Canadian Studying at American Ivy League - Premed - What are the Options?

[qwopty99]

hey folks,

not a question that pertains to me - but a friend. i've been curious about him.

anyhoos - he's a canadian - studying at an Ivy in the US for his undergrad. he's not at HarvYalePrinceton, it's one of Dartmouth/Brown.

anyhoos - when he was still a high school student in canada, i know his plan was to eventually become an MD working in Canada. i remember counselling him just to stay in Canada for his undergrad, cause if his eventual goal was to be a doctor in Canada, i didn't think he needed to spend all that money just to go to an american "name" school for undergrad. further, i never judged him as being particularly_outstanding (he's ok, but for instance, he finished in the 1300s on the SATs). plus, his family isn't well off at all (blue collar parents). but i guess he was just caught up with the "Ivy" idea - so he went off despite everything (don't know how he's paying for it).

without knowing his grades in undergrad at all (although i got a sense through the grapevine that he's doing alright), my question is...

how tough is it for him to eventually become a doctor in Canada? i guess i'm looking for anyone with info on these three scenarios: assume he has decent grades for any ivy leaguer (whatever those grades may be).

1a) is he a "sure-shot" to get into some kind of medical school in the states?
1b) suppose he does into some school in the states, i've heard that it's very difficult (i.e. impossible) to return to canada to do a residency, even if u graduate out of the very top-ranked medical schools (like Harvard). is this true?

2) suppose he does his entire medical and residency education in the US, is he eligible to practice in Canada afterwards?

3) as for canada, assuming his marks are slightly lower than the average canadian applying to a canadian medical school, will his "Ivy" pedigree amount to anything in the selection process at a canadian medical school?

i'm sure there have been others in this predicament before - i'd just like to know how others have dealt with these issues. thanks.

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[ssc_396]

1a) is he a "sure-shot" to get into some kind of medical school in the states?

Nothing is a sure shot. The fact that he's at an ivy means nothing. Especially since the ivy league is nothing more than a sporting league. It has nothing to do with school rankings. It just happens that many of the ivy schools are also excellent universities. I'm sure someone will flame me for this but Dartmouth and Brown are generally not considered top universities.

1b) suppose he does into some school in the states, i've heard that it's very difficult (i.e. impossible) to return to canada to do a residency, even if u graduate out of the very top-ranked medical schools (like Harvard). is this true?

2) suppose he does his entire medical and residency education in the US, is he eligible to practice in Canada afterwards?

If he does his MD in the US he can apply in the first round of residency matching along with Canadian MDs. So in theory he is treated as an equal to a Canadian MD. If he stays in the US for residency returning to Canada to practice can be more difficult.

3) as for canada, assuming his marks are slightly lower than the average canadian applying to a canadian medical school, will his "Ivy" pedigree amount to anything in the selection process at a canadian medical school?

In my experience the school you come from means absolutely nothing in Canada – and I have two degrees from Oxford. Anyways, 90% of Canadians would only be able to guess 3 (Harvard, Yale and Princeton) out of the 8 ivy schools. And IMO ivy league means little anyways because as I said it has nothing to do with the quality of the university.

 

[avenirv]

... And IMO ivy league means little anyways because as I said it has nothing to do with the quality of the university.

thank you very much for claryfing the ivy league definition. it is true that these 8 schools have more Nobels that ALL the rest of north american universities (maybe ALL the other universities in the world) but it seams this is not important. in fact what is a Nobel prize ? just politics, isn't it ?
btw, how is oxford ?

 

[ssc_396]

thank you very much for claryfing the ivy league definition. it is true that these 8 schools have more Nobels that ALL the rest of north american universities (maybe ALL the other universities in the world) but it seams this is not important. in fact what is a Nobel prize ? just politics, isn't it ?
btw, how is oxford ?

I do not deny that Harvard, Yale etc... are outstanding. I'm just saying that simply being in the same sports league as these Universities does not make your University as good. MacMaster University in Hamilton has more Nobel Prize winners than Brown (which is Ivy league). Dartmouth (also Ivy league) has no Nobel Prize winners at all. And Chicago (not Ivy league) has more than anyone.

 

[avenirv]

I do not deny that Harvard, Yale etc... are outstanding. I'm just saying that simply being in the same sports league as these Universities does not make your University as good. MacMaster University in Hamilton has more Nobel Prize winners than Brown (which is Ivy league). Dartmouth (also Ivy league) has no Nobel Prize winners at all. And Chicago (not Ivy league) has more than anyone.

you are the only one identifying ivy league with sports only. but it is interesting that in 90% of your posts you talk about them. see all your posts about columbia and the others. i understand you have a very high opinion on you, but when the popular perception is that ivy league is the cream of the high education in usa you should accept it even if you love socialism, not democracy.

 

[SomeGuy]

you are the only one identifying ivy league with sports only. but it is interesting that in 90% of your posts you talk about them. see all your posts about columbia and the others. i understand you have a very high opinion on you, but when the popular perception is that ivy league is the cream of the high education in usa you should accept it even if you love socialism, not democracy.

Emphasis mine.