US citizen applying to Canadian schools?

[deleted757041]

Hi all,

I'm a second year undergrad studying at a US institution and have been planning on immigrating to and practicing medicine in ON/QC for the past 6 years now. (I know the pay's worse than stateside but it's not about the money.) I'm neither a citizen nor permanent resident of Canada. I've heard that uToronto, McGill, and McMaster accept internationals but am not sure if any others do. I was also wondering just how bad my chances would be to get accepted. Currently I have a 3.8 cGPA and have not taken the MCAT yet. I'm involved in a lot of volunteering, shadowing, and have a lot of extracurriculars. Any help would be appreciated!

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[ConfusedChemist]

Your chances are very, very low regardless of MCAT. It's much more competitive than the US at Canadian schools-even for Canadians.

At Toronto, a 3.8 isn't near enough for example. You could try, but I would not at all count on it, and apply to the US for sure

 

[tropicalzed]

I think Canadians like to think that Canadian schools are much more competitive. Farheezy, you probably won't get in to a Canadian school because you are not a Canadian; similarly, international students have a tough time gaining admission to US public schools. You should consider your visa options for working in Canada supposing you graduate from a US MD or even a Canadian MD school. The TN visa only works for research/teaching medical jobs. Unless you are a permanent resident or citizen, I do not think you will be able to work in Canada as a physician.

 

[ConfusedChemist]

I think Canadians like to think that Canadian schools are much more competitive. Farheezy, you probably won't get in to a Canadian school because you are not a Canadian; similarly, international students have a tough time gaining admission to US public schools. You should consider your visa options for working in Canada supposing you graduate from a US MD or even a Canadian MD school. The TN visa only works for research/teaching medical jobs. Unless you are a permanent resident or citizen, I do not think you will be able to work in Canada as a physician.

Because unless you're from Newfoundland, they are.

People here think a 3.5 GPA is good, a 3.7 won't get you anywhere in Ontario. And the school that drops your lowest year? Needs a 130CARS.

The US is our backup. Seriously. Don't be offended, obviously top 20 US schools aren't 'easier', but most are.

 

[tropicalzed]

Because unless you're from Newfoundland, they are.

People here think a 3.5 GPA is good, a 3.7 won't get you anywhere in Ontario. And the school that drops your lowest year? Needs a 130CARS.

The US is our backup. Seriously. Don't be offended, obviously top 20 US schools aren't 'easier', but most are.

The US is my backup, but only for financial reasons. I have a 3.78, and I had interviews at U Toronto and UBC. The only places where 3.5 is 'good' in the States are DO schools. Unless you are applying to Howard as an underrepresented minority or something like that you need to have high stats.

 

[UBC2014]

The US is my backup, but only for financial reasons. I have a 3.78, and I had interviews at U Toronto and UBC. The only places where 3.5 is 'good' in the States are DO schools. Unless you are applying to Howard as an underrepresented minority or something like that you need to have high stats.

For actual US citizens a 3.5 is actually good for USMDs.

But you are right as an international you will want definitely higher than a 3.5 for USMDs.

But don't discount the ability of a high MCAT to carry even a 3.0 to interviews.

 

[tropicalzed]

For matriculants: average GPA 3.70 with SD of 0.25
average MCAT 31.4 with SD of 3.9
https://www.aamc.org/download/321494/data/factstablea16.pdf
GPA of 3.5 is almost 1 SD below mean.

 

[UBC2014]

For matriculants: average GPA 3.70 with SD of 0.25
average MCAT 31.4 with SD of 3.9
https://www.aamc.org/download/321494/data/factstablea16.pdf
GPA of 3.5 is almost 1 SD below mean.

I'm well aware of that, so that means about 15-20% of matriculants have a 3.5 and below.

That's miles better than Canada, where the % of matriculants below a 3.5 would probably be <5%.

When i meant "good" i meant that you are in the running, and have a realistic chance if your MCAT and non-academics can compensate.

Not that you have a guarnatee

 

[tropicalzed]

I'm well aware of that, so that means about 15-20% of matriculants have a 3.5 and below.

That's miles better than Canada, where the % of matriculants below a 3.5 would probably be <5%.

When i meant "good" i meant that you are in the running, and have a realistic chance if your MCAT and non-academics can compensate.

Not that you have a guarnatee

In-province applicants have a chance at admission with those grades. In addition, I find that some Canadian schools report their adjusted GPA, which inflates the quality of their matriculants. I think I have a 3.91 GPA using Toronto's adjusted formula where I would be high 3.7 low 3.8 on most metrics.

 

[UBC2014]

In-province applicants have a chance at admission with those grades. In addition, I find that some Canadian schools report their adjusted GPA, which inflates the quality of their matriculants. I think I have a 3.91 GPA using Toronto's adjusted formula where I would be high 3.7 low 3.8 on most metrics.

That's very true with regards to the adjusted weighting some schools use!

For IP ones, its true they have a chance, but definitely there are other realms of the application they have to shine one etc.

I guess, what i was more so trying to get at is the U.S. is more flexible with regards to GPA. I shouldn't have attempted to speak in absolutes and use data, and just kept it to a general commentary

 

[Medstart108]

Hi all,

I'm a second year undergrad studying at a US institution and have been planning on immigrating to and practicing medicine in ON/QC for the past 6 years now. (I know the pay's worse than stateside but it's not about the money.) I'm neither a citizen nor permanent resident of Canada. I've heard that uToronto, McGill, and McMaster accept internationals but am not sure if any others do. I was also wondering just how bad my chances would be to get accepted. Currently I have a 3.8 cGPA and have not taken the MCAT yet. I'm involved in a lot of volunteering, shadowing, and have a lot of extracurriculars. Any help would be appreciated!

You have a slim chance, definitely people do get in and I don't want you to be discouraged. McMaster I know has one american this year. Tuition can be very expensive however so that is just one thing I would warn you about.