Jump to content
Premed 101 Forums

List of US Schools Accepting Canadians


The Law

Recommended Posts

To add to this forum, I was offered an interview at 3 US schools (but couldn't make it to Michigan to due to a flight scheduling issue and another interview), and I am currently wait listed at 2. I don't have a stellar GPA nor MCAT.

 

MCAT: 31

Science GPA: 3.77

Other GPA: 3.94

OGPA: 3.82

 

So I'm not your typical stellar applicant. Interviewing at VCU was a dream come true for me because it was my top choice US school. Sadly, I'm on the alternate list, but I am really hoping I get off of it.

 

I don't know how my ECs are, but I think they are about average. My medical experiences comes form my own life-altering experiences as a patient which was the focus of my essay and came up in both interviews.

 

I would give it a shot with whatever you have. You never know what an Adcom will see that you don't (and the rest of us on here with zero knowledge of you and your application).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks everyone for your replies! I don't know that I will apply to american schools this year actually, because my MCAT re-take is scheduled for the end of the summer so my application would be going in pretty late. I don't think I would be competitive enough right now with just my 32/3.33.

 

I disagree, I think you're gonna have to do more undergrad courses, and apply mid-low teir and new schools.

 

 

I have a question about this - how does one just take more undergrad courses after having graduated already (in my case, a few years ago now)? Is this something people do to boost their GPAs? I would definitely take more undergrad classes to make my cGPA more competitive! But does this require a whole new undergrad degree?

 

Thanks again! :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You can complete a Post Bac in the US. It's between 1 and 2 years where you can take basic science courses or other courses to increase your overall GPA. However, I believe (someone correct me if I'm wrong), a Post Bac only helps you with respect to applying in the US. I don't think Canadian schools count your new marks into your overall GPA. If you have time and money (Post Bacs aren't cheap), I would do it.

 

But beware that even a Post Bac wouldn't guarantee you anything. It is still extremely challenging to get into the US as a Canadian. I completed 30+ secondaries for this years cycle by August 15th (not very late but I could have done it earlier in retrospec) and I didn't get one interview. For your info I had a 3.6 and a 33 MCAT (but an 8 in verbal). I have a feeling I got screened out on my verbal score and probably because of my lower end GPA. I didn't try applying to any DO schools so I can't comment on if you would be competitive there.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You can complete a Post Bac in the US. It's between 1 and 2 years where you can take basic science courses or other courses to increase your overall GPA. However, I believe (someone correct me if I'm wrong), a Post Bac only helps you with respect to applying in the US. I don't think Canadian schools count your new marks into your overall GPA. If you have time and money (Post Bacs aren't cheap), I would do it.

 

But beware that even a Post Bac wouldn't guarantee you anything. It is still extremely challenging to get into the US as a Canadian. I completed 30+ secondaries for this years cycle by August 15th (not very late but I could have done it earlier in retrospec) and I didn't get one interview. For your info I had a 3.6 and a 33 MCAT (but an 8 in verbal). I have a feeling I got screened out on my verbal score and probably because of my lower end GPA. I didn't try applying to any DO schools so I can't comment on if you would be competitive there.

 

I had similar stats to you, but was complete in July. Mid August isn't too late, but July is more optimal. How were the quality of your secondaries? I applied to 20 schools, and submitted 15 secondaries. Did you apply too top heavy? I received multiple interviews.

 

Most likely it was the 8 verbal or your ECs/essays weren't as strong as you thought they were.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My EC's were decent (but very little shadowing). My strong point was really my publication record. I have a first author paper in a very well recognized journal and several other papers and oral presentations at international conferences. I put a lot of effort into my secondaries (and primary) and had many people read them over, so I think the quality was also decent. I didn't just shot them off quickly and do them with no care.

 

Honestly, I think the schools must apply some priliminary screens. Some schools (like Boston U) get 10,000+ apps for 100 spots. There is no way they can give full consideration to everyone. And by getting an 8 I was probably an easy candidate that they could quickly filter out.

