Do I have a shot? - 43 MCAT + 2.9-3.0 GPA

[JohnGrisham]

43 mcat makes up for everything lol. But I bet twoonine also had a strong upward trend too. Schools see a strong upward trend and a elite mcat score and they will give you a chance to interview and show the rest of your qualities. Obviously he is a strong candidate!

[JohnGrisham]

Or she.

[youngdad]

I know I might not have a great shot but I think you're crazy to think that they will say the MCAT score was a fluke. I worked my ass off for a 43 and theres no way you can "fluke" a 40+ MCAT score. Not to mention I have three straight academic years of straight As.

 

Also your MD "screen" assumption is not true as well. I know plenty of people who have gotten into top MD programs with under 3.5 GPAs.

 

Also DO schools calculate GPA with the repeated grade being counted. So Im fine for DO schools.

I love the attitude and the upward trend.  I would admit you.  

Seriously apply.  The upward trend helped me at UBC and Dalhousie.  I had a great year, then a complete poop year, then two great years.  I had above average EC's, decent MCAT (not like yours, my goodness), and interviews that went well.  I went 2/2 in Canadian schools.  You can do it.  

[JohnGrisham]

I love the attitude and the upward trend.  I would admit you.  

Seriously apply.  The upward trend helped me at UBC and Dalhousie.  I had a great year, then a complete poop year, then two great years.  I had above average EC's, decent MCAT (not like yours, my goodness), and interviews that went well.  I went 2/2 in Canadian schools.  You can do it.

 

It looks like op already got into a few top USMD schools.

[MD2B2019]

Congratulations again, 209, you're killing it. 3rd acceptance in a week! Wow, keep the good news coming and share with us.

[two0nine]

.

[youngdad]

Thanks for all the posts guys! Super excited for next year. 

Good for you, where are you going?

 

PS: Remember your doubters?  

via Imgflip Meme Maker

[two0nine]

. 

[rmorelan]

Lol I havent made up my mind for sure yet. Theres still a handful of schools that I interviewed at which I havent heard back from. 

 

as others have said there is still nothing stopping you from applying to Canada as well of course and seeing what happens - just thought originally the US was a logical avenue to go down and well obviously ultimately it was.

 

The best part is there is no stress anymore about any applications. I mean no matter what you will become a doctor after all so that makes somethings easier

[two0nine]

. 

[rmorelan]

I've applied! Queens, Western, and Mac. However, my intention was always to end up in the States one way or another (was hoping for residency). I just didn't think it was a viable option. So I don't know what Im gonna do with those applications if I do end up getting interviews. But based on the schools that I've been accepted to in the States, I know for sure that I'll be attending a US MD school, regardless of possible Canadian acceptances. 

 

oh ok

 

in that case then there is a lot less point in applying to Canada I would think. I mean if you are going to the US regardless then what is the point of going through the motions of the interviews etc - best case you are spending money and time on something that won't matter.

[two0nine]

. 

[rmorelan]

interesting experiment I guess

[coastalslacker]

Just a thought - it's not a terrible idea to see what happens with Canadian schools as well.  The only reason I say this is that there may be a significant cost difference.  I work in the US and was talking to a Canadian medical student who is paying $70,000 per year tuition....that's a lot of dough.  Depends on where you got in, I suppose, and I'm sure a host of other factors.   

 

Good luck and congrats! 

[two0nine]

.

[thsc]

I've considered the cost, however ultimately given that my goal is to end up in the States after graduating from med school, I would like to take the guarantee of a US residency through a well ranked american med school.

Just a note, there is no guarantee of  US residency. While your chances are obviously many orders of magnitude higher as a US med student, there can be potential issues with J1 and H1B visa. Several Canadians at US med schools have complained about this in other threads. Just a word of caution. Of course, if you want to do a relatively uncompetitive specialty like family med, then it's not really an issue. 

[rmorelan]

Just a note, there is no guarantee of  US residency. While your chances are obviously many orders of magnitude higher as a US med student, there can be potential issues with J1 and H1B visa. Several Canadians at US med schools have complained about this in other threads. Just a word of caution. Of course, if you want to do a relatively uncompetitive specialty like family med, then it's not really an issue. 

 

out of curiosity why would the specialty impact the visa acceptance rate?

[thsc]

out of curiosity why would the specialty impact the visa acceptance rate?

Well, there are legal procedures that must accompany a specific type of visa. I forget which one is the better one but these fees and legal procedures must be handled by the hospital and can't be laid off to you, hence many programs won't want to deal with all the hassle. With the more competitive specialties, there are far too many qualified applicants so they're not really obliged to go through with this hassle for you. 

 

There's a detailed post about it on this forum. 

[two0nine]

.

[advair250]

The fact that OP has gotten into some VERY top USMD schools, leads me to think that the "prestige" of the schools themselves should definitely help when it comes to visa's in the future. As long as they do their part and excel academically, they will be fine for any speciality, provided they are competitive.

