Do you think that schools in the states are suspicious of Canadian applicants?

[sej]

Do you think that schools in the states are suspicious of Canadian applicants?

[gesuchtish]

I absolutely agree with you. Only very few ppl can afford the tuition.

Would you mind tell me your stats and where you got into?

[sonyvaio2700]

Do you think that schools in the states are suspicious of Canadian applicants?

 

I only ask because I found that, of the US schools I applied to, I have only heard back and been accepted at the most prestigious schools. These are schools that I felt would be much more difficult to get into. On the other hand, I have yet to hear back about interviews from schools which are not top 10 institutions.

 

I wonder if these schools think it is a waste of time to interview Canadians because they think we will most likely bail if we get an acceptance in Canada?

 

Anyone else had this trend?

 

i mean if you have like a 4 and 40, and applied to lower-teired schools...yes they will get suspicious a bit. they do that even with american students.

[UBCGuy]

There was a guy who put it very well on SDN, went something like this:

 

"Do you think that a guy with a 3.98GPA and a 43S will get an interview at Hollywood Upstairs College of Medicine? Probably not since the adcom knows that this is by far their backup school, and they don't want to waste time interviewing him."

 

It takes alot of resources to consider a candidate past the initial stage and so lower teir schools don't want to waste their valuable time and resources on those that they know won't matriculate.

 

Definately not the case in competitive Canada...

[Madz25]

I think US schools are slightly suspicious...I often got asked 'why do you want to study medicine in the US instead of Canada' in my interviews...and ofcourse I turned down my US acceptance as soon as I was accepted in Canada lol...but HEY it's expensive!!!

[hippie]

I honestly think that the best answer would be something like this: I am a quebec anglophone and I only have 2 options: Mcgill or the states, can't apply to french canadian universities and every other university will consider me as an OOP.

Watcha think?

[Jochi1543]

There was a guy who put it very well on SDN, went something like this:

 

"Do you think that a guy with a 3.98GPA and a 43S will get an interview at Hollywood Upstairs College of Medicine? Probably not since the adcom knows that this is by far their backup school, and they don't want to waste time interviewing him."

 

It takes alot of resources to consider a candidate past the initial stage and so lower teir schools don't want to waste their valuable time and resources on those that they know won't matriculate.

Yup.

 

I actually didn't get into my "backup school" when I applied for undergrad.....and when my college counselor called them and asked why, they said "We looked at her stats and where she applied to, and we know she'll never end up at our school." Not to say you shouldn't apply to a few "backup schools" - you never know how things play out. But I would say that it is NOT unusual to experience something like this.

 

I know on my undergrad apps they asked to list all the schools I had applied to.....Do they do it for AMCAS apps? Because if the school can see where you applied, they can definitely make some guesses as to your level of interest in their own institution. Is it fair? I don't think it is.....but then again, the people sitting on a school's adcom might find an application to be a lot more impressive than you think it is. It's especially true for many of us paranoid premed keeners who never think they are good enough.

[UBCGuy]

... us paranoid premed keeners who never think they are good enough.

 

So there are others of us. I unfortunately know alot of premed keeners that think they are the shizznat and like to tell everyone that they are...

[Jochi1543]

So there are others of us. I unfortunately know alot of premed keeners that think they are the shizznat and like to tell everyone that they are...

....but deep inside they are paranoid.

[DoNair]

It's especially true for many of us paranoid premed keeners who never think they are good enough.

 

Just a side note: if you do end up going to the states no one will know what a "keener" is. They use the word "gunner".

 

And don't ever say "keener" in front of a hispanic person. They might think you're saying "beener"... I learned that from experience... YIKES! (funny thing was that I didn't even know what "beener" meant)

[The Law]

So there are others of us. I unfortunately know alot of premed keeners that think they are the shizznat and like to tell everyone that they are...

 

I know the type.

 

What's a Beaner? lol

 

I like the word keener more than gunner haha. Sheesh - so much war terms!

[UBCmed09]

So there are others of us. I unfortunately know alot of premed keeners that think they are the shizznat and like to tell everyone that they are...

 

For better or for worse, a small number of these tend to slip through into the medical student ranks

 

Learning to understand them is good practice for humility on the wards I reckon

 

UBCmed09

[excalibre]

I have to agree with the Hollywood Upstairs College phenomenon.

 

I should point out though, that in the AMCAS application, the other medical schools can NOT see what other schools you have applied to. However, they can guess by your GPA/MCAT how competitive *they* are in terms of getting you.

 

Interviews are nothing in terms of the school's investment. Think of this: They send you an acceptance, and you take it because its your first offer (or best offer so far) and hold onto this acceptance even though there is a good chance you will get accepted to a better medical school. Now you are taking up a spot and the medical school can't give it to a student that will actually show up in Sept. And if you are unsure or a jerk, you might hold on to multiple offers until May 15th. Thus, the school might lose the best qualified candidates that are happy to come to their institution.

 

If your raw statistics much are better than those of their accepted candidates, the 'trick' is to convey in the interview that you really would like to come to their school due to so called soft factors like "I have relatives in town," "My uncle is an alumni" or "I have collaborated with Dr. X at your university and would like to work in his/her lab here" etc...

