Canadian Schools on admission of Int. Med. Students

[Guest positively4thstreet]

Does anyone know how Canadian schools look upon students in foreign med schools for admission in Canada? Would a high performance in first or second years of int. med school give good chances of admission in Canada?

 

Right now I am considering doing another undergraduate degree here in Canada to make up for low GPA. Another undergrad is not something I really want to do and I would rather travel to a foreign country and study medicine if that would also give me a good chance of admission in Canada. I figure it would also be good prep for the MD program in Canada. I'm aware that I would have to start from the beginning here in Canada but I figure if I have to do a couple years in a foreign school and then 4 years in Canada it wouldn't be so bad, especially since most int. programs are 6 years. As well, worst case scenario would be to finish as an IMG and end up practicing in the states or elsewhere. I'd rather end up in Canada but if I didn't, it wouldn't be the end of the world.

 

Does anyone know the chances of gaining admission? Any examples of students who have done this? and what kind of performance they showed in an international school?

 

Thanks

[Guest heho]

Overseas where?

 

If you go to Australia or the UK, I believe you can do your entire med school eductaion there, and apply back here for residency... thus not having to repeat anything.

[Guest ploughboy]

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Hey there,

 

At UWO, the school I'm most familiar with, doing some or all of a foreign MD will not give you any sort of advantage. There is a gal in my class who did a year of medical school in Poland (she speaks Polish) before starting at UWO. As far as I know, her admission here was based entirely on her Canadian undergraduate marks, MCAT and interview, and her year studying medicine abroad neither helped nor hindered her admission chances. Well it probably gave her stuff to talk about in the interview, but she's an interesting enough person that she likely talked about other things...

 

Regarding Australia and the UK, based on my reading of the CaRMS website(1) graduates of those countries (Canadian citizens or not) are not given any special consideration in the residency match. They are considered IMGs and are eligible only in the second round of CaRMS (in all provinces but Quebec).

 

Things are slowly opening up for IMGs and it may get better in the future, but there is a lot of politics at play on both sides of the issue and I personally wouldn't want to have my entire future depending on getting a residency spot as an IMG.

 

So technically yes you could come back and apply for residency after doing an MD in the UK or Australia, but you'll be competing with all the other IMGs who are selling shoes and driving taxis here. If you want to practice medicine in Canada, you should focus your efforts on getting into a Canadian or American school.

 

Cheers,

 

pb

 

 

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(1) CaRMS website

[Guest positively4thstreet]

Hey,

 

Thanks for the replies.

 

I was thinking of schools in eastern europe, due to financial reasons, rather than the more expensive UK or Aus. schools.

 

I kind of thought that might be the situation, that they wouldn't consider marks from a foreign medical school, but I figured I would ask around. I really want to end up in a Canadian med school, for the reasons u stated, but I just don't want to do another couple years of undergraduate studies or a graduate degree. I'd rather be studying medicine and travelling would be a definite plus.

 

By the way, has anyone ever heard of something called "letter schools" or something like that? I remember someone told me awhile back that they are schools in Europe that would allow an easier return for residency in Canada. I think the student went to a med school in Hungary but I can't get a hold of this person to ask about it.

 

Anyone else who has any info or examples of people returning from Europe, it would be much appreciated.

 

Thanks again