Canadian Professional Schools Factsheets

Alexander D. Gregor is director of post-secondary studies in the Faculty
of Education, University of Manitoba, and co-editor of Postsecondary
Education in Canada: The Cultural Agenda.

Canadian Professional Schools Factsheets is another in a collection of
useful postsecondary student information guides by Catherine Purcell, a
career counsellor at Queen’s University.

In this publication, Purcell presents one-page synopses of the academic
requirements and application procedures for university-based
professional programs in the following areas: Architecture, Business
Administration, Dentistry, Journalism, Law, Library and Information
Science, Medicine, Occupational Therapy, Optometry, Pharmacy, Physical
Therapy, Social Work, Speech-Language Pathology, Teacher Education, and
Veterinary Medicine. Information is provided for both anglophone and
francophone institutions, but in English only. For all of these
professional programs, one page is dedicated to each institution.
Included on this page is information on degree(s) offered, program
length, language of instruction, admission requirements (previous
education, prerequisite courses, average GPA, and range), admission test
(if required) and average score, score report deadline, and other
criteria unique to individual programs (e.g., portfolios). Application
information includes deadlines, application fees, applicant/acceptance
ratios, size of incoming class, tuition, and book/materials costs. Brief
comments on unique characteristics of the program or institution are
sometimes included. The year for which the information is current is not
indicated, but the date of publication would suggest the academic year
1992–93 or 1993–94.

This is a useful base of information, but it is really just that. No
information is provided, for example, on qualitative comparisons among
the various programs. A student would need to go further to determine
which program was best for him or her, academically and personally. It
has to be noted as well that information is not provided on the full
range of programs within the various schools identified—only the
entry-level program. Nor is there information offered on the institution
and city or town in which it is located, important considerations in a
final choice of destination.

To be fair, however, space would not allow much more than is already
provided. A useful addition, though, would have been some indication of
where, for each of the professions, more specialized and detailed (and
comparative) information might be found (apart from the respective
institutional calendars and brochures).