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Why are YOU interested in going to the States? (for people going)


Why are you interested in going to the States?  

4 members have voted

  1. 1. Why are you interested in going to the States?

    • As a safety if I don't/didn't get into a Canadian school
      47
    • I want to live in the States
      14
    • There's more opportunity in the States
      13
    • On a whim
      1
    • Green tea ice cream is amazing
      9


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So, with that said, your overall application, the kind of person you are, leadership, dedication, MCAT (as a measure of academic ability), etc. are all looked at as a whole in the US. Canadian schools seem to mostly rank people by numbers.

 

A little bit about my own experiences applying to schools in both countries:

I was fairly shocked (having gone to school in Canada) when I found out in the States that they get together as a committee and discuss/vote on each applicant to decide who they accept! In Canada it was a numeric score, simply ranked by GPA/MCAT (and sometimes an evaluation of my ECs).

 

Some schools seem to depend on numeric scores based on GPA/MCAT, but most weight the interview and ECs as importantly or greater. At Dal, GPA/MCAT contributes about a quarter of your score (equal to ECs), the interview 40%, and there are numerous discretionary "points" that they can choose to add.

 

The faculty were far more involved in my US interviews - my interview groups were 6-10 people normally and we all got a chance to meet the dean and several of the senior faculty personally. Between 4 interviews in the US and 5 interviews in Canada, I have to say that the worst interview experience in the US was about on par with the best in Canada (in terms of the interview day/my impression of the school). The schools support their students in absolutely everything they do, every step of the way, and bend over backwards to make the best of every opportunity available. I never got that impression in Canada - every Canadian school was another school that was okay.

 

Where did you interview if you don't mind my asking?

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Canadian schools are more number driven whereas US admission process is more unpredicatable. For example, a candidate with MCAT 31R and GPA 3.46 was accepted by HMS while another candidate with MACT 40+ and GPA 3.9 was not even given an interview by HMS. It is highly unlikely these would happen in Canada.

 

Oh really? Happens all the time. Take a look at the Ottawa and U of T interview invite threads. I can't even believe I got interviews at these schools, given the applicants they rejected.

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bannie, you should know that the stuff I post online is 99% bull**** and I only do it to get people riled up. "Internet anonymity + normal person = total ****wad" is me in summary. just check my biome posts... You're a great classmate, man.

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Some schools seem to depend on numeric scores based on GPA/MCAT, but most weight the interview and ECs as importantly or greater. At Dal, GPA/MCAT contributes about a quarter of your score (equal to ECs), the interview 40%, and there are numerous discretionary "points" that they can choose to add.

 

 

 

Where did you interview if you don't mind my asking?

 

US -

 

Yale

Cornell (Weill)

Northwestern (Feinberg)

University of Virginia

 

(Rejected from the first 3 =(, accepted at UVA, which is where I'm going next year)

 

Canada -

 

Calgary

Ottawa

McMaster

Western

Queen's

 

What I meant by the US taking a more holistic approach and less numbers-based is that in Canada, most of the schools that weight ECs still do so by scoring your EC numerically, and then just adding it together with the rest of your score. They don't look at your whole file holistically.

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US -

 

Yale

Cornell (Weill)

Northwestern (Feinberg)

University of Virginia

 

(Rejected from the first 3 =(, accepted at UVA, which is where I'm going next year)

 

Canada -

 

Calgary

Ottawa

McMaster

Western

Queen's

 

What I meant by the US taking a more holistic approach and less numbers-based is that in Canada, most of the schools that weight ECs still do so by scoring your EC numerically, and then just adding it together with the rest of your score. They don't look at your whole file holistically.

 

 

You got interviews from 4 ON schools!! that's soo impressive :)

So in your evaluation University of Virginia is a better institution than all the 5 Canadain schools listed above? Meaning say you got into all those 5 Cdn schools, would you still go to University of Virginia?

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You got interviews from 4 ON schools!! that's soo impressive :)

So in your evaluation University of Virginia is a better institution than all the 5 Canadain schools listed above? Meaning say you got into all those 5 Cdn schools, would you still go to University of Virginia?

