Study In the USA and Practice in Canada

[CaribPirate]

Hey guys!

I have recently found out that US med schools under the LCME can allow residency in Canada. If I were to do my undergrad in Canada and go to an LCME med school in the US, would it be easy to get residency in Canada or not?

Thanks!

[offmychestplease]

no, only 50-60% match rate into Canada for USMD grads, compared to 97% for CMG

[JohnGrisham]

15 minutes ago, CaribPirate said:

Hey guys!

I have recently found out that US med schools under the LCME can allow residency in Canada. If I were to do my undergrad in Canada and go to an LCME med school in the US, would it be easy to get residency in Canada or not?

Thanks!

It wouldnt be easy, but not impossible either - too many variables.  As OMCP points out below, the match rate is lower...but that is confounded too, by the fact that most applicants would apply US and CANADA, and need to be careful about how they rank their options (this dynamic fluctuates depending which match comes first, NRMP or CARMS).

[bearded frog]

2 hours ago, offmychestplease said:

no, only 50-60% match rate into Canada for USMD grads, compared to 97% for CMG

As above, this is confounded by the availability of US residency as an option so it's likely applicants only applied to their top choices and didn't back up in canada, as they could fall back to their top US choices. It's complicated now by the fact that the US match is first which makes for really tough decisions.

I think on paper a USMD applicant = canadian applicant but, at least pre-covid, it was easier for Canadians to do electives in Canada, and reference letter writers were more likely to be known, USMLE could have been a pro or a con depending on score, etc.

[Edict]

I don't think its terribly hard but as others have mentioned a lot of people who go to the states, especially those who end up being interested in subspecialties, chose to stay in the US or only apply to a few top choice Canadian schools. 

I would not be worried about attending a US MD school at all, you'll become a doctor and likely match well. I know the US match can be somewhat more tricky as a Canadian attending a US MD school because of citizenship etc but its not a significant detractor for your app and everyone I know who's gone to the US for MD school has matched somewhere. 

 

[zoxy]

Dude, try finishing grade 12 before worrying about matching from a US MD to a Canadian residency. It's good that you have the foresight to look down the road but things change as time goes on, both in the medical field and in life as whole. Don't get too ahead of yourself.

Matching as a USMD would be a minimum of nine years from now. Many things that determine the relative ease of matching can and will change between now and then. As an example, there were 436 surgery spots across Canada and a total of 2648 CMG applicants in 2012. For 2021 it was 370 surgery spots and 2915 total CMG applicants. The match has been getting tighter and tighter in recent years, especially in English Canada. Who knows where things will stand in 2032. Additionally, the difficulty of matching matching would be high specialty dependent. Some specialties are much easier in the US vs Canada and vice versa. You'd have to be more specific about your specialty of choice to get a good answer, even for now.

P.S.

At your age, I was like a buck during the rut, I couldn't possibly care less about the match.

Also I feel like we're gonna see a post by a 9 year old in asking about the Cardiac Surgery job market at St.Mike's in 2050.

[bearded frog]

1 hour ago, zoxy said:

Dude, try finishing grade 11

to be fair, they may be a dual citizen considering a US vs Can undergrad application now, which is appropriate to consider in grade 11, and if they have aspirations in medicine no fault to them for considering the effects of doing parts of their education in different countries in the future