 

Of course, you shouldn't blatantly lie. Though I am sure people do. But it's expected, and mostly necessary, that you stretch the facts and convince yourself that you are genuinely interested. Because if you it were your only offer, theoretically you should be happy to go there rather than have to reapply again to only top 10 schools because you can't settle for less.

 

Anyways, hope my rant makes sense.

[Jochi1543]

Just a side note: if you do end up going to the states no one will know what a "keener" is. They use the word "gunner".

 

And don't ever say "keener" in front of a hispanic person. They might think you're saying "beener"... I learned that from experience... YIKES! (funny thing was that I didn't even know what "beener" meant)

To the first one - yeah, I didn't even learn the word "keener" until I started checking out this forum. I myself usually say "gunning for medicine."

 

Can you say "keening for medicine"? LOL

 

LOL to #2!!!!

 

I always feel like I'm behind on all the racist terms that are out there. I remember down in Mississippi during my Hurricane Katrina trip a chick from our group was giving me a backrub, and I hollered in some funny way to express my excitement, and then all of sudden everyone turned and looked at me all funny. Turned out, that's how they sometimes imitate Native Americans' war cries. Bad, bad Jochi. It's like, should I feel bad that I DON'T know every racist slur out there? Or should I feel good about it?

[Jochi1543]

And if you are unsure or a jerk, you might hold on to multiple offers until May 15th.

I dunno about you, but if I get multiple offers, I'm gonna hold on to them till that very day.....and every night, I will rub the offer letters all over my body.

 

And then I will boil them and drink their juice, and be happy forever.

 

So there.

[AMmd]

HAHAHA.... that is so true!!!

[sonyvaio2700]

I dunno about you, but if I get multiple offers, I'm gonna hold on to them till that very day.....and every night, I will rub the offer letters all over my body.

 

And then I will boil them and drink their juice, and be happy forever.

 

So there.

 

lots of students hold on to multiple acceptances so they can leverage schools to give you more scholarships. I know if a school accepts you, by April 1st, they can find out if you are holding other offers...thats when you make a move about scholarships

 

but as canadian at most schools you are ****ed. I know some do offer scholarships such as wash u...

[The Law]

I dunno about you, but if I get multiple offers, I'm gonna hold on to them till that very day.....and every night, I will rub the offer letters all over my body.

 

And then I will boil them and drink their juice, and be happy forever.

 

So there.

 

AHHAHAH That is absolutely the funniest thing I've ever read. lmaoo

[Jochi1543]

thats when you make a move about scholarships

 

but as canadian at most schools you are ****ed. I know some do offer scholarships such as wash u...

You know, I still enter a trance whenever I recall my eventual undergrad offer acceptance. I was about to say yes to University of Miami which had put me into an Honors program AND offered me $8,000 a year, which back in those days took tuition down to like $14,000 - VERY good for a competitive private university. I had never received the official offer acceptance/rejection form from what became my alma mater, so I just e-mailed their admissions and said "hey guys, I can't afford to go to your school, so I just wanted to let you know I won't be accepting your offer" - they had only given me like $3000 a year.

 

Next thing you know, I get a response within like 30 seconds: "Dear Jochi, we have some room in our budget this year. How much would it take to make you attend our school?"

 

"Dear Jochi" almost pissed a hole in her chair when she read that!!!

 

I was classy and requested $11,000 a year, because I felt there were other students whose financial circumstances were a lot more dire than mine.

 

I still regret it after seeing some "Ugandan refugees" on campus with a full scholarship drive brand new cars while I got around in one that was 10 years old.

 

Shoulda asked for full.....or at least 15,000.

 

 

That was right after that economic boom of the 90s ended....schools had the money back then. I doubt this would happen to anyone today.

 

In fact, in my senior year, our school stopped the need-blind admissions policy - 10% of the student body was admitted on a need-aware basis. They had no choice but to tighten their belts.

 

 

 

 

 

But that was back in the days, when a burger set you back only 5 cents....I used to walk 6 miles barefoot to the grocery store!!!

 

You kids have it easy these days.

[AMmd]

wow i didnt know scholarships were negociable.

when did you go to us school jochi. and why did you come here? and how is it different from here?

I always wanted to attend a US school.

[Jochi1543]

wow i didnt know scholarships were negociable.

when did you go to us school jochi. and why did you come here? and how is it different from here?

I always wanted to attend a US school.

I figure, let's take it the Whatcha Doing thread so we don't trash this one up too much.

[Lerissa]

This is really scary. Even with a 4.0 I would have still been planning to apply to like 2 or 3 top US schools n like 5 lower level ones, this is def not good news. Keener is right, whatever my gpa ends up as I'll never think i'll get into a top US school.....n if the lower ones reject me too I'm just gonna DIE!

[sonyvaio2700]

This is really scary. Even with a 4.0 I would have still been planning to apply to like 2 or 3 top US schools n like 5 lower level ones, this is def not good news. Keener is right, whatever my gpa ends up as I'll never think i'll get into a top US school.....n if the lower ones reject me too I'm just gonna DIE!

 

just add more schools

[Madz25]

just add more schools

 

LOL so sweet and succinct