monkey799 Posted December 25, 2008 Report Share Posted December 25, 2008 Curious on why fellow Canadians are pursuing the American med school - some of whom are strong applicants too. Is it that Canadian schools are too tough to get in (and from my reading, US schools are not any easier to get in!)? or Canadian cities just not good enough? Or you don't like Canadian system and tax and you eventually want to practice medicine in US? even then you can do med school in Canada and residency and/or fellowship in the US to eventually practice there. If you like research, there are MD-PHD programs in Canada as well - which can be followed by residenc/fellowship in the US. If you are not going to Harvard, what is it about US schools that make it worth the 250-400k? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dayne67 Posted December 25, 2008 Report Share Posted December 25, 2008 The Canadian system is competitive enough that someone with a 3.8 GPA and 33 MCAT may not get an acceptance over here for a variety of reasons. I'd say that the vast majority of the applicants apply to the US because they want to maximize their chances of getting an acceptance somewhere. I don't think that it's easiar to get into the US if you are a Canadian. Many of the people that do obtain US acceptances, also end up with Canadian acceptances. It's about covering all your bases IMO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
THX Posted December 25, 2008 Report Share Posted December 25, 2008 Yeah, it's simply an issue that we all want to get into med school and we don't trust, even with very good/competitive grades, that the we will get into a Canadian school - so we cover all our bases by applying stateside. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alastriss Posted December 26, 2008 Report Share Posted December 26, 2008 Most schools are in fact not that much easier to get into than Canadian schools. Some schools are, others are harder. It depends on where you apply. Regardless, 1 thing is true, the US is, to us, a whole new pool of schools where we can gamble and try our luck. It's not a matter of the schools being easier, but rather having higher chances just by putting our application at as many schools as we can. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alastriss Posted December 26, 2008 Report Share Posted December 26, 2008 Curious on why fellow Canadians are pursuing the American med school - some of whom are strong applicants too. Is it that Canadian schools are too tough to get in (and from my reading, US schools are not any easier to get in!)? or Canadian cities just not good enough? Or you don't like Canadian system and tax and you eventually want to practice medicine in US? even then you can do med school in Canada and residency and/or fellowship in the US to eventually practice there. If you like research, there are MD-PHD programs in Canada as well - which can be followed by residenc/fellowship in the US. If you are not going to Harvard, what is it about US schools that make it worth the 250-400k?[/QUOTE] You will soon see that is isn't all rankings and money. I can honestly place a 34th place school over a 20th place school (according to USNews) based on my personal preferences. A lot of us have interests, and I am talking about me, just have interests in medicine that aren't congruent with some med schools here. I felt like my research interests were not at all welcome at Schulich, where they flat out told me they want to train rural doctors (awkard interview moment? you bet!). While at NYU, I felt like I really belonged in a place like that given our mutual interests in translational research. That sense of belonging is a REALLY BIG DEAL. Besides, a lot of the megacities that host the schools we are interviewing at are an awesome place to spend your early 20s, and after all, you only live once. Some of my friends, the best applicants I know of, ended up going stateside. It was all of these factors that made the heavy price tag worth the coin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
token Posted December 26, 2008 Report Share Posted December 26, 2008 I think I'm also one of the few who isn't looking at the US as a back-up anymore. It's just another viable option. Pretty much every med student from Canada I've met on the interview trail so far was also accepted to Canadian schools but they chose to go stateside. I always try to ask why they made the decision. They usually say that it wasn't US vs. Canada so much as it was Hopkins vs. UofT for example. They didn't have any particular aversion or preference to studying in either country, it was just that they happened to prefer a certain American school over a Canadian one. This is considering everything, tuition, location, research opportunity, curriculum etc. And since quite a few of the "Harvards" offer need-based aid to Canadians, the costs can actually end up being comparable out-of-pocket. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Retsage Posted December 26, 2008 Report Share Posted December 26, 2008 Yeah, I'm primarily comparing schools as well. I'd prefer Vandy, Duke, Dartmouth, Northwestern, NYU, and Georgetown to just about any school in Ontario except perhaps Queen's for the latter three. I just got a better feel out of all of those than I did last year interviewing here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alastriss Posted December 27, 2008 Report Share Posted December 27, 2008 Wait I thought you hated queen's retsage? or was that someone else? I'm shocked you would put any of those schools over queen's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Retsage Posted December 27, 2008 Report Share Posted December 27, 2008 You're shocked I would put Duke over Queen's? Really? No, I liked Queen's. I hated Western. You hated Queen's and Western. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alastriss Posted December 27, 2008 Report Share Posted December 27, 2008 Oh wait wait sorry, I didn't word my post correctly. I understood from your post that you would put Queen's OVER the latter 3 that you list, but I would assume that at least NYU and Northwestern would be >> Queen's. Its a fortunate thing we aren't visited by Queen's meds students on this side of the p101 forums or we would be mistaken for bashing their school. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Retsage Posted December 27, 2008 Report Share Posted December 27, 2008 I liked NYU *a lot* but hated the accommodations. I didn't like Chicago too much, though Northwestern was great. I just really, really liked Queen's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
