Psychiatry in Canada - applying, cost, age, family

[PsyHike]

Good evening,

I am in process of making it through my M.A. in Forensic Psychology in US and will most likely relocate to Canada after I'm done. I am still torn between Clinical Psychology PhD and Psychiatry. I have the better knowledge base for the first, and will probably take me less years (5-7), but psychiatry seems more and more like a better fit. So I have several questions for those of you who can help

Searching for admissions criteria, is it true that medical schools in Ontario do not require 1 year of chemistry/biology/math/physics/what have you that all US schools seem to require? Is there some sort of unspoken assumption that I have to have it anyway?

It's a silly question, but do I get paid at all while doing the 4 years of residency? And on the related note, how much do medical schools cost in Ontario (ball park)?

And last but not least, I will be 30-32 when I apply. Is it very rare to have students this old at the beginning of med school? Do admissions committees prefer younger students? Also - if anyone has experience with having kids while going through med school - I would greatly appreciate if you could tell me a little about it from your perspective!

Thank you!

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[PsyHike]

yes of course you get paid during residency! slavery is illegal. All the other questions, this forum is the wrong place for as they have nothing to do with psychiatry. you should post in the international forum or pre-med or something.

Thank you! I'm sorry, I didn't know it was the wrong forum. I will repost in a right one

 

[oldanddone]

Thank you! I'm sorry, I didn't know it was the wrong forum. I will repost in a right one

So the Ontario schools that say that have the highest entering GPA in all of canada. I believe 3.96 or so. Ontario schools very competitive. Many Ontarians look to med school in the states. Also yes premed and international and nontraditional fora better.

 

[Unico]

I can't speak to the Canadian aspects, only for the non-traditional medical student points. I do know that Canadian schools are incredibly difficult to get into and a few students go to Caribbean schools, but that's the extent of my knowledge on that front.

Basic sciences:
The first two years of medical school is basically biology, chemistry and some physics (especially in physiology) on steroids. A very, very small fraction is devoted to psychology. Not taking the basic classes before medical school would be scary IMHO. Classes we take like histology, immunology, biochemistry. physiology, and pathology would be quite a challenging without the proper foundation. I did an accelerated pre-med program and still found the first two years of medical school to be a struggle. However, that struggle was complicated by having an infant during that time.

The most important part of these foundation classes to to understand how well you can handle 2+ heavy hitting sciences classes all at once. If someone can't manage taking biology and chemistry (along with the lab portions, so 4+ science classes) at the same time, medical school will be a nightmare if not impossible. I'm not saying this to be insulting or induce fear, it's just honesty. I really enjoyed my basic science classes and still found medical school to be a nightmare

Kids:
My son was born 3 months before I started medical school and during the first two years of his life, my life was just about him and school -- nothing else. At one point things got so overwhelming that I had to ask my mother to come help, hired a maid, and had a babysitter every weekend because I was never home. Needless to say, having kids in medical school adds extra stress for all parents, but it also adds an amazing amount of joy and a sense of purpose when school gets really rough. If I had to do it all over again, I probably would have waited until my kid was potty trained and required less helicopter-style parenting before I went into medical school. However, I did see other families do it just fine. An interesting aside, it seemed to me that multi-child households seems to fare better because sibblings would look out for and entertain one another.

Age:
I started medical school at the age of 30 and now that I've been in the game for awhile I see things differently when it comes to age. At first I thought my age would be an issue, but the truth is that it's not as big of a deal as I had made it out to be. In hindsight, it was just fear. There are plenty of non-traditional students in medical school and agism isn't an issue for those under 50 (well, maybe 45) from those that I have spoken with when it comes to getting into school, I'm not sure how residency programs view older students. But, being a non-traditional student gives us a leg-up over our younger peers in the sense that we understand what it means to have a good work ethic, play well with others, and other traits that you can only achieve after working. It really is a strength, which I see more and more everyday as a third year student working in the hospitals during clinicals.

Best wishes to you and whatever you decide please let me know. Cheers!

 

[PsyHike]

I can't speak to the Canadian aspects, only for the non-traditional medical student points. I do know that Canadian schools are incredibly difficult to get into and a few students go to Caribbean schools, but that's the extent of my knowledge on that front.

Basic sciences:
The first two years of medical school is basically biology, chemistry and some physics (especially in physiology) on steroids. A very, very small fraction is devoted to psychology. Not taking the basic classes before medical school would be scary IMHO. Classes we take like histology, immunology, biochemistry. physiology, and pathology would be quite a challenging without the proper foundation. I did an accelerated pre-med program and still found the first two years of medical school to be a struggle. However, that struggle was complicated by having an infant during that time.

The most important part of these foundation classes to to understand how well you can handle 2+ heavy hitting sciences classes all at once. If someone can't manage taking biology and chemistry (along with the lab portions, so 4+ science classes) at the same time, medical school will be a nightmare if not impossible. I'm not saying this to be insulting or induce fear, it's just honesty. I really enjoyed my basic science classes and still found medical school to be a nightmare

Kids:
My son was born 3 months before I started medical school and during the first two years of his life, my life was just about him and school -- nothing else. At one point things got so overwhelming that I had to ask my mother to come help, hired a maid, and had a babysitter every weekend because I was never home. Needless to say, having kids in medical school adds extra stress for all parents, but it also adds an amazing amount of joy and a sense of purpose when school gets really rough. If I had to do it all over again, I probably would have waited until my kid was potty trained and required less helicopter-style parenting before I went into medical school. However, I did see other families do it just fine. An interesting aside, it seemed to me that multi-child households seems to fare better because sibblings would look out for and entertain one another.

Age:
I started medical school at the age of 30 and now that I've been in the game for awhile I see things differently when it comes to age. At first I thought my age would be an issue, but the truth is that it's not as big of a deal as I had made it out to be. In hindsight, it was just fear. There are plenty of non-traditional students in medical school and agism isn't an issue for those under 50 (well, maybe 45) from those that I have spoken with when it comes to getting into school, I'm not sure how residency programs view older students. But, being a non-traditional student gives us a leg-up over our younger peers in the sense that we understand what it means to have a good work ethic, play well with others, and other traits that you can only achieve after working. It really is a strength, which I see more and more everyday as a third year student working in the hospitals during clinicals.

Best wishes to you and whatever you decide please let me know. Cheers!

Thank you so much for the excellent informative reply! It gave me in equal parts hope and nervousness But it's great to know that anything can be done if you put your mind to it, so far I generally got negative feedback about going to med school. I have some more soul-searching to do, but thank you again! Your experience is very helpful.