[coastalslacker]

I work at a med center in the United States and there are a lot of Canadian citizens here who completed their MD in the States and are now residents. Top academic hospitals won't have a problem with providing the appropriate visas. Not to mention Im currently on a J1 haha. I'm not too worried. It's not as complicated as a situation as it is made out to be.

Cool. I'm sure you've already done this, but it is worth talking to an immigration lawyer and mapping out your 10 year plan. A colleague was waiting around for a full year after completing a very prestigious fellowship on the US because she was on a J1. She had a great job offer in he US, a top notch immigration lawyer, but the J1 in that instance screwed her over. H1B's are only renewable for 7 years (ie less time than med school and residency). It is worth understanding the process just so you are not surprised at some point. I know people who have gone through it without incident, but also those who have had issues.

 

As an aside, I did med school and residency in Canada and went stateside for fellowship and now for work. Doing some of your training where you want to end up is helpful, but fellowship and residency have more of an impact than medical school.

 

Congrats again-I don't want to rain on your parade!

[武田信玄]

I found these two posts on SDN:

 

"ok, there is a lot of misinformation going around....so some myth busters for the original poster.
about me: I am a canadian studying in an american medical school. in 4th year now, applying for residency. I went to UofT as well. Did well there, but kept getting waitlisted. I interviewed at a few places too but wasnt getting in, applied to US one cycle and got in. I do have a few masters degrees.
1. American schools are a little easier to get into, but you damn well be MUCH better than the average student they take into their own medical school in the states because why would they take you over a Local american student? a 3.6-3.7 will not get you into UofC. Period!
UofC is a very competitive program, and secondly, There are VERY Few programs that sponsor F1 to canadians...do your homework...when i applied there were maybe 12-15. Yes, Harvard and yale and columbia, but can you afford to go there? and can you really get in there? think about it.
Then again, i dont know maybe you are the world famous cardiothoracic surgeon's son or daughter and have connections, then yes, you will get it in. who am I to say anything??
2. $$$. Some american schools charge exorbidant amounts from non-citizens, check the tuition, i think wayne state was asking $70K from non-citizen and only $40K from citizen...I dont know your financial situation, but that did not work for me. Canadian banks are not very willing to give loans for american education...they are retarded. and GOOD luck getting anything from an american bank without a gauranter, with this economy.
3. Medical school itself is stressful, if you are gonna be away from home, be ready to deal with that depending on which part of US you are in. last time i went home was christmas. STEP 1 and 2 are tough. If you had a hard time with MCAT, forget about it. American students generally are better at standardized testing.....and also, carribean students are known to take months off to study for them, as an american grad, we do not get time off....we take them on the roll with classes and in between rotations.
4. Being a non-citizen, it limits opportunities. For instance, I could not get a research position at my school...eventhough they do a lot of cool research and have lots of funding...they will be like, "sorry" cant pay you. I got the opportunity to teach a class in medical school because I had a grad degree. but I had to do it for FREE, cause they could not put me on payroll with my F1.
5. Come time to apply for electives, I spent a lot of money trying to apply to different places that my "american" collegues were applying to only to be rejected because their hospital does not support F1.....dumb cause technically my school is covering me...whatever, better not to argue.
6. Applying to residency as a non-US citizen is a nightmare. Primary care is ok, forget about neurogurgery or ENT. I am being told and witnessing that an american Carribean grad gets preference over me. I have been deligently calling programs and it is a PAIN trying to explain I am a canadian citizen studying in an AMERICAN School. Some put me in the pile with AMG's, (but i wonder if they will rank me over an american), and some put me on the top of the IMG pile...GO FIGURE...so far, I have enough interviews, I am sure I will match, but where is the question.....most interviews I have gotten are from places where there are a lot of FMG's and I will be the superstar there...something to brag for the program...I do not know how I feel about that.
7. Visa - an issue. J1 or H1. Very few programs give H1...and these are usually rural where no american grad wants to go, and so the only way they attract candidates is by offering that to FMG's.
8. Going back to canada is fairly easy. no exttra tests or requirements. We are considered CMG's. Tons of people from my school in the past have gone back to canada. FM easier than lets say Urology. But then again, for all I know, your dad is the head of the cardiothoracic surgery at University of Ottawa. then u can do whatever you want.
That said, not everything is bad, I am not trying to be cynical, I am trying to tell you the truth.
ADVANTAGE: I get to be a doctor from a legit AMERICAN School that I can be proud of. I get to practice cutting edge medicine.
message me if anyone has any questions."

