Moving Out Of Ontario

[Wannabedoctorzab]

After being rejected from every US and Canadian med school, I've decided to move out of Ontario to increase my chances at universities in other provinces and repeat my MCAT.

 

Does anyone know which school would be the easiest and what the requirements are to gain residency?

I think BC had a 6 month period needed to become a BC resident,

Alberta had 2 years,

Nova Scotia had 1 year

 

I'm not sure but I'd love to know and would love input on this. I'm leaving my family behind for this and moving in with my girlfriend (we're gonna move together).

[indefatigable]

I'd double check on those numbers with official sources (i.e faculties and provinces).  There was a story in MacLean's about someone who moved to the Yukon to gain IP status in various provinces a few years ago:

 

http://www.macleans.ca/work/jobs/rx-get-out-of-town-2/

[carolynH]

Med schools change their residency requirements from time to time. You can plan all you want but at a blink of an eye, your plan could be altered by a change in policy.  UBC used to require 2 years to be considered as In-province. Then it changed to 3 years, and then now as long as you have a BC CareCard, you are a BC resident! Who knows when they'll change back to 3 years! The most advantageous strategy would be what Calcan mentioned above. Live in Yukon and you'll have In-province status in 3 medical schools!

[rmorelan]

Med schools change their residency requirements from time to time. You can plan all you want but at a blink of an eye, your plan could be altered by a change in policy.  UBC used to require 2 years to be considered as In-province. Then it changed to 3 years, and then now as long as you have a BC CareCard, you are a BC resident! Who knows when they'll change back to 3 years! The most advantageous strategy would be what Calcan mentioned above. Live in Yukon and you'll have In-province status in 3 medical schools!

 

again assuming they don't change the rules. Always push and pull on that. 

[Arztin]

Totally agree with what carolynH and rmorelan said.

Also, one year in Qc for McGill is an option.

But beware, schools never tell candidates ahead of time about their rule changes.

[Fresh fry]

What is your GPA? If you didn't get any invites to US schools I suspect moving to Alberta is not going to help you.

[Meridian]

I saw you asked the same question a year back where you indicated you had a 3.6 GPA.  Did you do another year of undergrad to prop it up ?   

 

3.6 GPA may be enough to reach the interview cut-off at DAL, but it is not likely competitive enough for an offer unless you did something magical in the MMIs.   NB might be better statistically for Dal (and Memorial)

 

I don't think 3.6 is enough to take the gamble and time of moving to any of the Western provinces.   Do you have 75% cutoff  for UBC in-province ?

[Bambi]

As IP in Quebec, 3.6 should be okay for McGill if you kill the PN & CV.

[indefatigable]

Also - 3.6 omsas GPA usually means ~3.7 Alberta+McGill GPA since A+ Is not really considered. As is 3.6 is competitive for Dal, where the limiting factor is ECs for most people. Same with Calgary but not sure about UofA (borderline). Yukon gives IP for Saskatchewan and Memorial (has ROS) too as of today (need 3 years of residency though).

[lulu95]

Also - 3.6 omsas GPA usually means ~3.7 Alberta+McGill GPA since A+ Is not really considered. As is 3.6 is competitive for Dal, where the limiting factor is ECs for most people. Same with Calgary but not sure about UofA (borderline). Yukon gives IP for Saskatchewan and Memorial (has ROS) too as of today (need 3 years of residency though).

Not sure about the info about competitiveness, but I just want to point out that my calculated OMSAS GPA is actually higher than my McGill transcript GPA

 

As IP in Quebec, 3.6 should be okay for McGill if you kill the PN & CV.

Not quite. Your GPA is responsible for 70% of your pre-interview evaluation, PNCV is only 30%. With an IP interview average of 3.83, and considering the skew toward 4.0s (the mode is 3.9), a 3.6 would need a truly above average PNCV.

 

Have you considered working in a related healthcare field for a few years then re-applying in NTP? GPA requirements are usually lower than traditional, and less extreme than moving to Yukon...

[indefatigable]

Not sure about the info about competitiveness, but I just want to point out that my calculated OMSAS GPA is actually higher than my McGill transcript GPA

 

Odd - is it possible that the McGill transcript GPA includes courses that aren't included in OMSAS GPA (e.g. Summer)? Otherwise I'm not sure how this could occur (usually OMSAS lowers GPAs from 4.3 to 4.0 scale for example).  McGill is now the only school in the country which does not have an equivalent "A+" grade.

[lulu95]

Odd - is it possible that the McGill transcript GPA includes courses that aren't included in OMSAS GPA (e.g. Summer)? Otherwise I'm not sure how this could occur (usually OMSAS lowers GPAs from 4.3 to 4.0 scale for example).  McGill is now the only school in the country which does not have an equivalent "A+" grade.

It's partly because course credit weights are different for McGill vs OMSAS. McGill works on a 3-point scale for regular courses, but also has courses that are 4 credits or 1 credit. 3 and 4 credit courses both get converted to be the equivalent of a one-semester course, while the 1 credit lab course got converted to a "half semester" equivalent. So, a 3.7 in a 4 credit course is less detrimental (and similarly, a 4.0 on a 1 credit more advantageous) to the overall OMSAS GPA than on the transcript.

 

...all of which does not apply when converting from OMSAS to McGill, because one-semester courses are likely all treated as 3 credit courses. Actually, looking at the conversions now, it does seem like the 3.9(A) vs 4.0(A+) would make a difference. Just out of curiosity, does a 4.0(A) from U of T and U of A get converted down to a 3.9 in OMSAS or is it kept as a 4.0?

[Artier]

Just out of curiosity, does a 4.0(A) from U of T and U of A get converted down to a 3.9 in OMSAS or is it kept as a 4.0?

 

From the OMSAS scales, 85-89 for both would become 3.9 and are not kept as 4.0

[sometimesmad111]

Hi