Going to UOIT next year... shot at american school ?

[medigeek]

I feel this is something I should know before starting my undergrad at UOIT (university of ontario, in oshawa). There are people accepted to med schools every year from UOIT around Canada but we also know Canadians admissions don't care about your undergrad school unless it's not accredited.

 

But I've heard the american scene is different if you're an international (even Canada). Obviously they would not have heard of UOIT, so how would that affect my chance of being accepted to an american school if I choose to apply there?

 

I'm going to UOIT because I did not want to live on res therefore it was the best combo of an "easy GPA school" + proximity.

 

Any tips will be appreciated.

[medigeek]

bumppppp..

[pingu]

original message deleted

[treejuice1]

I don't know if any of us on here are actually able to answer that, but I think the answer would be that you can never really ignore things like reputation and prestige. There was a news article from a while ago, where someone on the admissions committee at McGill (or maybe it was the dean) is quoted as saying that they're not dumb and that they know how hard a psychology course is at every school in Canada. Even though what school you come from isn't explicitly factored in, everyone is sure to have their own biases and opinions.

 

That being said, I doubt American adcoms know much about any Canadian schools besides U of T, McGill, UBC, etc. so I wouldn't really worry about it and just try anyway

[medigeek]

I had a few friends who applied last year, and they think being from a more recognizable school definitely helped. These friends ended up getting into good schools too (i.e. Dartmouth, Case, Yale, Stanford). These friends were from UofT.

 

I think it has to do with the fact that in the States, there are definitely tiers while in Canada every school is pretty much the same in terms of qualities. So being from a more well-known school does help. I think that most Americans only know a few schools though (McGill for sure, probably UofT, probably UBC).

 

I don't know if any of us on here are actually able to answer that, but I think the answer would be that you can never really ignore things like reputation and prestige. There was a news article from a while ago, where someone on the admissions committee at McGill (or maybe it was the dean) is quoted as saying that they're not dumb and that they know how hard a psychology course is at every school in Canada. Even though what school you come from isn't explicitly factored in, everyone is sure to have their own biases and opinions.

 

That being said, I doubt American adcoms know much about any Canadian schools besides U of T, McGill, UBC, etc. so I wouldn't really worry about it and just try anyway

 

Ya makes sense.

 

But then again, theoritically... if a guy had a 4.0 + solid everything else (relatively) isn't it VERY low odds that he'll be rejected from an american school anyway? Like if he has good volunteering + other stuff + research + solid MCAT, etc etc + that all important 4.0

 

Seems like past a certain point, a 4.0 GPA jus overwhelms everything else.

[charmer08]

Ya makes sense.

 

But then again, theoritically... if a guy had a 4.0 + solid everything else (relatively) isn't it VERY low odds that he'll be rejected from an american school anyway? Like if he has good volunteering + other stuff + research + solid MCAT, etc etc + that all important 4.0

 

Seems like past a certain point, a 4.0 GPA jus overwhelms everything else.

 

you're being unrealistic here... theres very few people out there with all those!

[medigeek]

you're being unrealistic here... theres very few people out there with all those!

 

It's not hard at all to attain ECs/volunteering/research. Only the 4.0 is + a "solid" MCAT can be quite vague as to what makes it solid. But yes, a 4.0 who isn't a 100% bookworm/gunner is hard to find.

 

Though a 4.0 in the US = 85s and up? So it does make it a lot easier.