Thanks for the reply everyone! I was planning on rewriting late August and studying all of this summer to get a higher score, which I definitely think I can (with CARS at least). Honestly, I don't want to score less than a 516, but it's likely that if I rewrite I might score around that range with an increase in CARS but a decrease in the sciences.
1) AAMC recommendation (not a rule though) is to wait until all score are in before reviewing an application. However, no schools is obligated to do so.
2) Having to wait for an August MCAT, with a September score release, as an International Student, puts you at a severe disadvantage.
3) Old Proverb reads Better is the worst enemy of Good
4) I always advise students to never apply without knowing all your MCAT scores. What if you apply with your current strong score, but a school waits until the new one and you just bombed it due to an unforseen illness, bad night sleeping, car break down, etc?
Sometimes it feels like Canadian schools ARE looking for perfection as it's so competitive here, and the amount of emphasis they place on CARS is ridiculous. However, these points are all very valid and make sense.
You are in a very good position for American schools, assuming you have some nice and hopefully unique ECs to support the application. Make sure you have experience that count as clinical and as working with patients. This is fairly critical in the US. shadowing helps but does not replace that requirement.
What is your province of residence? I would likely avoid all CARS heavy Canadian schools unless perhaps you're in province. E.g. McMaster and Calgary. Even then I wouldn't call it a good chance. Fortunately for you there are several schools that really only use the MCAT as cutoffs, e.g. UBC and Toronto, or where your total score will be important, e.g. Alberta. Lastly, also remember that Dalhousie has a much earlier application deadline than others, in case you're interested.
Honestly, I'm not sure what's "enough" in terms of patient interaction and time commitment, but I definitely think I have some interesting things to talk about in an interview. I've volunteered as a receptionist (and then later got a paid position) at a clinic here, so I've had some patient interaction through this. I've also volunteered at the local hospital in day surgery working with patients and nurses.
I live in Ontario and I'll definitely be applying to Ontario schools, but none of them give preference to IP applicants. I really would prefer staying close to home with the parents since they're not in the best of health, but med school's been my dream and I really want to have my options open in case Canada doesn't work out. Thank you for the tips, I'll definitely be applying everywhere in Canada and the States to maximize my chances this cycle.
For what it's worth I received >4 Canadian II's with a 10 on verbal. But this was in the 2nd year of my MSc with a lot involvement in high impact research, after putting in a lot of mileage in volunteering I enjoyed + shadowing, and a fairly high GPA. In the end it's a lottery, and rewriting with success only buys you 2-3 more tickets to the show.
2 years ago with the same MCAT resulted in 0 interviews.
Sometimes Canada feels like a big stats game since everyone seems to be applying with a 3.9+ GPA and 11+ VR, but this gives me a bit of hope. I haven't had much experience in research, but I'll be working in a lab in a full-time position starting from July to prepare for my thesis, so we'll see where that leads. I guess what's causing me the most stress is that I always admired and wanted to be the kind of person that got right into med school after 4th year, went to a med school close to home, and ended up having my own practice by the age of 28-30. But I just learned that people, on average, apply 3 times before being accepted to a Canadian medical school, which came as a pretty big shock.
I guess I'll think about this some more. For now I'm leaning towards not rewriting the MCAT, applying this cycle, and and seeing how applications go. If things don't work out I might take an extra year or two to rewrite the MCAT/pursue a position in research and do other things that I enjoy that could build up my resume. Again, thanks for the input everyone.
