Hi Ray22,
I'm a Canadian, and have been accepted to a few US med schools. Actually, there are quite a few Canadians here on this board. If you do a search, some of the posts about this very topic will most likely come up.
To answer your questions directly, however...
Is is harder for Canadians to get accepted into US med schools?
Some say yes, some say no. I know for a fact that not every school will even accept an application from a Canadian, let alone admit them to their program. So options are definitely more limited in that sense. Whether or not we need a higher GPA/MCAT or a better application overall, in order to be seen as competetive to the schools that do actually accept Canadians, I don't know. I do know that I've had 3 interviews and 3 acceptances and my application wasn't all that great, compared to a lot of people on this board, so I don't think being Canadian has affected my applications all that much.
The loan situation is a different story, however. We do NOT qualify for Stafford loans (American government loans), so must seek outside assistance through private loans. I'm using Canadian students loans (which we still qualify for, even though studying in the US), as well as a program called CanHELP, through TERI.
Their web site is <a href="http://www.iefc.com" target="_blank">www.iefc.com</a> if you want to check it out.
I believe the interest rates are higher, and that they take off more money from the loan, compared to Staffords, but private loans are really the only option, unless you've got family members willing to help you out.
Good luck with your application!
