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Multiple in province residency status


Jamer

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So I'm preparing for the worst this year--specifically, what I'll do if I'm not granted admissions on May 14 at the schools I interviewed at (U of C/U of A). After spending a decent amount of time looking into admissions in the US/internationally, I still think my best choice is to stay in Canada. That said, I'm looking to increase my chances by obtaining in province status in a province other than Alberta.

 

So far I've figured out that UBC/Sask/Man all require you to live there for 2 if not 3 years before you get in province status, so I'd be ineligible for the next application cycle. Is there anywhere in Canada that I could obtain in-province status by residing for only 12 months? I know both Alberta schools allow that...but unfortunately I'm already an IP applicant there. I don't speak french so I couldn't go to french-speaking schools in Quebec. From what I can tell, there's an opportunity for me to achieve this if I looked into the martime schools, but the wording on their websites is unclear. So yeah, some clarification would be super.

 

Cheers

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One year in Quebec, and your chances of getting into McGill are amazing, but you are already too late for the next cycle.

 

Really? I thought it was a full year by the time of matriculation. Is it a full year before you apply?

 

Edit: From their website: "Québec residency status must be fully established (not provisionally) by the application deadline." I'm assuming this means that you must have been there for 12 months before you apply?

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The final deadline for submitting complete required documents to prove Quebec residency was or is December 1st for fall session courses, so as a practical matter a person would want to establish residency in November at the latest. You file proof of residency December 1st and apply for med school by Jan. 15th. You cannot be a student, at least a fulltime student, during this year of residency. And for McGill, you don't need French at this time.

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The final deadline for submitting complete required documents to prove Quebec residency was or is December 1st for fall session courses, so as a practical matter a person would want to establish residency in November at the latest. You file proof of residency December 1st and apply for med school by Jan. 15th. You cannot be a student, at least a fulltime student, during this year of residency. And for McGill, you don't need French at this time.

 

So wait, maybe I can't read, but this still isn't clear to me. I'd be applying to matriculate in September 2011, not September 2010. Has this deadline already passed? From what I'm interpreting, you make it sound like I must have applied by Jan 15 (aka 2 months ago) for September 2011 admission...that just sounds insanely early.

 

To clarify, I wouldn't be taking any courses, I'd be working in Montreal/Quebec for 12 months.

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I looked into it for Dal, since I've lived in the Maritimes as a full-time grad student for the last 3 years, and they seem to say that if you decide to claim IP status for them, you can't claim IP status for any other province. So that doesn't help you too much, and I decided I'd rather keep my IP in Alberta rather than try to bother with Dal.

http://admissions.medicine.dal.ca/residency_definition.htm

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Yes, you would be working and not a student in Quebec for 12 mo. It is too late for the next application cycle.

 

So, you would move to Quebec say in November 2010 and be able to establish your residency by having a lease, driver's licence, bank a/c, job in Montreal and you would join Medicare asap (3 mo wait I believe). By Dec. 1, 2011 you would file your proof of residency documents to qualify as a resident of Quebec for purposes of study. In Jan. 2012, you would be able to apply IP for McGill Med School and you would join the class in fall of 2012 IP as your first opportunity. Not having taken obtained you UG degree from an IP university, MCAT would still be required for you whereas for those IP applicants having graduated from a Quebec university, MCAT becomes irrelevant commencing the next cycle.

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Although Quebec Residency sounds simple in theory, its not terribly practical.

 

When one takes into account the year to establish residency and the year of the application cycle they would apply in, the whole process involves practically 2 years. One would have to begin living in Quebec at the beginning of October 2010 (Oct.15-Jan.15 is 3 months to establish Quebec Medicare coverage, which is then a year to the next application deadline), to possibly gain admittance to the class that begins in Sept. 2012. That is a long time, so they better have a good job lined up, since they are ineligible for full-time schooling for a year and a half of that 2 years. McGill also likes well rounded individuals, and will be looking to see what they did in that year they were gaining residency. So if the person is not in school, they better have a boatload of activities established during that year.

 

On a side note, by that time, McGill will have become the UOttawa of Quebec, with no MCAT for Quebecers who have done their Undergrad in Quebec. That could cause a flood of new Quebec applicants who would have not otherwise have applied. Quebecers often neglected to take the MCAT in the past, since it was only necessary for McGill and in ENGLISH :P (None of the french schools care about the MCAT). Now the entire province will apply because it involves no additional work. The GPA requirements will then likely spike. Although McGill routinely has interviewed individuals with GPAs <3.7 in the past, their entering class average has hovered around 3.82. With no MCAT for Quebecers who did their Undergrad in Quebec coming into effect next year, that could easily spike to 3.90. I think moving to Quebec to get a shot at McGill is no longer a viable gamble. No one knows what you will need to be competitive in 2 years time with all the changes. All we know is that it will be much more difficult than the present time. If the person already has a 3.8+ GPA they are likely competitive in their current province. Plus, they will still need the MCAT since they likely did their undergrad outside of Quebec, so they can't avoid the MCAT for McGill

 

If someone is already getting multiple interviews, then they should likely focus on improving their current stats/ECs etc rather than try to gain residency in another province, a process that could take another 2 application cycles. You could be completing a masters during that time.

 

If someone is not getting interviews then moving to Alberta or the Maritimes will be better options going forward since they have more than 1 medical school you could apply at. In addition, the Maritime schools routinely accept applicants with <30 MCAT scores. Dalhousie has GPA cutoffs of 3.3 and MCAT cutoffs of 24 for locals. Memorial has a entering class average less than 3.70 (correct me if I am wrong) with an average MCAT of 30 or less, with many applicants gaining admission with MCAT scores in the 25-28 range. The problem with the Maritimes, is that you need 2 years of residence before application I believe, making the entire process 3 years (including the year of application). This is why Alberta trumps all, since they only require you to be living there 1 year ahead of ENROLLMENT. So you can move there before the end of august, apply that same year, and start the following September. :eek:

 

Not only do people move to Alberta for work, they move there for med school. :P

 

 

Edit: I just realized in the case of Dalhousie, they require only 12 months of residence in the Maritimes before the application deadline. So its a similar scenario to McGill, live in the province for a year, and then spend another year there waiting out the application cycle. Except I think the admission stats at Dalhousie are way more favorable going forward.