 

 

Thanks =) And yes, I would. A part of it is because I actually do want to live/work in the States, but even that aside I have to say that at least based on admissions statistics, funding, and my interview day experience, UVA does seem better than the Canadian schools still.

 

I think a big part of why I have a better impression from the interview day was also the current students though. At most Canadian schools, when I ask "why did you choose to come here?" the response was usually "well, it was the only place I got in so I had no choice" or something to the effect.... At UVA (and all the schools I interviewed at there), the students gave me a long list of reasons they chose the school and why they love it there.

 

With all that said, if I wanted to work/live in Canada, I probably wouldn't choose UVA =P

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At most Canadian schools, when I ask "why did you choose to come here?" the response was usually "well, it was the only place I got in so I had no choice" or something to the effect.... At UVA (and all the schools I interviewed at there), the students gave me a long list of reasons they chose the school and why they love it there.

 

It should probably be factored in that a far greater percentage of Canadian applicants only get into one school, compared to in the U.S.

 

Asking someone with one acceptance "why they chose this school" results in a very straightforward answer, regardless of whether that school was Harvard or Podunk U.

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There's a huge luck factor in who gets accepted and who gets rejected post interview and as every medical student knows medicine isn't exactly nuclear science. What decides if you are a bad/good doctor depends mostly on you and depends on where you did your residency much more than on where you went for med school.

I go to a US medical school and the reason is simply because I didn't get in to the 2 Canadian schools i got interviewed at. I love my school and I think it's awesome and not that expensive (After the financial aid package). Still, if i got accepted in Canada. I wouldnt have come to the US

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There's a huge luck factor in who gets accepted and who gets rejected post interview and as every medical student knows medicine isn't exactly nuclear science. What decides if you are a bad/good doctor depends mostly on you and depends on where you did your residency much more than on where you went for med school.

I go to a US medical school and the reason is simply because I didn't get in to the 2 Canadian schools i got interviewed at. I love my school and I think it's awesome and not that expensive (After the financial aid package). Still, if i got accepted in Canada. I wouldnt have come to the US

 

You mind if I ask where you go to med school in the States? And also from your knowledge, does being a Canadian citizen hamper residency opportunities?

 

I too am looking fwd to starting school in the states in Aug and I see myself living there in the long haul.

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after seeing these posts, i totally understand why canada is full of arrogant Drs but lacks excellent ones, especially family doctors,most of which are good at charging 50dollars ASAP and consider your illness carelessly.

 

For whom deeming canada has the best medical education, only one question, how many medical textbooks used in canadian medical school written by your fellow professors? G8 countries except canada have their own textbooks. If you guys still can not realize this problem, you are nothing but spoiled children.you got applaudes and flowers when you got in the canadian medical schools. that only means you are good test-takers with high potential. it has nothing to do with being excellent. Low acceptance rate to get in , so what, it is even hard to be a dr in india or china.

 

How many innovative medical technologies developed by candian Drs( I mean candian drs working in CANADA)? As a candian , i lived in lots of countries in europe and in us. I am ashamed of our arrogant but lousy CANADIAN Drs.

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after seeing these posts, i totally understand why canada is full of arrogant Drs but lacks excellent ones, especially family doctors,most of which are good at charging 50dollars ASAP and consider your illness carelessly.

 

For whom deeming canada has the best medical education, only one question, how many medical textbooks used in canadian medical school written by your fellow professors? G8 countries except canada have their own textbooks. If you guys still can not realize this problem, you are nothing but spoiled children.you got applaudes and flowers when you got in the canadian medical schools. that only means you are good test-takers with high potential. it has nothing to do with being excellent. Low acceptance rate to get in , so what, it is even hard to be a dr in india or china.

 

How many innovative medical technologies developed by candian Drs( I mean candian drs working in CANADA)? As a candian , i lived in lots of countries in europe and in us. I am ashamed of our arrogant but lousy CANADIAN Drs.

 

Um what??