 

I think it's actually interesting being from the other side. This year I was on a scholarship committee (there were 4 of us evaluating) where we got 80 applications. The applications were similar to a medical school application (CV, statement, transcripts, letters of reference and you had to be done/finishing your Bachelors). Honestly, even though we only had 80 applications to evaluate it was challenging really picking 1 or 2 deserving people over the rest. In the end we had to arrange them according to GPA and then really go through the list. After you looked at the 4.0s, 3.9s and 3.8s the people with lower GPAs really had a harder time in impressing us. Don't get me wrong there were still some impressive applications, but once you went through the top apps it was more challenging to justify taking a candidate with a lower GPA. Anyways, what I'm trying to say is evaluating 10,000 applications must be difficult. Even if they have a team of 100 people (which I doubt, but perhaps they send them out to profs and MDs to screen them), they must apply some sort of initial screen to 'thin' the herd a bit. Congratulations on your interviews in the US, and I really hope that it worked out for you. I didn't get accepted in North America so I decided to go to Ireland. I know its a harder route, but I have a unique situation. I have EU citizenship and my girlfriend has a great job in Europe (I also have a great job, but I decided to do medicine). So worst case scenario I'll stay in Europe if everything fails residency wise in North America.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

With EU citizenship, you can do your residency in Ireland, so at you are fine in that respect, and you have your girlfriend there too.

 

In another thread, it's been made aware that UK/Ireland grads with residency training can come back to Canada for practice in Family Medicine (and potentially other specialties), so even if you don't get a Canadian residency, and do residency in Ireland, you can come back. This only works since you're a EU citizen and have a fair shot at residency there.

 

Thank you, it worked out for me, and i'm sure it will for you too.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
With EU citizenship, you can do your residency in Ireland, so at you are fine in that respect, and you have your girlfriend there too.

 

In another thread, it's been made aware that UK/Ireland grads with residency training can come back to Canada for practice in Family Medicine (and potentially other specialties), so even if you don't get a Canadian residency, and do residency in Ireland, you can come back. This only works since you're a EU citizen and have a fair shot at residency there.

 

Thank you, it worked out for me, and i'm sure it will for you too.

 

I just need to make it clear that even without EU citizenship if you go to the UK, you can do residency in the UK. I've done a bit of research into the foundation program and specialty training and never do they make a distinction between UK grads based on citizenship. If you are a UK grad you are eligible without discrimination based on citizenship.

 

For Ireland i'm not too sure about this. If you are EU for sure you can do residency if you aren't I know you can do intern year and i don't know about residency.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hello Everyone!

 

I'm a Canadian citizen looking to apply broadly to Canadian + American schools since I've had lukewarm results from Ontario schools this year. I don't know a lot about the American schools though so it would be great if someone can comment on how my list of schools looks so far!

 

 

My stats:

3.91 cGPA (skipped first year with IB, not sure if that changes anything)

39 MCAT

ECs: A couple of labs (no publications), minor work experience, teaching assistant for one course, ~3 years of hospital volunteering. ECs are definitely my weakest point.

 

 

1)SUNY Upstate

2)Kentucky University

3)Michigan State University

4)Albert Einstein University

5)Dartmouth University (too much of a reach maybe?)

6)Penn State

7)Rosalind Franklin

8)George Washington U

9)Georgetown University

10)NYMC

11)Case Western

12)Jefferson

13)Oakland

14)St. Louis (SLU)

15)Medical College of Wisconsin

16)Washington U

17)U Connecticut

18)Chicago

 

 

I'm starting my application now, so ideally I would be submitting mid to late June depending on how smoothly all the administrative stuff goes.

 

Thanks everyone!! :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hello Everyone!

 

I'm a Canadian citizen looking to apply broadly to Canadian + American schools since I've had lukewarm results from Ontario schools this year. I don't know a lot about the American schools though so it would be great if someone can comment on how my list of schools looks so far!

 

 

My stats:

3.91 cGPA (skipped first year with IB, not sure if that changes anything)

39 MCAT

ECs: A couple of labs (no publications), minor work experience, teaching assistant for one course, ~3 years of hospital volunteering. ECs are definitely my weakest point.