[武田信玄]

and the second one from the same thread:

 

"Other than maybe Toronto, all canadian medical schools are on par with mid tier American Schools, sometimes even below them. For example my school wasa a mid tier american school, and they had robotic surgery for gyn onc. The only place in Canada that had it? Toronto. We routinely did laprascopic surgery in Gyn, while it was just starting to break ground in Canada. I worked along side people who trained in John Hopkins, MGH, MD Anderson, Sloan Kettering to name a few. Doubt any canadian medical school will give you that opportunity. Yes, I payed for the experience, especially as a Canadian...there are no easy loans you can get. But its the SAME cost of going to a Caribbean school. In addition, the support I got by the school was amazing whenever I wanted to. eg. calling on my behalf to residency programs to get me a more favorable spot on the rank list. Also most importantly if I wanted to Radiology, Plastics, or any other field was open to me after I graduated. As a Caribbean medical school graduate unless you are 99.9999%tile you can say bye to any competitive speciality."

[武田信玄]

Any comments. These two comments were posted last year so they are fairly recent. The main problem with us going to the States seems to be

1. cost

2. limited research opportunity

3. limited rotation

4. limited residency

 

However, the second poster seems to suggest that the US MD schools excel in their teaching technology. The second poster is also a bit more positive about getting a residency spot.

 

Any comments? I applied US MDs initially as a back-up but after hearing about the rising saturation in the Canadian job market and a few horror stories of Canadian surgeons not being able to find a job after years of training, I'm starting to think that maybe US MD is a better option.

[thsc]

I found these two posts on SDN:

 

"ok, there is a lot of misinformation going around....so some myth busters for the original poster.

about me: I am a canadian studying in an american medical school. in 4th year now, applying for residency. I went to UofT as well. Did well there, but kept getting waitlisted. I interviewed at a few places too but wasnt getting in, applied to US one cycle and got in. I do have a few masters degrees.

1. American schools are a little easier to get into, but you damn well be MUCH better than the average student they take into their own medical school in the states because why would they take you over a Local american student? a 3.6-3.7 will not get you into UofC. Period!

UofC is a very competitive program, and secondly, There are VERY Few programs that sponsor F1 to canadians...do your homework...when i applied there were maybe 12-15. Yes, Harvard and yale and columbia, but can you afford to go there? and can you really get in there? think about it.

Then again, i dont know maybe you are the world famous cardiothoracic surgeon's son or daughter and have connections, then yes, you will get it in. who am I to say anything??

2. $$$. Some american schools charge exorbidant amounts from non-citizens, check the tuition, i think wayne state was asking $70K from non-citizen and only $40K from citizen...I dont know your financial situation, but that did not work for me. Canadian banks are not very willing to give loans for american education...they are retarded. and GOOD luck getting anything from an american bank without a gauranter, with this economy.

3. Medical school itself is stressful, if you are gonna be away from home, be ready to deal with that depending on which part of US you are in. last time i went home was christmas. STEP 1 and 2 are tough. If you had a hard time with MCAT, forget about it. American students generally are better at standardized testing.....and also, carribean students are known to take months off to study for them, as an american grad, we do not get time off....we take them on the roll with classes and in between rotations.

4. Being a non-citizen, it limits opportunities. For instance, I could not get a research position at my school...eventhough they do a lot of cool research and have lots of funding...they will be like, "sorry" cant pay you. I got the opportunity to teach a class in medical school because I had a grad degree. but I had to do it for FREE, cause they could not put me on payroll with my F1.

5. Come time to apply for electives, I spent a lot of money trying to apply to different places that my "american" collegues were applying to only to be rejected because their hospital does not support F1.....dumb cause technically my school is covering me...whatever, better not to argue.

6. Applying to residency as a non-US citizen is a nightmare. Primary care is ok, forget about neurogurgery or ENT. I am being told and witnessing that an american Carribean grad gets preference over me. I have been deligently calling programs and it is a PAIN trying to explain I am a canadian citizen studying in an AMERICAN School. Some put me in the pile with AMG's, (but i wonder if they will rank me over an american), and some put me on the top of the IMG pile...GO FIGURE...so far, I have enough interviews, I am sure I will match, but where is the question.....most interviews I have gotten are from places where there are a lot of FMG's and I will be the superstar there...something to brag for the program...I do not know how I feel about that.

7. Visa - an issue. J1 or H1. Very few programs give H1...and these are usually rural where no american grad wants to go, and so the only way they attract candidates is by offering that to FMG's.

8. Going back to canada is fairly easy. no exttra tests or requirements. We are considered CMG's. Tons of people from my school in the past have gone back to canada. FM easier than lets say Urology. But then again, for all I know, your dad is the head of the cardiothoracic surgery at University of Ottawa. then u can do whatever you want.

That said, not everything is bad, I am not trying to be cynical, I am trying to tell you the truth.

ADVANTAGE: I get to be a doctor from a legit AMERICAN School that I can be proud of. I get to practice cutting edge medicine.

message me if anyone has any questions."

Point 7 is the one I was trying to emphasize earlier. 

 

However, I'm not sure about point 8. I was under the impression that we are considered IMGs even if we go to med. schol in the US and it's quite difficult.