32Z")
> [@featherlou](#): > > Dang it, forgot to address the lab technician/technologist question - the difference is like the difference between a practical nurse and an RN - more education, more difficult qualifying exams, more responsibility, more depth of knowledge, and (usually) more pay. > > - featherlou, former registered medical laboratory **technologist**. Thanks. I’ve never heard the term before…at least I don’t THINK I did. ---
**Author:** ![Knowed\_Out](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/knowed_out/32/7380_2.png) [@Knowed\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knowed_Out)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2006, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-love-to-help-you-but-that-means-id-have-to-listen-to-you/339217/28 "2006-01-12T20:16:09Z")
> [@twickster](#): > > And then watch the helpful lady’s head explode, because she doesn’t know there’s another kind of dollars besides US dollars. She’d just say “You need to have a 4-year degree.” ---
**Author:** ![Sleel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/73ab20/32.png) [@Sleel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sleel)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2006, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-love-to-help-you-but-that-means-id-have-to-listen-to-you/339217/29 "2006-01-16T05:37:50Z")
> [@anu-la1979](#): > > You have a B.Sc. so just tell them you have a B.Sc. and additional credits in the medical technology field. That would be my tack too. She obviously isn’t getting it, but the names for the levels of degrees are basically equivalent, so use that. You’re not specifying the number of years, but you are telling her that, yes, you do have a degree; not an accreditation, not a certification, a degree. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2006, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-love-to-help-you-but-that-means-id-have-to-listen-to-you/339217/30 "2006-01-16T14:03:06Z")
I somehow doubt an applicant from (say) South Asia or the Caribbean would get so many questions about the educational system there – if only because they’re so much better represented in the field in the US than Canadians. Could it be that the US might not _want_ medtechs from Canada when it can get them a lot cheaper from poorer countries? ---
**Author:** ![Antigen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/848f3c/32.png) [@Antigen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antigen)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2006, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-love-to-help-you-but-that-means-id-have-to-listen-to-you/339217/31 "2006-01-17T00:27:58Z")
> [@Beware of Doug](#): > > Could it be that the US might not _want_ medtechs from Canada when it can get them a lot cheaper from poorer countries? Well, they’re desperate for nurses, or so I’m told. Apparently some hospitals even pay moving costs for nurses who come down from Canada. So I don’t see why they’d be hesitant to take techs. But I’ve made progress - I finally found someone who’s taken the right exam, and she told me what she did to get there. She just applied, and they asked to see transcripts and course descriptions, and she was accepted. I think I’ll do the same, and cross my fingers. I’m sure that most of the courses I took in CEGEP (“junior college”, i guess) will count as college credit. Things like organic chemistry, calculus… at least I’m hoping so. Wish me luck, guys. I’ll come back to celebrate when I get accepted! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-love-to-help-you-but-that-means-id-have-to-listen-to-you/339217.md?page=1)