What is my best bet?

[SeeMac4]

Hi everyone. 24M, Canadian here. Long story short, at age 24 and one week before defending my M.Sc (in physics) thesis, I have decided I would like to be a physician. This is not a spur of the moment decision, however it is one I am quite certain of after seriously pondering the thought since I entered university.

 

I have an (honors, which just means that I took some grad level courses) B.Sc in physics with a minor in math from a top Canadian University. My gpa was probably around 3.5, but could be as low as 3.4 and as high as 3.6 (the particular school I went to is known to have a weird grading scheme, and various sources give different conversion scaling factors). My science GPA is definitely higher than that. The only non-physics or math pre-req I have taken is chem1. 

 

I am not sure of the best path to take here. I am about to graduate with a M.Sc in physics, with a top GPA (probably 3.8 or 3.9). I have also been working full time as a SWE, working for a research company doing pretty cutting-edge work in the manufacturing space. I know I most likely won't end up at a Canadian medical school, and I am fine with that. I am aiming my sights for US, UK (I can get a UK passport by birth right) or possibly Caribbean if need be. I would prefer to not have to take every single pre-req, and ideally would not take the MCAT either but I know I probably will have to. Is my best bet to

1) Take the pre-reqs, do well in them, and then take the MCAT? Will my grades for the pre-reqs (chem 2, bio 1/2, OChem 1/2) count towards my undergrad GPA, even if they aren't at the same institution?

2) Self study all of those topics, and take the MCAT. Is a (assume for the worst) 3.3 GPA and a solid MCAT, with no medical/clinical experience enough to get into a US MD/DO school? I have won a few awards during my undergraduate career (top physics student in 2nd year, best undergraduate science thesis), and have some physics research experience as well in different research groups. My work experience is also fairly solid, as I am doing some pretty high-tech stuff currently.

Are there any other paths that you would recommend for someone in my position? 

[offmychestplease]

your GPA is too low, you need to do another undergrad to have a shot

institution, science GPA, trends and pre-reqs are irrelevant in Canada

[RichardDegrasseSagan]

Unfortunately your GPA is by far your limiting issue for Canadian schools. You will have great extracurriculars and ABS items given the success you've had in your MSc and work, but that portion of the file review is not relevant if you're automatically filtered out due to not meeting GPA cutoffs. I am not sure if there are currently any programs that offer an accelerated two to three year degree, but you can try to see gauge that option. I ultimately had to delay my graduation and complete a 5th/6th year to bump up my undergraduate GPA. You can read more detailed info in my post history. 

All that being said, you have to realize that medical school is getting more and more expensive as each year passes. If you choose to go the route of an additional undergrad, that is an additional 6-8 years of lost income AND ~160k to 200k in just tuition costs alone. I am currently a 1st year resident, and many of my friends who worked straight out of undergrad are in significantly better financial positions than I am.

The Carribean route is fraught with uncertainty. Having just recently gone through the residency application process as a CMG (Canadian Medical Graduate), where the match rates are typically >95%, it was still extremely stressful. I can't imagine having to go through that process with a match rate of ~50% (not sure of exact numbers). The huge financial cost, constant stress of having to perform at the top of the class/board exams, and the extreme stress of residency applications makes this option not seem worth it at all to me. 

Just be reflective/introspective about what you want out of medicine. I find that in the process of applying to medicine, we sculpt ourselves into these seemingly perfect beings because "medicine is such an altruistic profession". It can be jarring to get in and see the reality of how your doctors are regular people with huge variations in personalities. There are some very kind people and there are some not-so-king people. The "rose-tinted glasses" pre-meds often wear can lead to some logical fallacies in their decision-making. 

Medicine is a great field. It is definitely is a privilege to be able to contribute to the care of your patients. However, know that you are working in a system that can often limit your ability to feel like you can truly help your patients (there is quite a bit of variability here depending on which specialty you go into). At the end of the day, medicine is still a job and the financial factor of things is something you should NOT ignore - ESPECIALLY when you are considering completing an additional undergrad to potentially get in. However, if you are extremely driven to contribute to a certain field of medicine, then the reward you get from being in medicine should outweigh the financial/emotional.

I am happy to answer any other questions you have!