Which university to attend? (study med in USA then practice med in CANADA)

[C2U2]

Firstly, sorry for the double post. I just would like to know how current med students think of this route in addition to premed students.

 

Hi,

 

After four years of undergraduate education, I'm going directly into medicine (in the USA) and will practice in Canada after. I don't care what residency I get matched into, and ultimately, what kind of doctor I become. From my understanding, foreign trained doctors get last picks at resident positions, which means I might be stuck with FM,P,IM, which is totally fine!

 

REASON: I'm smart, excel in the math and sciences, but SUCK at writing, and most of all, SUCK at interviewing and talking in general (I'm REALLY introverted)

 

I will apply to Canadian medical schools (obviously) but will not try again if I don't get in the first time. I am 100% SURE that I will bomb the interview and the VR and WS part of the MCAT.

 

CURRENT HIGH SCHOOL AVG: 93%

GOAL: 3.9+ GPA and 30+(WS: J-L) MCAT

 

POTENTIAL UNIVERSITY AND PROGRAM:

York University: Biomedical Sciences

Ryerson University: Biology

University of Toronto: Biology

McMaster University: Life Sciences

University of Western Ontario: Biomedical Sciences

 

I ask mainly because of the belief that American medical schools care about which university you come from.

 

Any other suggestions (other than this route) are welcome too.

 

Let me know what you think. Thanks everyone.

[sgt.pepper]

US schools don't really care.

[BigM]

Becoming good at interviewing is not hard, it just takes practise. The VR and writing section of the MCAT are also largely learned skills. Also, you can dramatically change your character throughout four years of university so just because you are fairly introverted now doesn't mean you need to be that way forever. If you can't, or have no intention to, change this, prehaps medicine isn't the right career for you at all?

 

I feel that it is foolish to dismiss the idea of studying medicine in Canada when you haven't even started your undergrad. Buckle down and work hard. It is going to cost you a fraction as much to complete your studies here than to go to the states.

 

Also, by the time you finish med school you will care what type of doctor you are becoming and matching will be important to you. Especially if you feel that you are an introverted person and will not be changing that, primary medicine is not going to match your character.

[Jessie]

 

REASON: I'm smart, excel in the math and sciences, but SUCK at writing, and most of all, SUCK at interviewing and talking in general (I'm REALLY introverted)

 

I will apply to Canadian medical schools (obviously) but will not try again if I don't get in the first time. I am 100% SURE that I will bomb the interview and the VR and WS part of the MCAT.

 

CURRENT HIGH SCHOOL AVG: 93%

GOAL: 3.9+ GPA and 30+(WS: J-L) MCAT

 

How can you be 100% sure about something you've never attempted? Never underestimate yourself! You are capable of doing well if you work at it. Trust me. I am sure of it.

[A-Stark]

REASON: I'm smart, excel in the math and sciences, but SUCK at writing, and most of all, SUCK at interviewing and talking in general (I'm REALLY introverted.

 

You suck at talking? How are you going to talk to patients? Colleagues? Communication skills are at least as important as anything else in medicine - not to say that you're anywhere near as bad at these things as you suggest, but I don't see why these can't be improved over the next few years.

[nemesis]

...I'm smart, excel in the math and sciences, but SUCK at writing, and most of all, SUCK at interviewing and talking in general (I'm REALLY introverted)...

 

You sound like my dream doctor...really.

[runningdoc]

There's a boat-load of stuff in here.

 

First off, go to the school that you want to go. If you pick schools simply to try and find the program that is the easiest to get good grades, or to find the school that Med AdComs will like the best, you aren't going where you should. Pick the program that interests you and go there. Yeah, if you graduate with a degree in knitting from Woodshedland Community Skool, it might hurt your chances of getting into Medicine, but there is a heck of a lot more to getting into Medicine than which school you go to. If you CV is impressive and you get a strong GPA and MCAT it pretty much won't matter where you went if you have everything down pat.

 

You are cutting yourself significantly short on opportunities however if you go to a place you might not like just for the prestige name of a school. No offense to McGill/UofT, but the prestige factor of Canada really isn't the same as Ivy League prestige.

 

Second:

 

After four years of undergraduate education, I'm going directly into medicine (in the USA) and will practice in Canada after.

 

I guess the big question would be why? Why would you go to school in Canada, then go to the US to get back into Canada?

 

I don't care what residency I get matched into, and ultimately, what kind of doctor I become. From my understanding, foreign trained doctors get last picks at resident positions, which means I might be stuck with FM,P,IM, which is totally fine!

 

Sure, there is a preference for domestically trained residents but why are you so adament that you want to be a doctor if you have no actual clue what you want to do. There is a pretty significant difference between being a GP and radiologist. It's not a simple case of "one or the other".

 

REASON: I'm smart, excel in the math and sciences, but SUCK at writing, and most of all, SUCK at interviewing and talking in general (I'm REALLY introverted)

 

Those are all things that are going to factor pretty significantly in your education. No matter what program you go into, writing ends up being a crucial aspect of your education. It's also a skill that will get worked on over and over again in University so regardless of how much you "SUCK" now, it isn't even a real comparison to what you will be at the end of your 4 years of University education. Taking a real negative attitude about your abilities however will absolutely sink you.

 

I will apply to Canadian medical schools (obviously) but will not try again if I don't get in the first time. I am 100% SURE that I will bomb the interview and the VR and WS part of the MCAT.

 

Again, if you are intending to work in Canada, why are you so adamant on going to Med School in the US?

[UTPEOPLE]

Before embarking down medical pathway... it is important to ask yourself if you have it in you? Med school is not all just about the sciences and knowledge. A highly significant portion of it is communicating with your patients. If you are so adamant that you lack the communication skills to do modestly well in the interview (very few people BOMB interviews), do you have the confidence that you will learn the ropes by the time you are a doctor? If you dont have at least this confidence in yourself, perhaps you might consider an alternate career for the best interests of your potential patients. If you simply exude introvertness (as opposed to being simply reserved), this may impair effective patient-physician interactions in the future.