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LostCause, I find that you made a very thorough and accurate assessment generally and as regards the increasing competitive factors that will come into play to obtain a seat @ McGill Med.

 

I hope McGill is also impressed with my thoroughness at my upcoming interview. :D

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Can you hold IP status in both Alberta and Ontario?

 

Though, I suppose given the new restriction in class sizes, gaining IP status for Alberta is looking less desirable.

 

I just checked out your stats in one of your older posts. If I were you, I would REALLY check into the Alberta option if you don't get accepted this year. If my info is accurate, I think you would clearly gain interviews at UofA and UC for the next cycle.

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I just checked out your stats in one of your older posts. If I were you, I would REALLY check into the Alberta option if you don't get accepted this year. If my info is accurate, I think you would clearly gain interviews at UofA and UC for the next cycle.

 

I think HBP is also impressed by your thoroughness. :P And yes, he is an excellent candidate!

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I just checked out your stats in one of your older posts. If I were you, I would REALLY check into the Alberta option if you don't get accepted this year. If my info is accurate, I think you would clearly gain interviews at UofA and UC for the next cycle.

 

Thanks for the insight. Hoping it doesn't come to that though :)

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I am curious about Dal requiring you to give up your IP status in other provinces if you claim IP in the Maritimes. I grew up in Alberta so will always count as IP there. I have been living in the maritimes for school and am considering staying here for another year if I dont get into UofC/UofA this year but dont really want to give up my alberta IP status by applying to Dal IP. (2 schools vs 1...)

How strict is this rule? It doesnt seem fair...If I meet both provinces requirements, how will they enforce us only applying IP to only one school? I have been in touch with the admissions office, they are very scketchy on the details... they also say residency requirements change year to year so can't tell me much until they are finalized for the next round of applicaions.

 

I understand the maritimes trying to keep people here from going west but from my experience, they do a terrible job of trying to get non-maritimers into the maritimes in general, not just for med school.

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I am curious about Dal requiring you to give up your IP status in other provinces if you claim IP in the Maritimes. I grew up in Alberta so will always count as IP there. I have been living in the maritimes for school and am considering staying here for another year if I dont get into UofC/UofA this year but dont really want to give up my alberta IP status by applying to Dal IP. (2 schools vs 1...)

How strict is this rule? It doesnt seem fair...If I meet both provinces requirements, how will they enforce us only applying IP to only one school? I have been in touch with the admissions office, they are very scketchy on the details... they also say residency requirements change year to year so can't tell me much until they are finalized for the next round of applicaions.

 

I understand the maritimes trying to keep people here from going west but from my experience, they do a terrible job of trying to get non-maritimers into the maritimes in general, not just for med school.

 

Edit: I see the problem now. Dalhousie doesn't want you using another residence when applying to other schools. So if you apply to Dalhousie using a residence in the Maritimes, you better be using the same address on applications across the country. I am not sure if that would disqualify you from being IP in Alberta. If you don't need a residence in Alberta to count as in IP because of your history there, then I don't see how Dalhousie can do anything. Its not your fault you count as an IP for Alberta. So long as you don't go switching addresses for every school where you apply, I don't think it will be a problem, but you better check with them. That would be my logic behind the situation. They don't want applicants claiming a different primary residence for different applications.

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I grew up in Alberta so will always count as IP there.

 

Are you certain this is true? I also grew up in Alberta and when I checked how IP status works there - it's only if you've lived there within the last two years? Though I looked this up so long ago, so I'm not sure anymore. This would be amazing for me if it were true since I haven't lived in Alberta for ~10 years now.

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You know, its quite easy to figure out the residency requirements if you check online.

 

 

 

University of Alberta Webpage:

 

RESIDENCY STATUS:

 

For admissions purposes, a resident of Alberta is defined as a Canadian citizen or Permanent Resident (Landed Immigrant), who has been domiciled in the Province of Alberta or Yukon or Northwest Territories or Nunavut for a least one year immediately before the first day of classes of the term for which admission is sought. The one-year residence period shall not be considered broken where the admission committee is satisfied that the applicant was temporarily out of the province on vacation, in short-term employment, or as a full-time student. Applicants on study permit cannot establish residence during a period as a full-time student in an Alberta secondary or postsecondary institution because a stay under study permit is considered to be a visiting period.

 

 

 

University of Calgary Manual:

 

RESIDENCY (Albertan vs. Non-Albertan)

The Faculty of Medicine considers as Alberta Residents those Canadian Citizens or Landed Immigrants who:

a) have lived in Alberta for the 12 consecutive months* immediately preceding the first day of classes of the term for which admission is sought; OR

B) have obtained at least two years of their high school education in Alberta; OR

c) have attended a university in Alberta as a full-time student for at least two years;

OR

d) have resided in Alberta for 24 consecutive months at some time after completion of high school

OR

e) who will have been on active duty with Canadian Armed Forces for the two year period immediately preced-ing the first day of classes of the term for which admission is sought. (Applicants wishing to be considered Albertans under this clause must provide the Office of Admissions with a letter from the Canadian Armed Forces confirming their status.)

 

*The one-year residency requirement shall not be considered broken where the admissions committee is satisfied that the applicant was temporarily out of the province on vacation, in short-term employment, or as a full-time student.

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