Guest mk08 Posted December 8, 2008 Report Share Posted December 8, 2008 For the list of schools accepting Canadian students... are the requirements more strict? Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
schnauzr Posted December 17, 2008 Report Share Posted December 17, 2008 The rule of thumb is that American citizen > Canadian citizen >>> non-Canadian international student Many schools claim that Canadian citizens are treated equally as the American counterparts. But oddly enough, MCAT/GPA for accepted Canadian students tend to be higher than that of the American students, so, slightly tougher but not on any significant level. Requirements are usually strict for every applicant - regardless of citizenship. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alastriss Posted December 17, 2008 Report Share Posted December 17, 2008 Actually rule of thumb is this schnauzr: American citizen at american university > Non-american citizen at american university > Canadian citizen at Canadian university > other international Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
In_Valid Posted December 17, 2008 Report Share Posted December 17, 2008 What if I marry an American citizen?....... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alastriss Posted December 17, 2008 Report Share Posted December 17, 2008 Ok let me be forward. From my experience, it isn't at all about the citizenship. It's about where you lived your premed experience. Our schools aren't well known to be recognized by some of the top schools down there. Our lifestyles don't permit us to do a lot of activities that they recognize down there (shadowing - we aren't allowed to do this here, but regarding your application, shadowing is almost sine qua non). A lot of my activities they had no idea about, like being a first responder for st. john's. They didn't know what that was, until I had to tell them it's kind of like EMT but with less qualifications. It's just a matter of where you came from. Plus I feel that a lot of them think that we are not serious about US schools, and are using them as a backup. Kinda tough when this is the truth! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
In_Valid Posted December 17, 2008 Report Share Posted December 17, 2008 Ok let me be forward. From my experience, it isn't at all about the citizenship. It's about where you lived your premed experience. Our schools aren't well known to be recognized by some of the top schools down there. Our lifestyles don't permit us to do a lot of activities that they recognize down there (shadowing - we aren't allowed to do this here, but regarding your application, shadowing is almost sine qua non). A lot of my activities they had no idea about, like being a first responder for st. john's. They didn't know what that was, until I had to tell them it's kind of like EMT but with less qualifications. It's just a matter of where you came from. Plus I feel that a lot of them think that we are not serious about US schools, and are using them as a backup. Kinda tough when this is the truth! I got an NSERC scholarship, and they were like, wtf is that? lol I think it certainly is tougher for Canadians when applying to lower tier schools because they know that it is just a backup. If you are applying to Tier 1 schools, I think its about the same difficulty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alastriss Posted December 17, 2008 Report Share Posted December 17, 2008 I got an NSERC scholarship, and they were like, wtf is that? lol I think it certainly is tougher for Canadians when applying to lower tier schools because they know that it is just a backup. If you are applying to Tier 1 schools, I think its about the same difficulty. Exactly. For all you know, had another school known what NSERC really was, it may have cast you in a different light altogether. It is certainly true regarding how tough it is for canadians when applying to low tier schools. Every year same thing: schools like Wayne, UVM, SUNY are used as backups. A lot of canadians accepted, not a lot matriculate. So yeah, bottom line, its not being a citizen or not (well for state schools it will matter obviously), but moreso a matter of familiarity. Not to mention a lot of kids stateside have clinical research experience!!! where I come from, you are kinda limited to basic science or biomedical research if you are lucky. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GolferGrl Posted April 14, 2009 Report Share Posted April 14, 2009 Actually rule of thumb is this schnauzr: American citizen at american university > Non-american citizen at american university > Canadian citizen at Canadian university > other international I'm a Cdn Freshman pre-med on an athletic scholarship attending school in the States. Where did you get this info as it answers one of my questions as to how US Med schools view a Cdn who attended undergrad in the US. Anyone have insight as to how a Cdn Med school will view my undergrad from the US? I saw a post saying I can't apply to a Cdn med school after 3 years but need a degree since I'm studying in the US. Why would that be I'm taking the same course load as someone in a Canadian University? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