 

Also, if you do choose to go to the states for med because of easier admission, remember that although it might be easier to get into a US med school than a canadian one, coming back will require you to write a second licensing exam with different units (diabetes set point in metric units instead of imperial) than what you would learn in the states. And yes... american grads should have a significant disadvantage come CARMS when compared with canadian grads, though I am not sure of the degree.

 

On the other hand... good job with the nice HS average... dont forget to keep working hard in university k?

[NicMB]

Aside from all the other motivational issues appropriately addressed previously...

 

It's way too early for you to declare that you are and always will be an introvert. I think most med students will agree that they had an incredible amount of personal growth during their undergrad.

 

IMO, it's way more advantageous for you to work on the areas you feel are lacking (eg. communication skills, etc) rather than defaulting to the choice of US schools. Absolutely nothing against US schools, I just think that the amount of effort required to improve your skills, even if it's a large effort, far outweighs the amount of money you'd have to spend to go to the States.

 

Give yourself some credit! You've still got lots of time before applying. Get a job, preferably one that involves you being on the front line of customer service, and get outside your box a bit.

[astudentis]

After four years of undergraduate education, I'm going directly into medicine (in the USA) and will practice in Canada after.

 

I don't care what residency I get matched into, and ultimately, what kind of doctor I become.

 

I'm smart, excel in the math and sciences, but SUCK at writing, and most of all, SUCK at interviewing and talking in general (I'm REALLY introverted)

 

I ask mainly because of the belief that American medical schools care about which university you come from.[/b]

 

1. Getting into residency after being an international grad, from what i have heard, is very difficult (however it is possible to work if after doing a fellowship here in canada). Also, just a side note, while tution in canadian med school is 7-20K/year, many US school's tuition are like 30-70K/year (can you take on that much debt, and risk waiting to match to a residency for a couple of years-while banks are at you to pay them back the $200+K in loans)?

 

2. After spending 4 years in medical school, and work you butt off (especially in clerkship), I think everyone will care as to what they will want to do for their rest of their lives. It quite naive to say that you wont.

 

3. Medicine is not an easy road. Neither is life. You cant take a detour from things you are not good at. You NEED to improve in areas where you dont exceed. "Talking in general"... if not in a group setting/ this is crucial at least on a one on one basis. Medicine is all about communication, if you think you cant do this well, well medicine is not for you. Consider Why medicine? Considering your skill set, it seems like you would make a better researcher or an engineer or a physicist... to name a few. Medicine is not the only career choice out that, that everyone has to do. If your writing/verbal/communication scores are not that good... it would be difficult to get into a US school too, trust me, applying to US schools is no cake walk either.

[chemgirl]

If you're still in high school, your personality will change between now and the end of undergrad. Being an introvert at this point in your life does not mean medicine is a bad career choice. In fact, I think it's a good sign that you have the self-awareness to realize that communication is not your strong point. You therefore have LOTS of time to work on coming out of your shell.

 

I was a total introvert in high school as well. I realized this was a problem, and forced myself to volunteer and work in environments where introversion wasn't an option. If you challenge yourself in this way, you may realize that the problem is not poor communication skills, but a simple lack of experience given your young age. I don't think anyone coming out of high school is an amazing commmunicator.

[joshdg]

Granted that I agree that you have plenty of time to work on the skills you think you lack, I did apply to the States this application cycle, and if I don't get in off of the Queens waitlist, I very well could end up there (although I'm also waitlisted there...no acceptances yet):

 

The only two schools that Americans and American adcoms have heard of are U of T and McGill. The rest are pretty well all the same to them. Do not goto McGill, its too hard to get high marks there and its stupid to put yourself through that. I'm sure there are many bright people on PM101 who disagree, but if you want to go to medschool then you will have an easier time at an easier school. I went to Western and I recommend it for a bunch of reasons, but one is that the AMCAS conversion system is very favourable. When converting your GPA to an "american" GPA, any mark above 80 is treated as a 4.0. With a good GPA and a decent MCAT you should get interviews at a bunch of schools in the States. It is VERY expensive to goto a US med school. But if I only get in there, then its where I'm going because I personally don't want to risk never getting in, and I also have the means to pay for it ...I don't mean to sound like a cocky rich boy but its true.

 

But again, don't sell yourself short. I've seen the most awkward people spend hours and hours doing mock interviews and they got in in Canada because they wanted it so badly. And I really don't think "settling" for IM, FP, Peds is a good attitude although those are all great specialties and by no means inferior. You should only be pursuing something that interests you or, in a program as rigorous as meds, you wont survive.

 

Also, you're like 17.... you've got plenty of time to think about this. Go do 17 year old things!!!

[mystery_chick]

Hate it say it, but American school cares about verbal score too. There's this whole "verbal score correlates with how well one does in med school" craziness and while I don't agree with it, you're not going to get into med school unless you have a decent verbal score. Instead of identifying something that you're weak at and trying to find ways to get around it, practice and get better. That's one of the key things that's going to get you through the rest of your career. But who knows, maybe you'll change your mind about wanting to go into medicine.

[shannn]

This may sound a little mean, but your high school average isn't that high.

 

You need to relax and enjoy undergrad (while obviously maintaining high grades).

 

Since you are so gun ho about studying medicine in the US, why not look into direct entry programs into medicine? IIRC, they are 6 or 7 years long, and guarantee you a spot in medicine

[resumedocket]

You sound like my dream doctor...really.

 

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[resumedocket]

You sound like my dream doctor...really..

 

 

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