Med School Abroad?

[sara131]

heyy everyone

 

I really need some advice....... currently I live in the United Arab Emirates and plan on doing medicine I really need some advice on either staying here and finishing med school faster and getting accepted easier or.....returning to Canada for Pre med.. right now im still in high school and the medical school here is accredited and affiliated with mac master university but the downside is studying here just isnt like studying in canada:(

on the other hand entering pre med in canada and applying for med school is a headache and takes a lonng and often horrible process as most people who apply dont get accpeted after finishing 4 yrs of pre med

applying for med school In the UAE seems like the right choiceright now since i enter right after high school but I need other opinions thanks!!!

[amberlamps]

I think the first thing you should ask yourself is where do you want to practice? If you want to practice in Canada it is advisable to have a Canadian medical degree since IMGs have a more difficult time getting residency matches than Canadian grads.

 

Like you said you also have to consider the process. Do you want to study a little more rigidly in the UAE for a guaranteed job there or are you a risk taker and willing to gamble your odds in Canada? I have friends who are still applying to med school after 4 rounds of rejection...and they have near 4.0 GPAs. I will be honest with you, although your English seems good there were a couple Saudi students in my program who ended up returning home after their 2nd year of undergrad because they could not handle the written English. They bombed their WS/VR on the MCAT. I am not saying this to be insulting -I'm simply giving you a warning as VR is difficult for some native English speaking students too! A poor MCAT score in those areas greatly reduces the number of medical schools you can apply to so I think you have to consider your own strength in English.

 

Lastly, whenever I see the tuition costs for international students my jaw drops. For example, at Mac the MD tuition is ~$20,000 but the tuition for internationals is over $100,000 (and around $90,000 for the undergrad if I recall correctly). If cost is an issue, I would not incur debt to go to Canada especially since admission to an MD program is not guaranteed.

 

If you are really passionate about medicine you won't mind if the road is a little tougher to be an MD. Each of the choices you have laid out for yourself are challenging in different ways so it's up to you to decide what challenge you want accept:)

[sara131]

I'd just like to make it clear that im a canadian citizen and was born and raised there for most of my life so im pretty sure the english will be fine and so will the prices the only thing holding me back is the huge possibility of not being accepted into medical school or being accepted really late so basicly studying my whole life:confused: ......and also i'd like to if its possible to apply for medical school in america if it doesnt work out in Canada,...... i know its possible but what are the chances of getting accepted