n00b Posted April 14, 2009 Report Share Posted April 14, 2009 that's just how their policy works Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Classic Posted April 14, 2009 Report Share Posted April 14, 2009 Anyone have insight as to how a Cdn Med school will view my undergrad from the US? You would be well served if you figure this out SOONER rather than LATER. For example, at your school in the States, do you take 4 classes per semester or 5? Some Cdn med schools are rather inflexible about what they consider "full time." How do grades appear on your American transcript? Percentages or just letter grades? From my experience letter grades have a bad 'exchange rate' when converted to Cdn. You may want to contact the Cdn med schools directly and ask your questions. Get your answers in writing from them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GolferGrl Posted April 14, 2009 Report Share Posted April 14, 2009 You would be well served if you figure this out SOONER rather than LATER. For example, at your school in the States, do you take 4 classes per semester or 5? Some Cdn med schools are rather inflexible about what they consider "full time." How do grades appear on your American transcript? Percentages or just letter grades? From my experience letter grades have a bad 'exchange rate' when converted to Cdn. You may want to contact the Cdn med schools directly and ask your questions. Get your answers in writing from them. I take 4 courses per semester but my labs are more hours than a similar course in Biology or Chemistry in Canada (3 hour labs per week for each course). I'm getting 15 credits per semester which is a full course load. As for grades, I get a letter grade not percentage which works a disadvantage for me. I have 100% or more in all my courses and stand first in most of my courses but an A+ is 90% or better and generates a 4.0 on the US scale. I don't believe they have a ranking system in my school. What are you saying happens on the conversion for Canadian school purposes? Would I have to get my transcripts evaluated coming from a US University? I'm thinking my better chances may be in the US, certainly more opportunities have already come my way for research and shadowing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lonelion87 Posted April 17, 2009 Report Share Posted April 17, 2009 The rule of thumb is that there is no rule of thumb. The medical school admissions process is so whimsical that you'll find it defies all logic. Case in point...I'm similar to GolferGirl in that I am at a U.S. institution. I've done well down here (GPA > 3.7; balanced MCAT in 30s). I've had 10 U.S. MD/PhD interviews...5 acceptances so far (one ivy league, too). I'm on 3 wait-lists at the moment. I am an Ontario resident and Canadian citizen. I applied to ALL of the Ontario schools + McGill and was only offered one interview (Queen's). I didn't bother going because I got into my top choice in the U.S., but regardless my yield with Canadian schools doesn't make sense. I guess what I am trying to say is that there are so many factors that go into the admissions process that it is impossible to predict your success. Just do everything you possibly can (full course load, all pre-reqs, MCAT, blah blah blah), and make sure you have a "story". If you are a Canadian athlete, that is a story and an asset when you come to the interviews. It makes you interesting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ASMED Posted April 17, 2009 Report Share Posted April 17, 2009 For the list of schools accepting Canadian students... are the requirements more strict? Thanks. I think that it depends pretty much upon the school. For schools like Wayne, stats for accepted Canadians aren't that much different from US residents. I think the same goes for NYU. But for schools like Albany, Case, BU, GW, Jefferson, SUNY Upstate, Saint Louis, Georgetown, and RFU, IMO you definitely do need better stats to get an actual acceptance than your US counterparts. Some "Canadian-friendly" schools go as far to say that Americans are given strong preference.... The thing is that average stats (3.5 GPA/30 MCAT) probably won't take you that far in your US applications if you are a Canadian. Whereas, if you were a US resident, and had those stats, you would have a very good chance at gaining an acceptance. But that's also partly because those students have more schools to apply to.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Classic Posted April 17, 2009 Report Share Posted April 17, 2009 But for schools like Albany, Case, BU, GW, Jefferson, SUNY Upstate, Saint Louis, Georgetown, and RFU, IMO you definitely do need better stats to get an actual acceptance than your US counterparts. Really? I beg to differ .... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
