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American schools?


Guest Ceridwen

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Guest Ceridwen

Hello, I'm interested in hearing some opinions on American medical schools. I am early on in my studies ( second year) but my dad who lives in the states, recently mentioned he might be able to pay for my education down there. As well, he mentioned the top schools such as Harvard being within his budget. He's wealthy, sadly I'm not. I have done very little research on American schools except by visiting websites of a few of them to check for requirements. What I'm interested in here is someone's opinion on the advantages/disadvantages of going there and whether it would be worth it monetarily. Having never considered the states as an option, I've been perfectly happy setting my sights on Canadian schools.

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well, I don't know much but, I've heard that the chances of getting admitted in the states is greater than here in canada. Also I think the pay is better. Oh and......WHAT THE HECK ARE YO WAITING FOR??????...your Dad said he'd pay!!!!! You can't be that slow if your want to be a doctor. Seriously though, I think the typical heath care facility in the states will have newer, better, shinier equipment and facilities.But, I also think that may be due to thier "two-tier" system. Again I'm no expert so hopefully Ian will be able to clear things up for us ( ie. which of the aforemetioned is actually correct! ). Anyway, good luck and hope that helps...you lucky #$%@!

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Guest brandonite

First let me agree that I am pretty jealous... :-) I am going through the whole process of applying to American schools right now. I did very well on my MCATs, and I'm applying to serveral of the top schools.

 

The main reason I am interested in going down south is research. There is a lot of quality research going on in Canada, however, it doesn't really compare to the research going on in the US. I am interested in getting a MD/PhD to go into clinical trials and the such, so going down South makes a lot of sense.

 

If you are not really all that interested in research, there really isn't a good reason to leave Canada. There are a lot of quality schools in Canada for people interested primarily in patient care. The vast majority of US hospitals are not that much better equipped than they are in Canada - thanks to the revolution in US health care with a move to HMOs, US health care has really gone downhill lately. It is still possible for a doctor to make more money in the US than in Canada if that is what you want, but there is no reason you can't do that after you get your medical degree.

 

Something you will have to keep in mind is that it is very hard to get into a top US schools. It is easier to get into a mediocre US school than it is in Canada, but there is not really a strong reason to do something like that. As well, the only schools that, in general, accept international applications (I don't know if you hold US citizenship or not) are the top schools (Harvard, Stanford, Yale, Duke, etc...). There are thousands of applicants for only a few hundred spots.

 

US schools also put a lot more emphasis on the MCAT than do Canadian schools. You will need at least 12's in the science categories, and at least an 11 in VR to be competitive down south. Not as much emphasis is placed on the essay section.

 

In general, a medical degree is a medical degree... Unless you have a very good reason to go to Harvard or Yale, an internist with a MD from a typical US State School is no more respected than one from Western or U of T...

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Guest Ian Wong

I applied to a few US schools through AMCAS, but never got around to completing the secondaries. If I remember correctly, Washington University, which I applied to, would have cost me $30,000 USD per year, which didn't include food, housing, transportation, textbooks, med equipment, nothing.

 

With UBC tuition being about $4000 Cdn each year, there was no way I was going to bother with the secondary application to WU. I think I'm getting a high quality education here, and for most of us Canadian med students, there is still the option to defect to the States for either residency, or for practicing.

 

But yeah, Harvard med sounds like it would be cool. :) I'm moving this to the American med schools forum.

 

Ian

UBC, Med 3

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