Anyone from Ontario???

[RichardUnderwoodMTB]

Hey guys and gals. As a pre-med from the east. Just wondering how many UBC med students are from ontario and not BC? I hear they have a really strong in province advantage and only let about 10% of students outside in. Love some insight on where you are all from! (I also gather you need higher marks to be accepted if you're a "foreigner" from outside BC?)

Love the school but not sure how my chances are!

 

Cheers,

Richard

[xiphoid]

Considering you're still in high school, I don't think it's super productive to be thinking about which medical school you want to go to yet. Just focus on undergrad for now. Outside of Quebec, Canadian med schools are all more or less the same at the end of the day.

But yes, every medical school apart from those in Ontario have requirements that only a maximum percentage of their class can be from out-of-province. This number is usually 10-20% (though can be as low as 7.5% in Memorial's case for non-NL and non-maritime applicants), and is because of provincial subsidies for medical school. No province (except Ontario) wants to be funding the medical education of students not from that province since they'd be less likely to stay and work in that province after graduation.

[DoctorArts]

If you look at this part of the website, you'll see what the averages are for OOP students: 

https://mdprogram.med.ubc.ca/admissions/admissions-statistics/

They are definitely higher; OOP students needed 10.72 more points/100 to get an interview this year.

That being said, in/out of province depends on where you live for BC, not where you're from. So you can become IP by moving here, if you're dead set on UBC, or if you just want to increase your chances of getting in anywhere. In some of the other provinces, you have to live there for 2-3 years.

[RichardUnderwoodMTB]

1 hour ago, xiphoid said:

Considering you're still in high school, I don't think it's super productive to be thinking about which medical school you want to go to yet. Just focus on undergrad for now. Outside of Quebec, Canadian med schools are all more or less the same at the end of the day.

But yes, every medical school apart from those in Ontario have requirements that only a maximum percentage of their class can be from out-of-province. This number is usually 10-20% (though can be as low as 7.5% in Memorial's case for non-NL and non-maritime applicants), and is because of provincial subsidies for medical school. No province (except Ontario) wants to be funding the medical education of students not from that province since they'd be less likely to stay and work in that province after graduation.

 

1 hour ago, DoctorArts said:

If you look at this part of the website, you'll see what the averages are for OOP students: 

https://mdprogram.med.ubc.ca/admissions/admissions-statistics/

They are definitely higher; OOP students needed 10.72 more points/100 to get an interview this year.

That being said, in/out of province depends on where you live for BC, not where you're from. So you can become IP by moving here, if you're dead set on UBC, or if you just want to increase your chances of getting in anywhere. In some of the other provinces, you have to live there for 2-3 years.

Thanks for the responses. It might be slightly early for me but I've been accepted into UBC and a couple of Ontario schools for undergrad (bio/biomed). As a student, it may be hard to pay for expenses of moving to Vancouver to attend UBC. I want to hopefully get into UBC med and practice in BC but if I have the same chances of getting in from Ontario then it makes more sense for me since I won't have to pay increased rent, plane tickets, etc. (I hear Vancouver can be expensive as s*** haha). Can I do something wierd and stay in Ontario but go to BC (vacation) and apply for residence? I know its a little unconventional but wouldn't that give me an advantage for schools in BC and Ontario since Ontario schools don't seem to care where you're from. (what would I need?...new drivers license, health card...???)

 

Cheers,

Richard

[frenchpress]

37 minutes ago, RichardUnderwoodMTB said:

 

Thanks for the responses. It might be slightly early for me but I've been accepted into UBC and a couple of Ontario schools for undergrad (bio/biomed). As a student, it may be hard to pay for expenses of moving to Vancouver to attend UBC. I want to hopefully get into UBC med and practice in BC but if I have the same chances of getting in from Ontario then it makes more sense for me since I won't have to pay increased rent, plane tickets, etc. (I hear Vancouver can be expensive as s*** haha). Can I do something wierd and stay in Ontario but go to BC (vacation) and apply for residence? I know its a little unconventional but wouldn't that give me an advantage for schools in BC and Ontario since Ontario schools don't seem to care where you're from. (what would I need?...new drivers license, health card...???)

 

Cheers,

Richard

You can’t just come to BC on vacation — you’d need to move here, which means declaring a residency here and being here long enough to get your health care switched to BC (6 months).

It’s not unconventional to move, lots of people do it. Being a resident of another province can give you the benefit of being IP for that province and still be able to apply to Ontario. You could always do it after you finish your degree. I know several people in UBC Med who moved to Vancouver from other parts of the country for a couple years to become IP while applying to Med.

Don’t discount the expense of Vancouver though. It’s not so bad when you’re in your first couple years of undergrad if you can live in residence and have help from your family. But living costs here are very high, and many students struggle to find affordable housing that’s also safe and clean unless they’ve got outside support.

[xiphoid]

1 hour ago, RichardUnderwoodMTB said:

Can I do something wierd and stay in Ontario but go to BC (vacation) and apply for residence? I know its a little unconventional but wouldn't that give me an advantage for schools in BC and Ontario since Ontario schools don't seem to care where you're from. (what would I need?...new drivers license, health card...???)