 

Wait, did you actually make an account just to post that? Or perhaps you already have an account and wanted to post under a different name...

 

PS. Canadians don't usually misspell "Canadian" so many times in one post.

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At first I thought it was spam, because it was completely incoherent, but then I noticed that there weren't any links anywhere -_-.

 

Annie1010:

1) go here for Canada's discoveries: http://www.canadianmedicinenews.com/2007/11/canadas-greatest-medical-research.html

2) Learn how to google, it took me very little time to come up with that. You clearly haven't done any sort of research whatsoever.

3) Learn how to use a computer. 21st century --> typing skills important!

 

No, I'm not a doctor, but you are out of line (and extremely bitter? wow, I went to U of T but I could only dream to match your level) :).

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Dont mention U of T. All the same, starting from elementary schools, you guys used American textbooks. Is canada an independent country? lets talk about medicine. At least go get SOME world-recognized professors to write a textbook to attract american medical schools to use IT.

 

the canadian medical education and medical schools suck, however, you think it is great just because you dont know things outside CANADA and you learn things by google which was also developed in US. Open p your mind, look at the rest of the world. Even in Sweden, Karolinska institutet has more world renowned medical professors than all canadian medical schools combined, and they have their own textbooks.

 

Once again, I did not think the medical students in canadian med schools suck, on the contrary, to some extent, i think they are well above average. But if they are unfortunately stuck in canadian schools and STILL DEEM THATS THE BEST EDUCATION IN THE WORLD.

 

It does not matter whether i can spell canadian correctly or not. It is about you and self-esteem. if you think you are fine and the canadian med schools are fine. so does the royal college. U of T is also fine with using american textbooks.

 

The canadian schools and professors dont have self-esteem academically, and you ask for respect and recognition from the rest of world, US in particular? actually it is ok, as long as you think thats the world's best, even the people outside canada think not. lets drop it.

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Haha, you are so funny. Let me tell you, first of all, it is not even worth mentioning about your studying at U of T, especially in north america. Second of all,even to U of T, as a student who is proud of his or her typing skills and google searching ability, you actually disgrace it. thank god, you have not got in the u of T med school

 

 

At first I thought it was spam, because it was completely incoherent, but then I noticed that there weren't any links anywhere -_-.

 

Annie1010:

1) go here for Canada's discoveries: http://www.canadianmedicinenews.com/2007/11/canadas-greatest-medical-research.html

2) Learn how to google, it took me very little time to come up with that. You clearly haven't done any sort of research whatsoever.

3) Learn how to use a computer. 21st century --> typing skills important!

 

No, I'm not a doctor, but you are out of line (and extremely bitter? wow, I went to U of T but I could only dream to match your level) :).

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haha... wow, annie1010, where are you from? Canada? I would guess not. USA? Again, probably not. Your english is terrible! Probably from Sweden or even India as you claimed in your first post. Please, just get off this forum you troll.

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haha... wow, annie1010, where are you from? Canada? I would guess not. USA? Again, probably not. Your english is terrible! Probably from Sweden or even India as you claimed in your first post. Please, just get off this forum you troll.

 

 

dude...many people educated in India are much more grammatically sound at the English language than N americans. They may have an accent, but hey accent is a pretty subjective aspect of of language. And annie was only letting her opinions being known.

Go do something useful with your life instead of attacking some anonymous person about their "English mistakes" on a public forum.

We don't need all this unnecessary toxicity on this forum, so please refrain from posting if you have nothing valuable to say.

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As a long standing Canadian, I think it's a disgrace that annie can bad mouth Canadians, its education, and it's doctors. I know I'm not the only person who thinks like this. If you go into a little digging at SDN, you can find that annie1010 also makes some interesting accusations over there. It's funny how she can judge Canadians and our "forum" when she doesn't have experience with our education. By the way, if annie1010 from SDN is the same one here, she's a dentist and not a doctor. Thus, again, I don't think she should comment so rudely about Canadian medical education.