token Posted December 27, 2008 Report Share Posted December 27, 2008 It's just annoying that NYU doesn't have a second look. I imagine that's why they have to accept so many people to fill the class. It was my top choice, by far, before I started interviewing because of the options for clinical training. I did love Bellevue, Tisch etc. but was less impressed with the school. Right now I couldn't rank it above the other NYC schools, or even Vandy, but maybe a revisit might change that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alastriss Posted December 27, 2008 Report Share Posted December 27, 2008 the actual facilities for lectures and such sucked. The dorms make vic hall at queen's look like the hilton suites haha. One of the rooms we saw had a bunk bed that set a record for height in my books. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bona_verba Posted December 27, 2008 Report Share Posted December 27, 2008 You will soon see that is isn't all rankings and money. I can honestly place a 34th place school over a 20th place school (according to USNews) based on my personal preferences. A lot of us have interests, and I am talking about me, just have interests in medicine that aren't congruent with some med schools here. I felt like my research interests were not at all welcome at Schulich, where they flat out told me they want to train rural doctors (awkard interview moment? you bet!). While at NYU, I felt like I really belonged in a place like that given our mutual interests in translational research. That sense of belonging is a REALLY BIG DEAL. Besides, a lot of the megacities that host the schools we are interviewing at are an awesome place to spend your early 20s, and after all, you only live once. Some of my friends, the best applicants I know of, ended up going stateside. It was all of these factors that made the heavy price tag worth the coin. Then I'm glad I didn't have the 3.7 to apply to Western! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
token Posted December 27, 2008 Report Share Posted December 27, 2008 the actual facilities for lectures and such sucked. The dorms make vic hall at queen's look like the hilton suites haha. One of the rooms we saw had a bunk bed that set a record for height in my books. hah I had my interview the day after Cornell so everything seemed that much more iffy by comparison (though the dorms were slightly nicer at NYU). I think they do a bad job of selling themselves...my tour guides for one were completely unenthusiastic. I don't expect all students to be rah-rah about their school especially during exams, but you'd think people would only volunteer to show off their school if they liked it.....right? Plus there were a lot of things we didn't get to see...the library, anatomy lab, lecture halls. Our tour was mostly walking through depressing basement hallways waiting for lunch. I feel like you go to NYU for the amazing things you'll get to see 3rd and 4th year all over Langone, not the first two. They should show off the hospitals more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Retsage Posted December 27, 2008 Report Share Posted December 27, 2008 It had better dorms than Cornell? Lol! What did Cornell's dorms look like? A closet with the coat rack still in place? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
token Posted December 27, 2008 Report Share Posted December 27, 2008 Yeah Olin was pretty depressing. You only have to share your bathroom with one other person, but the rooms are tiny. But for all of these NYC schools you have to accept that you're getting a lot of square footage for the money, so I don't hold the dorms against them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Retsage Posted December 27, 2008 Report Share Posted December 27, 2008 Word. Dartmouth was my favorite place so far, I think. I loved it there so much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alastriss Posted December 28, 2008 Report Share Posted December 28, 2008 Then I'm glad I didn't have the 3.7 to apply to Western! well I'm pretty sure he had it wrong, UWO is a research intensive school that has a commitment to the swomen region. They did not start up nor solely exist to train rural physicians in the same respect as NOSM. But whether his ideas are congruent with the school's mission and personality is indifferent since all that matters for me to get the short end of the stick is for him to disagree with me. Welcome to panel interview. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mca Posted December 28, 2008 Report Share Posted December 28, 2008 I might be wrong about this, but it seems as though most NYU students only live in Rubin for the first two years and then a decent percentage get studios in Skirball. There's a decently informative website (you can find the link in one of the NYU threads on SDN) that's put out by the NYU SOM student coucil. It has a lot of information about housing and everything else. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
n00b Posted December 28, 2008 Report Share Posted December 28, 2008 well I'm pretty sure he had it wrong, UWO is a research intensive school that has a commitment to the swomen region. They did not start up nor solely exist to train rural physicians in the same respect as NOSM. But whether his ideas are congruent with the school's mission and personality is indifferent since all that matters for me to get the short end of the stick is for him to disagree with me. Welcome to panel interview. UWO has panel interviews? What's the format like? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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