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Canadian Accepted to US Med. School-Ask Me Anything


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A few qualifiers:

1. I applied for MD/PhD programs so I think the bar is higher.

 

Another possibility - in the PhD component, reputation of a school matters.  It may be harder to get into more selective programs without a prestigious name behind you.  Maybe this is why school name came up, although usually other factors would matter more.  

 

UCLA isn't that selective or prestigious regardless of whether companies in Asia have heard of it. Certainly not worth that much extra money. McGill/Toronto/UBC (if you are thinking about working in Asia then it is worth considering as well) won't hold you back.

 

Another thing - it is easier to get a high GPA in Canada because the grade scales are lower. I think the higher GPA + money should make up for anything you might think about UCLA.

In-state tuition at UCLA is a lot closer to Canadian tuition, but still more expensive - the Canadian $ seems on a mini-turnaround though...  But, those Canadian schools would be generally known abroad.  

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UC schools are notorious for bell curving its students so that only a small minority's will receive above average GPAs. I've had classmates from UCLA and Berkeley who all wished they went to a less competitive school for a better GPA. And however you look at it, you'll pay much less at a Canadian university.

 

It's not something systematic.  Basic issue is different profs grade differently.  In Canada students are more focused on achieving high GPAs since the MCAT plays less of a role (in general).  If anything it shows that it is worthwhile to choose courses carefully.  Here's a blog post on the issue from a Berkeley prof - grade distributions tell the story:

 

https://liorpachter.wordpress.com/2013/12/23/time-to-end-letter-grades/

 

Edit: But yes - the situation at UC is different than Harvard for instance with median grade A- (various factors).  Also not sure if situation in a large Canadian school would be that different. 

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U are correct; the grading situation might be similar at Toronto and McGill. Which is why I'd argue for attending one of the latter and saving tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars. Btw, it's a different story if u have a green card AND have residency in Cali. Then you'd receive a lesser tuition and possibly a subsidized federal loan.

 

Completely agree.  But - what a nice piece of innovation - published grade distributions per course/instructor.   One can hope that eventually Canadian schools will make such information available.   

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