How to Get Into McGill From Iran: Grades, English Test, CAQ

What McGill looks at from an Iranian applicant

McGill’s page for high schools outside Canada and the U.S. sets one rule for everyone: “Applicants must have obtained, prior to the start of classes, a recognized, academic, pre-university diploma leading to university studies” in their country. In its country table the Iranian entry, checked September 2026, still reads “Diplom-Metevaseth (National High School Diploma) + Pre-University Certificate (One preparatory university year).” That is the pre-2019 pairing. Since the 6-3-3 reform the Pre-University year no longer exists and the 12-year High School Diploma is the credential that leads to university in Iran, which is what McGill’s general rule asks for. If you graduated in 2019 or later, apply with the diploma and the full Grade 10 to 12 transcript, and if the table worries you, ask admissions in writing.

The Konkur is not on the page and not in the decision. McGill reviews applicants “on their high school transcript with particular emphasis on yearly averages and results in prerequisite subjects.” That sentence is the whole method. No supplementary form, no reference letters, no essay, for the programs most Iranian students apply to.

The grades that get offers

McGill publishes one number: “While the minimum requirement is the equivalent of a B+ average, most programs will have higher requirements.” It does not publish a conversion from the Iranian 20-point scale, and it does not publish cut-offs by faculty. UBC’s own Iran page says 16 out of 20 has been its historic floor, and McGill’s B+ plausibly sits near it, but McGill has not said so; Engineering, Science and Management sit above the minimum, and the faculty, in writing, is the only source for how far.

Computer Science sits inside the Faculty of Science, so the Science row applies. A “prerequisite” is a subject on your Grade 12 record with a mark McGill looks at on its own; a 19 in Physics matters more to Engineering than a 19 in Persian literature.

English proficiency: no exemption for Iranian schooling

McGill’s English proficiency page exempts applicants who have “lived and attended high school and/or university, for at least four consecutive years, in a country where English is the acknowledged primary language,” or who hold IB English or A-level English at the stated grades. An Iranian diploma qualifies for none of those, so you test. Minimums, checked September 2026: IELTS Academic 6.5 with each component 6.0 or better; TOEFL iBT on the new 6-point scale (tests from January 21, 2026) 4.5, or 5.0 for Education and Management, with the old 120-point scale at 90 (100 for those two faculties) and 21 per section; Duolingo English Test 125, or 130 for the B.Com. and B.Ed. (TESL); CAEL 70 with each part 60; PTE Academic 65 with each part 60; Cambridge C1 Advanced grade B or C2 Proficiency grade C. McGill does not accept the IELTS One Skill Retake or TOEFL MyBest scores, and results must come from the test provider, not from you.

How and when to apply for Fall 2027 entry

• October 1, 2026: the McGill application opens on the Applicant Portal; the fee is paid by credit card, which for an Iranian family means a card held outside Iran.
• January 15, 2027: application deadline for applicants from overseas high schools to Arts, Science, Engineering, Management, Architecture, Education, Nursing, Agricultural and Environmental Sciences and the B.A. & Sc., per McGill’s important dates entry. Music is also January 15 and adds a recorded audition.
• January 21, 2027: Major Entrance Scholarship application, if you are applying for one (below).
• March 1, 2027: supporting documents uploaded to the Applicant Portal: Grade 10 to 12 transcripts with interim Grade 12 results, and the test score sent by the provider.
• Mid-November to mid-May: McGill’s estimated decision window for overseas high schools. Iranian files with complete documents by March are usually decided in the spring.

Confirm every date on the linked page before you plan around it. Documents not in English or French need a translation; McGill does not spell out the certification standard, so use a certified translator, because the same translations go into the CAQ and study permit files, which do require it.

The part you control: for most programs, nothing after the transcript

For Arts, Science, Engineering and Management, the McGill file is the transcript and the test score. No Personal Profile, no timed video, no reference letter. What you control is the Grade 12 year itself: which subjects you carry, and how the interim marks look on March 1. An Iranian student who drops Physics in Grade 12 to protect the average has just removed an Engineering prerequisite.

Writing and speaking still show up in three places. First, McGill’s Major Entrance Scholarship application asks for an activities list, a general essay on a figure who influenced you or a memorable experience, a one-page reference you write for yourself in the third person, and two outside references. Second, Music requires an audition and Education’s TESL stream a language test. Third, and most often, the UBC Personal Profile and the University of Toronto supplementals the same student is writing in the same January. That is where AcceptMe fits a McGill applicant: paste the scholarship essay or the self-written reference into the essay coach for a verdict and sentence-level notes, and if Toronto Engineering or Rotman is on your list, run its timed interview so the camera is not new on the day. McGill itself will not interview you.