 

 

1)SUNY Upstate

2)Kentucky University

3)Michigan State University

4)Albert Einstein University

5)Dartmouth University (too much of a reach maybe?)

6)Penn State

7)Rosalind Franklin

8)George Washington U

9)Georgetown University

10)NYMC

11)Case Western

12)Jefferson

13)Oakland

14)St. Louis (SLU)

15)Medical College of Wisconsin

16)Washington U

17)U Connecticut

18)Chicago

 

 

I'm starting my application now, so ideally I would be submitting mid to late June depending on how smoothly all the administrative stuff goes.

 

Thanks everyone!! :)

 

 

Dartmouth is definitely not a reach and is very Canadian friendly (I was accepted with similar academic stats to you). Pritzker (Chicago) and WashU might be the toughest school to interview at in my opinion... but it looks like you have a good selection of schools. You can also try for some more of the top schools like HMS, JHU, Cornell, and Columbia IMO (if you're writing all those secondaries you might as well try, and you never know if you'll get an interview). If ECs are your weakest points, then be sure to spend a quality amount of time on your personal statement and use your personal experiences in filling the gaps that would otherwise come from ECs. Best of luck in your application cycle... and remember to always start/submit early.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for the input Advair and Zman! I'll definitely add Wayne State, Cornell, and some of the other top schools to my list (the latter may be a stretch, but a girl can dream :P )

 

I was actually planning on whittling the list down to 12-15 schools so I could spend more time writing good secondaries for the schools that send them to me. I know Michigan state and VCU screen applicants for secondaries, but are there any other schools that do so as well? Or is it expected to receive a secondary from everywhere you apply to?

Asking b/c I would rather concentrate my writing resources on schools that think I may have a chance.

 

Thanks again for all the help :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I wouldn't say you're a lock... But you need to connect with your interviewer especially for schools that only have one interview.

 

Rephrase: A lock for getting interviews, which is much better than most people's position.

 

The interviews will make or break you though.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My stats is GPA: 3.74 with MCAT 32 (PS:11, BS:11, VR:10). My EC is average (or maybe below average in comparision to many in this forum):

 

2 research experiences (one is an honour research project, no publication)

Long term volunteering in community center (5 years)

4 months shadowing and volunteering in my native country with rural doctor.

English teacher at a summer camp for one summer.

and a couple more that I can't think of right now.

 

After advices from a couple of generous members on this forum, I am planning to apply to a couple of school in US and Canada.

 

Canada MD school:

 

McGill Med school (in province and McGill graduate with Biochemistry degree for all its worth). Rejection post interview.

 

US MD school (I am Canadian with no connection to US):

 

RFU, Wayne, Howard and Meharry (I am asian though), University of Wisconsin, Albert Einstein, Jefferson, George Washington, Georgetown, University of Kentucky, Virgnia, NYMC, NYU (Long shot) and Boston (Long shot).

 

US DO school:

 

MSU, UNECOM (my facourite since it is the closest to my home), WesternCOM, NOVA and TouroCOM-NY (still unsure about it: the building looks like something I have seen in third world country rather NY).

 

 

If you know any more low to mid tier US medical school (MD or DO, I would appreciate all advices. I don't think I will apply out of North America. Too risky for my liking.

 

Thanks in advance.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't know whether it will a deal breaker or not, as far as I know at the moment, I have no aspiration to be in anything more than IM or Ped or FM. Not sure I want speciallization afterward, if I go into IM.

 

I just could not stomach any surgery specialties or subspecialties.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This is a great thread, thanks to all those who have contributed. I will be applying broadly to U.S. MD schools this year. I have lucked out with my Canadian applications this year, and as it happens, my wife and I are now living and working in the U.S. I am working on a TN visa though, so we don't have a green card. I will be an international applicant. I have a question about submitting my U.S. primary application. This has to do with my MCAT rewrite in August.

