Any advice/suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[MedDreamSam]

Hi all,

I am writing this post to ask for some advice/suggestions.

I came here about 10 years ago as an international student, and I have always dreamed of becoming a doctor. Unfortunately, at that time, no medical schools of Canadian post secondary institutions accepted international applicants, and of course, my oral and written English were not good enough to be an eligible applicant at that time, I managed to pass the English proficiency test within a couple a month after I came to Canada.

In order to stay in the health care filed and keep my dream alive, I went to nursing instead. I received a Bachelor of Science degree in nursing from a decent Canadian university, and have been working as a Registered Nurse since 2008. As time goes by, I feel the desire of being a doctor has become stronger and stronger, I do not know how many times that I keep telling myself that I should at least try to apply. But the reality is that my first undergrad GPA was terrible (2.4) due to the language barrier at that time although I worked so hard for that degree.

 

I understand that it is extremely competitive to get into a Canadian medical school, and my GPA from my first undergrad degree makes me ineligible to be a medical school applicant. I am just wondering if there is any other way that I can do to become eligible? For example, do a second degree? The positive thing is that my oral and written English have been greatly improved after living in Canada for these years.

As I currently live in Toronto, if I do a second degree, which university should I go to, U of T or York? Also, which undergrad program should I apply? And should I also consider applying US medical schools?

Any advice/suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[thehumanmacbook]

You should focus then on starting a second degree - 2.4 makes it extremely challenging to get into med, especially in ONT. You should start a second degree somewhere (it doesn't matter, any UG degree will do - but preferably in an area you will enjoy/excel at). You can apply to the US as well, but again your current GPA is hindering you and you haven't written the MCAT yet.

 

So the best plan of action would be to start an undergraduate degree somewhere where you can meet your pre-reqs, get a high GPA, and finish the MCAT as well.

[RiceWine]

yup, agree with above post. second degree pull up the gpa. kill the mcat. then you should be competitive. Nursing as extracurricular sounds really cool.

[Satsuma]

You could also consider a nurse practitioner degree...expanding your role, decent pay, not as much time commitment to get to your end point, not as much responsibility.

 

Not sure what your motivations are for wanting to go to med school. If you really want to do it, go for it.

 

But also consider what you will be giving up - a defined start and end time with protected breaks and lunch breaks, vacation, benefits such as pension and health plans, overtime pay, more patient interaction if you like that, job flexibility (this is dependent on the medical specialty you end up picking, but once you build your practice it is harder to move around). These are things you may take for granted and may find yourself missing.

 

Nursing isn't a bad career, if you like it. If you really don't like it, then leave. Just remember the saying, the grass is always greener on the other side!