schnauzr Posted April 17, 2009 Report Share Posted April 17, 2009 Yeah, regarding my post from last December, now that I look back at my own cycle and some of the others' as well, it seems like Canadians are not really at any kind of disadvantage. If the school accepts Canadians on a regular basis, then I think you'll be treated just like any other applicants. I do remember seeing some statistics that showed that matriculating Canadians in US medical schools had higher MCAT/gpa than other applicants, but there are other things that need to be taken in account (such as in-state applicants averaging lower stats to get accepted at state schools). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HD555 Posted April 17, 2009 Report Share Posted April 17, 2009 All the US schools have a very low number of internationals matriculating (including the Canadian-friendly ones). Are Canadians excluded from internationals in a lot of those schools and considered to be OOS? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ASMED Posted April 17, 2009 Report Share Posted April 17, 2009 The following are the average stats for the school's that I listed: SLU's: 3.7 GPA, 32 MCAT. Albany: 3.6, 30 MCAT RFU: 3.5, 30 MCAT SUNY Upstate: 3.6, 30 MCAT Jefferson: 3.62, 31 MCAT GW: 3.55, 29 MCAT Georgetown: 3.68, 31 MCAT NYMC: 3.6, 30 MCAT Case: 3.62, 33 MCAT I'm not saying that everything's absolute at all. There are probably a couple of internationals that get in with those stats.....But just by browsing through SDN and premed101 over that past few months, I've observed that the only Canadian applicants that get acceptances to these and other US schools are the one's with much higher stats. I know that this is only a small portion of the actual total applicant pool, but I'm just saying....that it kind of seems like a trend - in that the bar is set higher for us. And certain schools (i.e. Case, Albany, Tufts) go as far to say that they prefer US residents, but will give consideration to "exceptional" international applicants..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
schnauzr Posted April 18, 2009 Report Share Posted April 18, 2009 ASMED, yeah, I see where you're coming from. Applicants in this forum generally seem to have higher stats. I don't know if there are a lot of successful Canadian applicants with 3.5~3.7 GPA. And HD555, I think a lot of Canadians give up their seat at an American school if they're accepted into a Canadian med school, that's why there aren't a lot of Canadians matriculating. And they're usually considered international in both MSAR and USNEWS statistics as far as I'm concerned. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Typical Premed Posted April 18, 2009 Report Share Posted April 18, 2009 Does anyone know if some of the Canadian friendly schools will reject Canadians that have stats that are too high for them because they figure we are treating the school as a backup? I'm wondering this because I was accepted to Northwestern but waitlisted at SLU and didn't even get interviews at schools like AECOM, BU and GW. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alastriss Posted April 18, 2009 Report Share Posted April 18, 2009 The following are the average stats for the school's that I listed: SLU's: 3.7 GPA, 32 MCAT. Albany: 3.6, 30 MCAT RFU: 3.5, 30 MCAT SUNY Upstate: 3.6, 30 MCAT Jefferson: 3.62, 31 MCAT GW: 3.55, 29 MCAT Georgetown: 3.68, 31 MCAT NYMC: 3.6, 30 MCAT Case: 3.62, 33 MCAT I'm not saying that everything's absolute at all. There are probably a couple of internationals that get in with those stats.....But just by browsing through SDN and premed101 over that past few months, I've observed that the only Canadian applicants that get acceptances to these and other US schools are the one's with much higher stats. I know that this is only a small portion of the actual total applicant pool, but I'm just saying....that it kind of seems like a trend - in that the bar is set higher for us. And certain schools (i.e. Case, Albany, Tufts) go as far to say that they prefer US residents, but will give consideration to "exceptional" international applicants..... prove that in writing, only because what I think you are referring to does not imply that at all. Because at least for case, I am pretty sure they don't care. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abcwxyz Posted April 18, 2009 Report Share Posted April 18, 2009 Does anyone know if some of the Canadian friendly schools will reject Canadians that have stats that are too high for them because they figure we are treating the school as a backup? I'm wondering this because I was accepted to Northwestern but waitlisted at SLU and didn't even get interviews at schools like AECOM, BU and GW. Interested in this as well.... It would be stupid but the less objective American system has always had me wondering. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
a41 Posted April 18, 2009 Report Share Posted April 18, 2009 I think American schools tend to do that with American applicants as well. No point in holding a seat for someone who isn't going to accecpt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abcwxyz Posted April 18, 2009 Report Share Posted April 18, 2009 I think American schools tend to do that with American applicants as well. No point in holding a seat for someone who isn't going to accecpt. Yeah but unless you come across that way in the interview, it seems unfair to judge someone like that because of their stats. Removes the meritocracy from it and all... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alastriss Posted April 18, 2009 Report Share Posted April 18, 2009 Yeah but unless you come across that way in the interview, it seems unfair to judge someone like that because of their stats. Removes the meritocracy from it and all... a lot of the meritocracy has been removed ages ago, its just as much a big game now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HD555 Posted April 18, 2009 Report Share Posted April 18, 2009 So there really is no "safety" school if your stats are "too high" huh...how ironic Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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