 

I scored a 29 on my MCAT last year (9PS, 10, 10), so I will be rewriting it this year. I wrote it last year without Ochem or physics, and I was still consistently managing 35's with well rounded scores on the Kaplan FL exams. I'm not sure what happened on test day. I think I pushed myself too hard (don't do this!) the week before the exam. That and the missing science courses probably did me in on test day. The point is that I am fairly confident that I can do better this time around now that I have finished the missing courses. So, I really want to present the strongest application possible. The only problem is that I am writing on August 27th... I know this is not ideal for my American applications. There are two options I am considering.

 

1. Submit my applications before I write the MCAT. I have heard that the schools will simply put aside your application until the new MCAT scores come in.

 

2. Submit to one "through-away" school (maybe Harvard or something ridiculously out of reach) to get the primary verified and then apply to all of my serious schools once the MCAT is back. What do y'all think? Option 1 or 2?

 

Other info:

cGPA (AMCAS) >3.6 (some old grades dragging me down)

BCMP >3.7

Master's GPA 3.88 (with publications)

ECs (strong)

 

Thank you!

 

I tried posting this in the SDN forum but didn't get great answers. I am sure you will all be much more helpful. :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
  • 1 month later...

Hey!

1) I was wondering if any of the following private schools accept Canadian applicants? They weren't mentioned on the Canadian friendly list - but on the other websites it says that they do ( I don't know how recent that information is)

 

Drexel University College of Medicine

Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth

Howard University College of Medicine

Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California

Medical College of Wisconsin

Ponce School of Medicine and Health Sciences

Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine

St. Louis

The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University

Weill Cornell Medical College

 

2) This may sounds like a stupid question but if on the MSAR list - it says that a specific school does not accept international students but it does accept out of state students, do I assume that includes Canadians? The reason I am asking this is because I know some schools don't put Canadian students in the same pool as international students, and so I wasn't sure.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

Hey guys, I've been lurking around here for a while now, love this thread and if I may, I'd like to have your opinion on what I should do next! My overall GPA is pretty low, around 3.2, but this is because of some youth stupidity that dates from 2004.. I've since majored in classical music and gone back to school after that do my science prerequisites. I'm from Quebec so these courses basically include the ones covered on the MCAT. My overall science GPA is 3.83, I even got a mention of excellence on my report for these. I scored an ok 32 on the MCAT last year (11P, 10VR, 11B), but it was my first ever time studying in english, so I knew I could do much better with a little practice and retook it this summer. I felt I did much better but I haven't gotten my score yet, I have a feeling it will be around 34 but who knows.

 

Having a music background, I don't have any real lab experience outside of science courses, although I did minor things like spending a day in a nuclear medicine lab, observing an autopsy and other small stuff that doesn't require a degree to be in a lab. I've also done a lot of volunteer work, including a year in a children hospital and I've reached high levels in competitive sports both in baseball and badminton (dunno if that kind of experience helps). I don't really know what step I should take next... I've considered applying to US and Canadian schools and maybe even not send the grade reports that greatly affect my GPA... It would be 3.5 without these. I'm soon to be 30 and if I can avoid having to spend 3 or 4 years getting another degree in order to get in, it would be great, but I'm ready to do anything it takes. Anyways, any advice?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

 

I've considered applying to US and Canadian schools and maybe even not send the grade reports that greatly affect my GPA... It would be 3.5 without these. I'm soon to be 30 and if I can avoid having to spend 3 or 4 years getting another degree in order to get in, it would be great, but I'm ready to do anything it takes. Anyways, any advice?

Do that and its a sure fire way to get yourself rejected and blacklisted from every North American medical school. You must report every course ever taken. Period.

 

If you have done well in recent years and show a strong upward trend - then the grades from 2004 wont affect you as much. Prepare a strong application and research schools you will be competitive at. For Canadian schools best 2 years schools are your best shot.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 10 months later...

Hey guys! I am so sorry to deviate from the original convo, but i am heading into my first year of uni, and am in life sci at UOFT. My question is with regards to whether there are US med schools that require you or accept you without a course in eng or phy. Because i really dont wanna take those. I am keeping going to a us med school as a back up pln...what should i pay attention particularly to when choosing courses?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...