Money: tuition, living costs, scholarships, proof of funds

McGill guarantees international tuition per credit for the length of the degree for students admitted in 2026-27. Its 2026-27 international tuition and fees schedule lists annual tuition of C$54,000.00 for the B.A. (about C$57,570 with fees and health insurance), C$56,000.10 for the B.A. & Sc., C$64,785.90 for the B.Sc. (about C$68,320 all in), C$65,167.50 for the B.Eng. (about C$69,200) and C$71,687.40 for the B.Com. (about C$75,320). Fees other than tuition rise about 3 percent a year. Fall 2027 rates will be published on the student accounts tuition page; expect them to be higher.

Scholarships, from McGill’s entrance scholarships page: every applicant is automatically considered for a C$3,000 one-year scholarship on grades alone. The Major Entrance Scholarships are C$3,000, C$5,000 or C$10,000 a year renewable for international students (the C$12,000 level is for Canadians), need the separate application described above, and for overseas schools close January 21, 2027. McGill has no entrance bursary aimed at international students, so budget on the assumption of paying full fees.

Quebec sets its own proof of funds. McGill’s CAQ guidance says a single student must show first-year tuition and fees, a minimum of C$24,617 for a year of living costs, and return travel, typically with six months of bank statements and a signed declaration of financial support. For an Iranian family the issue is not the amount but showing it in an account an officer will accept: Iranian banks have been largely cut off from international transfers since 2012 and students describe paying through currency-exchange intermediaries that take ten to fourteen days per transfer, as reported in May 2026. A relative’s account outside Iran, funded before the offer season, is what most successful files rest on.

The study permit from Iran, with the CAQ first

Quebec adds a step. Before the federal study permit you need a Certificat d’acceptation du Québec. McGill’s CAQ application guide walks it through: create an Arrima account with Immigration Quebec, apply for temporary selection for studies, pay the fee, upload the documents on the personalised checklist, and wait about 25 business days for the letter of attestation of issuance of your CAQ. That letter is what Quebec students include in place of the provincial attestation letter other provinces issue, as IRCC’s attestation page explains. McGill’s advice is blunt: apply for the CAQ the day the admission letter arrives.

Then the federal permit. IRCC’s 2026 cap is 309,670 application spaces, with 93,069 allocated to Quebec, per its allocation notice. There is no Canadian visa office or application centre in Iran, so you apply online and give biometrics (C$85) abroad; IRCC’s VAC list names Ankara, Istanbul, Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Yerevan and says any VAC will do when your country has none. The Ankara visa office’s study permit checklist (IMM 5816, August 2026) asks residents of Iran for a translated copy of the shenasnameh, a one-page personal statement on how the study plan fits your goals, language results, a police certificate and, for men over 18, the military completion card or proof of exemption or deferral. IRCC does not publish approval rates by country; its December 2025 briefing gives 41 percent for new study permits overall in 2025. Accept early, apply the same week, and write the personal statement like it matters, because it is the only prose in the whole McGill process.

A worked example: reading a transcript against McGill’s table

Mistakes applicants from Iran make

• Waiting to be asked for an essay. Nothing arrives. If your marks are the file, the March interim report is your last submission; treat second-term Grade 12 as the application.
• Dropping a prerequisite to protect the average. McGill reads averages and prerequisite results. Losing Physics 12 removes Engineering entirely.
• Sending Duolingo for the B.Com. at 125. Management needs 130, and the higher TOEFL band. And check the test is still open to Iranian ID before you rely on it.
• Applying for the study permit before the CAQ. Quebec first, then IRCC. The wrong order costs the summer.
• Discovering the fee-and-deposit route in May. Card payments and wire transfers from Iran do not clear. The account outside Iran has to exist before the offer does.

Where to go next

Because McGill is grades-only, the writing you do this year goes elsewhere: read how UBC reads Iranian grades and what its Personal Profile asks and what the University of Toronto wants from an Iranian applicant, including the Rotman and Engineering videos. The by-country guide to Canadian university admissions for international applicants puts every credential beside the three schools. If the Major Entrance Scholarship essay is on your list, the scholarship essay and interview guide shows what a committee reads for, and the why-this-program answer is the shape the study permit personal statement wants. Then give the draft to AcceptMe’s essay coach and fix the sentences it flags before anyone in Montreal or Ankara reads them.