You'd need to make BC your permanent residence in order to apply for BC residency. This would mean switching your driver's license and health card to the BC system from the Ontario system. There would be no way for your to gain BC residency status without taking at least one year off from school. I believe the requirement for BC is 12 months living in BC (cannot be a student during this time), during 6 of which you must be physically present in the province (i.e. not in another province or country on vacation). Going to UBC for undergrad wouldn't make you eligible for in-province status, nor would going to BC for vacation, unless your idea of a vacation is 12 months long...

[RichardUnderwoodMTB]

1 hour ago, xiphoid said:

You'd need to make BC your permanent residence in order to apply for BC residency. This would mean switching your driver's license and health card to the BC system from the Ontario system. There would be no way for your to gain BC residency status without taking at least one year off from school. I believe the requirement for BC is 12 months living in BC (cannot be a student during this time), during 6 of which you must be physically present in the province (i.e. not in another province or country on vacation). Going to UBC for undergrad wouldn't make you eligible for in-province status, nor would going to BC for vacation, unless your idea of a vacation is 12 months long...

Ah gotcha. Well 12 months sounds like a heck of a vacation haha. I'll see what I can do. So just to confirm, going to UBC for undergrad for 4 years won't allow me to get BC status??

[frenchpress]

4 hours ago, xiphoid said:

You'd need to make BC your permanent residence in order to apply for BC residency. This would mean switching your driver's license and health card to the BC system from the Ontario system. There would be no way for your to gain BC residency status without taking at least one year off from school. I believe the requirement for BC is 12 months living in BC (cannot be a student during this time), during 6 of which you must be physically present in the province (i.e. not in another province or country on vacation). Going to UBC for undergrad wouldn't make you eligible for in-province status, nor would going to BC for vacation, unless your idea of a vacation is 12 months long...

This isn’t correct. Going to UBC could absolutely make you eligible for IP. You just have to actually move to BC and declare a BC address as your residence, and apply for BC health care — once you have health care coverage, you can apply as an IP applicant (you must have it by the beginning of the application cycle and maintain it throughout). Once you’re a BC resident you’ll also have to switch your drivers license etc, but the only documentation you need to apply as IP for UBC is a health care number.

Full-time students from other provinces have the option of maintaining their residence, health care, driver’s license from their home province. Usually you lose eligibility if you’re out of province for more than ~6 months, but obviously school is usually more than 6 months per year — this is an exception that’s offered across Canada so students don’t lose their residency from their home province if they don’t want to. So you could attend UBC for school and remain an Ontario resident as long as you were a full-time student.  

But you can also just move your permanent address to BC at any point while attending UBC and then become an actual BC resident. You just have to stay in BC for enough of the year to meet the residency requirements for healthcare coverage.

I know this to be true because I moved to BC as a student and during undergrad became a BC resident and switched my health care, etc. 

[frenchpress]

3 hours ago, RichardUnderwoodMTB said:

Ah gotcha. Well 12 months sounds like a heck of a vacation haha. I'll see what I can do. So just to confirm, going to UBC for undergrad for 4 years won't allow me to get BC status??

No, that’s incorrect, it can get you IP status if you choose. As long as you actually move your permanent address to BC and apply for health care, etc. See my response above (accidentally split this into two posts). 

Requirements for MSP (healthcare coverage) are here: https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/health/health-drug-coverage/msp/bc-residents/eligibility-and-enrolment/are-you-eligible

[xiphoid]

36 minutes ago, frenchpress said:

This isn’t correct. Going to UBC could absolutely make you eligible for IP. You just have to actually move to BC and declare a BC address as your residence, and apply for BC health care — once you have health care coverage, you can apply as an IP applicant (you must have it by the beginning of the application cycle and maintain it throughout). Once you’re a BC resident you’ll also have to switch your drivers license etc, but the only documentation you need to apply as IP for UBC is a health care number.

Full-time students from other provinces have the option of maintaining their residence, health care, driver’s license from their home province. Usually you lose eligibility if you’re out of province for more than ~6 months, but obviously school is usually more than 6 months per year — this is an exception that’s offered across Canada so students don’t lose their residency from their home province if they don’t want to. So you could attend UBC for school and remain an Ontario resident as long as you were a full-time student.  

But you can also just move your permanent address to BC at any point while attending UBC and then become an actual BC resident. You just have to stay in BC for enough of the year to meet the residency requirements for healthcare coverage.

I know this to be true because I moved to BC as a student and during undergrad became a BC resident and switched my health care, etc. 

Interesting. Didn't know BC's residency requirements were so lax.

Has this recently changed? This 2012 Maclean's article specifically about relocating for medical school in-province status cites it at 3 years for BC: https://www.macleans.ca/news/canada/rx-get-out-of-town/ (Also, just realized I misread the "Years spent in school count in all three provinces." sentence. My bad, I need more sleep but it's exam season)

[frenchpress]

32 minutes ago, xiphoid said:

Interesting. Didn't know BC's residency requirements were so lax.

Has this recently changed? This 2012 Maclean's article specifically about relocating for medical school in-province status cites it at 3 years for BC: https://www.macleans.ca/news/canada/rx-get-out-of-town/ (Also, just realized I misread the "Years spent in school count in all three provinces." sentence. My bad, I need more sleep but it's exam season)

That hasn’t been true for quite some time, since at least 2016 when I applied but I am pretty sure even longer back? The current IP requirement is simply that you possess a BC services card, which just means that you have BC health coverage.