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As a long standing Canadian, I think it's a disgrace that annie can bad mouth Canadians, its education, and it's doctors. I know I'm not the only person who thinks like this. If you go into a little digging at SDN, you can find that annie1010 also makes some interesting accusations over there. It's funny how she can judge Canadians and our "forum" when she doesn't have experience with our education. By the way, if annie1010 from SDN is the same one here, she's a dentist and not a doctor. Thus, again, I don't think she should comment so rudely about Canadian medical education.

 

The point of my post was not so much to defend annie as it was to defend India.

Your post sounded rather condescending of Indian people, you should realize some people can get touchy about these things.

Peace:)

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It seems like you are pretty proud of your English proficiency as a long standing canadian and you make all the judgements based on ASSUMPTIONS. Medicine is an evidence based science, so please think and speak LOGICALLY. Obviously, Canada cant count on you.

 

As a long standing Canadian, I think it's a disgrace that annie can bad mouth Canadians, its education, and it's doctors. I know I'm not the only person who thinks like this. If you go into a little digging at SDN, you can find that annie1010 also makes some interesting accusations over there. It's funny how she can judge Canadians and our "forum" when she doesn't have experience with our education. By the way, if annie1010 from SDN is the same one here, she's a dentist and not a doctor. Thus, again, I don't think she should comment so rudely about Canadian medical education.
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Alright, actually, I would like to apologize to annie1010. I was a bit harsh to you but you have to look back at your own postings, you kind of asked for it considering you have very few productive comments and many bad generalizations of Canadian medical students and schools. Sorry for being rude.

 

Furthermore, I can see how you (if you are not Canadian) would think that we think we have the best education. I think thats DEBATABLE, but understand that the percentage of students who apply and eventually get into medical school in Canada is much lower compared to other countries, I would expect all those students to be of high caliber. Maybe our educational system isn't perfect, but at least those students getting in will work their hardest and still end up being as successful as physicians in the US, Europe, etc. My two cents without prejudice.

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Honestly, you dont have to apologize to me, because my postings were not aimed to be productive at all, instead, to be inflammatory. I never denied canadian med students were good ones, but the medical educational enviroment and medical schools are far from satisfying.furthermore, to some extent they ruin highly-talented students. thats why lots of canadian drs are so successful in other countries. Thats also fine with me. as you mentioned , the canadian educational system is not perfect.

what I am really angry about is that in this forum, some future or current Drs still consider that is the best medical education in the world, based on the low acceptance rate without knowing anything outside Canada. while practising,I personally observed lots of lousy family doctors,even specialists , which are theoretically perfect but could not make correct diagnosis and prescribe wrong medicines. Basically, they are not trained enough or lack of self-learning abilities, from my point of view. fine students are not necessarily down the road to be fine doctors. they need training, mentoring. but most importantly, being receptive and open-minded. Of course, physicians are a privileged group in canada, because the authority only allows PR or citizens to practice and uses all kinds of regulations to create this privilege. if it is an open world like US, quite a few arrogant and lousy physicians will be eliminated. high caliber is not a reason to be arrogant and also not a necessary character to be a fine doctor. but if you wanna be a good physician, you have to be open-minded to learn by observations and reasoning not by comparing GPA and rate or stuff. It is also not about which school you go to and it is only about yourself. once again, in canada, with such a favorable goverment and med education, you do not have to do so, you are just fine.

 

I am sorry about my english, since it is my third language. hope i made my opinion understood and hope all the Drs in canada deserve this privilege.

 

Alright, actually, I would like to apologize to annie1010. I was a bit harsh to you but you have to look back at your own postings, you kind of asked for it considering you have very few productive comments and many bad generalizations of Canadian medical students and schools. Sorry for being rude.

 

Furthermore, I can see how you (if you are not Canadian) would think that we think we have the best education. I think thats DEBATABLE, but understand that the percentage of students who apply and eventually get into medical school in Canada is much lower compared to other countries, I would expect all those students to be of high caliber. Maybe our educational system isn't perfect, but at least those students getting in will work their hardest and still end up being as successful as physicians in the US, Europe, etc. My two cents without prejudice.

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