How to choose a US medschool?

[Dr.Luv]

I was just looking into the American Schools and I seem to make the cut-offs for quite a few of them...How should I go about choosing which schools to apply to considering the fact that the application fee isn't cheap? What are the main criterias for choosing a suitable American school (reputation, fees,...)?

 

Some insight would be appreciated:D

[Alastriss]

I was just looking into the American Schools and I seem to make the cut-offs for quite a few of them...How should I go about choosing which schools to apply to considering the fact that the application fee isn't cheap? What are the main criterias for choosing a suitable American school (reputation, fees,...)?

 

Some insight would be appreciated:D

 

OK so ill kick this off but ill leave it to the experts (Jochi, Madz, sonyvaio) to take over. Start by choosing schools that accept internationals. Consult the sticky in this forum for that.

THen I would suggest looking for schools putting the following factors in mind:

a) distance from home

tuition fees

c) curriculum (see what interests u better and what suits your learning style better)

d) location, if you don't like the area, then u might not want to spend a few years there

 

wherever you go i think that if u want to come back to canada make sure u are able to get decent amount of elective time in cdn hospitals.

 

Also in terms of reputation, i just recently asked if reputation of schools, especially middle tier schools, matters to program directors when applying for residency in canada. However if i were to answer my own question, i would feel that it doesnt matter since canadian directors are not familiar with most us med schools, at least not like they are with canadian med schools.

Reputation may matter when it comes to the education u are receiving. better education may correlate with better performace in a clinical scenario, but maybe someone else can comment on this point. Since all schools are LCME accredited, i would assume that you would be a competent doctor that isn't endangering anyone's life!

[Madz25]

Just to add to that, don't only look at if you make the cutoffs - I wasn't aware that US med schools had cutoffs actually.

 

Choose a few schools that will be your "safe" schools - i.e. your MCAT and GPA are SUPER competitive.

 

Choose a few "competitive" schools - i.e. your MCAT and GPA are fairly close to the average of the students accepted at this school.

 

Choose a few (1-3 I'd say) "dream" schools - i.e. you're not as competitive an applicant but would LOVEEEE to go there ...these are usually the top tier schools such as harvard/yale/johns hopkins etc.

 

When I started with the US admissions process, I looked at the schools in the sticky thread list and used that as a jumping off point.

 

Hope this helps.

[omegaxx13]

Canadian med schools are well-known for offering superb quality of training for bargain prices (compared to what you will be paying down South). Therefore the schools are aware that they are just back-ups, to be resorted to when the Canadian applicant cannot get in anywhere back home.

 

This is why I believe they will weed the over-qualified--as well as those they believe will be likely to be accepted to a school in Canada based on their past experience--out very carefully, unless you have ties to that area and really sell that about yourself in the PS or secondary or interview.

 

However, top 20 American schools tend to accept Canadians more readily, because they are more confident in their ability to retain the applicant come matriculation.

 

The result is rather interesting, as reasonably competitive Canadian applicants can find themselves with interviews from top 20 American schools but rejected pre-secondary by lower-tiered American schools. I know someone who is accepted by Dartmouth (top 15) and WashU in St. Louis (top 5), but never heard back from places like New York Medical College.

 

Some lower-tiered American schools are more Canadian friendly than others though. Wayne State comes to mind. Those will be good schools to have on your list if you are not sure of your prospects back home. Avoid the UCs. The chance of a Canadian landing there is pretty close to nill.

 

Also, you will want to make inquiries into the financial policies of each school. For example Duke, while it accepts Canadians on a fairly regularly basis, demands that you put your 4 years of tuition and living expenses (~$260,000) into an Escrow account (a joint account of you and the school) prior to enrolling in first year. Nor does it offer financial aid, need- or merit-based, of any kind. While you can get loans at home, it is still a rather formidable task. So it's worthwhile to ask the schools:

1) if they demand those Escrow accounts

2) if they offer any need-based institutional financial aid to Canadian students

3) whether Canadian students are eligible for any merit-based scholarships (this is the case in WashU and, I believe, UPenn)

 

Hope this helps. Best of luck!