Advice..

[medhearter]

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[Zweisamkeit]

Hi All,...

I'm a Canadian applying for American schools
had two interviews this round.. still waiting on an acceptance

i've got an interview coming up with a Caribbean school 'SGU'
I'm almost positive I'll get in. Say I don't hear back from the american schools.... would u suggest I start in the Caribbean? or defer matriculation till Jan while I reapply to American schools?

Has anyone here done that before? Let me know of your experience and opinions.

ps - stats: 3.5, 34Q, research experience, clinical experience, teaching experience, extracurricular leadership experience

Honestly, I'm surprised that you haven't gotten more interviews with the 34Q but maybe it's because you're not American. If I were you, I would just go to the Caribbean school.

Maybe I'm missing something but I don't see how you can benefit by deferring matriculation until January. A lot of medical schools don't start handing out substantial acceptances until long after January. Heck, some schools don't even give out any acceptances until after January. Lets say you do defer til January and you reapply. You get a few interviews here in the US. Then January 2010 rolls around and you haven't heard back from any of the US medical schools. Then what do you do? Defer again?

 

[medhearter]

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[Zweisamkeit]

The schools that I do have a chance of getting into, based on my GPA and non-US citizenship.. are all rolling. This year I submitted my AMCAS in late Sept and secondaries throughout Oct and Nov.. so I'm thinking that reapplying early will give me better chances at interviews and acceptances...

if i'm wrong, then yes I guess I'd settle for grenada...

this process.. is just that humbling..

I have to agree with you on that.

Yeah, you did submit your AMCAS later than most and submitting earlier may increase your chances of getting interviews. However, I'm still doubtful about the acceptances. Some schools may hand out the acceptances early before January, some may not. November/December is very early in the timeline of when to expect acceptances from medical schools.

Good luck with whatever you choose to do! Hopefully someone else around here can give you more advice.

 

[confuse]

Instead of going to the Carribean if you don't get into a US allopathic program, have you considered applying to med school in Canada? I imagine that you would get the same caliber of training in Canada as in the US. Since you will be considered a foreign graduate anyway if you attend med school in Carribean, might as well stay close to home to save money and later apply to US residency after you take Step 1 & 2.

 

[SoCuteMD]

Instead of going to the Carribean if you don't get into a US allopathic program, have you considered applying to med school in Canada? I imagine that you would get the same caliber of training in Canada as in the US. Since you will be considered a foreign graduate anyway if you attend med school in Carribean, might as well stay close to home to save money and later apply to US residency after you take Step 1 & 2.

Canada is crazy-competitive for medical school

To the OP: I would give yourself at least 1 if not 2 full application cycles, then go Carribean. Being an American grad who needs a VISA is a lot better than being a Carribean grad who needs a VISA. You will have a very hard time getting residency in the US under the latter circumstances. I'm not sure about the Canadian residency process and how competitive it is for Carribean grads - that might be something you want to explore before making a final decision.

 

[WellWornLad]

Instead of going to the Carribean if you don't get into a US allopathic program, have you considered applying to med school in Canada? I imagine that you would get the same caliber of training in Canada as in the US. Since you will be considered a foreign graduate anyway if you attend med school in Carribean, might as well stay close to home to save money and later apply to US residency after you take Step 1 & 2.

I second that. Why would you not want to apply/go to a Canadian school? McGill is an awesome med school, I'd give my left nut to go there for what they charge in tuition. Are we missing something?

 

[MILK07]

I second that. Why would you not want to apply/go to a Canadian school? McGill is an awesome med school, I'd give my left nut to go there for what they charge in tuition. Are we missing something?

I think McGill's GPA cutoff is 3.78 or something crazy like that. They also have a really high MCAT cutoff, even for the writing section. It is super hard to get into a Canadian med school.

OP, I would also suggest applying through a couple more application cycles, especially this next one. Give it another year at least before you go to SGU. Good luck!

 

[corduroy11]

Are we missing something?

Yes, you are! Canadian schools are VERY difficult to get into overall. There are not many of them. Also, some have strict cut-offs and others are not in English.

 

[medhearter]

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[Dr. McDreamy]

Only go to a Caribbean medical school as a LAST RESORT. It will affect what specialty you can get into, where you can practice, and where you do your residency. Going to a Caribbean medical school makes the rest of your career an uphill battle. Do not do it unless you absolutely cannot get into an American school. I have known several people who have gone to foreign medical schools and it haunts them for the rest of their careers. You will have just as much debt as an AMG, with no guarantee of being able to practice the way you want (and no guarantee of matching). When you are applying to residency, you will be at the bottom of the list for ranking decisions, just because you are an FMG. Think long and hard about whether you are willing to do that. Will you be happy practicing in podunk as a family medicine doctor? Unless you are a superstar, that may be the only residency you can match into, despite how much you really wanted to do surgery. If you think that the only thing that will make you happy is being a surgeon, or a radiologist, or a dermatologist, do not go to a foreign med school.

 

[WellWornLad]

Wow, I had no idea that Canadians had it so rough getting into a med school.

Based on what you said, I'd be shooting for UCalgary. I think you could totally get into a U.S. program if you 1) apply early and 2) apply broadly, but considering your financial situation it may not be a good idea to just rush into an expensive school - what are you going to do if, come 2nd year, you do lose your collateral and can't pay for the rest of med school? Then you don't have your MD and you've got a boatload of loans to pay off.

I imagine that becoming a permanent resident of the U.S. would be difficult and time consuming, but I really don't know. If it's not, you could move over here and become a permanent resident and be eligible for federal loans. Just a thought.

 

[medhearter]

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