As a Canadian, where can I apply?

[168135]

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I was browsing the forum when I came across this post: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=746028
According to that, I can apply to Tufts if I wanted to? I wasn't aware that I could apply to any of the schools in the states and have a shot at getting in. I thought I was limited to applying to my in-province school, caribbean schools and international schools.

I have ~600 hours of veterinary, research and animal experience so far, lots of extracurriculars and work experience. I'm a strong biology student (~3.5) but my chemistry marks are pulling my overall gpa down (~3.1) I've re-taken a chem course and I'm taking two upper level chem courses next year. I'm also doing an honours thesis. I'm limited to which courses I can take (I know a lot of schools require courses in animal nutrition or a lot of -ologies which my tiny school doesn't have).

I'm trying to come up with a plan on what I'm going to do and where I'm going to apply if I don't accepted this year to my in-province school.

If you have any inside information on any school that may benefit me and my situation, I'd greatly appreciate it. Or if you don't, that's okay too.

Thanks 🙂

 

[RunTheWorld]

I was browsing the forum when I came across this post: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=746028
According to that, I can apply to Tufts if I wanted to? I wasn't aware that I could apply to any of the schools in the states and have a shot at getting in. I thought I was limited to applying to my in-province school, caribbean schools and international schools.

I have ~600 hours of veterinary, research and animal experience so far, lots of extracurriculars and work experience. I'm a strong biology student (~3.5) but my chemistry marks are pulling my overall gpa down (~3.1) I've re-taken a chem course and I'm taking two upper level chem courses next year. I'm also doing an honours thesis. I'm limited to which courses I can take (I know a lot of schools require courses in animal nutrition or a lot of -ologies which my tiny school doesn't have).

I'm trying to come up with a plan on what I'm going to do and where I'm going to apply if I don't accepted this year to my in-province school.

If you have any inside information on any school that may benefit me and my situation, I'd greatly appreciate it. Or if you don't, that's okay too.

Thanks 🙂

Hey I'm from Canada! You can apply to most schools in the states and you'll have the same odds as an out of state student, but there are a few schools that don't allow international students at all. I've noticed it's only a few of the southern schools (Auburn, Tennessee, Missouri, Louisiana and maybe others I can't think of). Tufts was really helpful and seemed really excited about me being international (oh those exotic Canadians🙂). I liked Western too, and they're more open to slightly lower GPAs because they like to have people from diverse backgrounds. But you'll have to understand that it'll be A LOT more expensive then going to your in province school -- especially Western and Tufts.

 

[VeganSoprano]

Any school that accepts international applicants would be an option for you. Most American schools will consider international students for at least some of their "at large" seats. The cost of attendance would be considerably more than at your in province school, but less than a Caribbean school. I think it would be a good idea to apply to a few schools outside of your regional school, to broaden your chances for getting at least one acceptance. Check individual school websites for their policies with regard to international applicants.

As for animal science classes, Oklahoma State offers some online that meet the requirements for most if not all vet schools who have an animal science requirement. The classes are pretty inexpensive.

 

[168135]

I think it might be too late for me to get everything together to apply this cycle. I've got too much going on right now and I don't think I can fit an animal science in before I apply.

I was looking at the Tufts website. It's ~$42000 tuition and says that it includes fees and living expenses. What does it mean by living expenses... is that including a place to live? The carib schools are ~$22000 tuiton/year plus living expenses, which would make it cheaper, not including travel and visa and stuff.

Also, do I have to do the whole VMCAS thing that everybody is complaining about?

Where is Western? When I do a google search, the school in Ontario is the only one that comes up.

 

[gilch]

Yes you have to do VMCAS for most American schools (tufts being an exception). Welcome to the hell all the rest of us have to go through 😉.


Western is in Pomona California --Southern California. I would say (never having applied or seriously looked at applying to tufts) that that 42,000 is tuition and fees--most schools add 15,000 for living expenses. This is a guess--someone else can confirm it. I had understood that Tufts was having a lot of financial problems.

I have a question for you. As I understand it, your in province school is super cheap. Does Canada offer federal loans to students going internationally or will you have to throw yourself on the mercy of a private bank, should you go international?

 

[168135]

I have a question for you. As I understand it, your in province school is super cheap. Does Canada offer federal loans to students going internationally or will you have to throw yourself on the mercy of a private bank, should you go international?

A friend of mine has a friend who chose to go to some obsure school in Austrailia. She got a student loan to go there. The government has a list of hundreds of schools that they will give you loans to go to, but other than that, I have no idea how it works. I have to look into it. I was thinking of applying to SGU, but only their med school is on their list. Ross and St Matthew's vet schools are on the list.

I have $48 000 worth of debt right now... if I don't get into my inprovince school, I'm going to work for a year to get rid of some of that before applying elsewhere.

Edited to add: I do know that banks offer lines of credit for students in professional school. It's $20 000 - $25 000 per year.

 

[Nexx]

A friend of mine has a friend who chose to go to some obsure school in Austrailia. She got a student loan to go there. The government has a list of hundreds of schools that they will give you loans to go to, but other than that, I have no idea how it works. I have to look into it. I was thinking of applying to SGU, but only their med school is on their list. Ross and St Matthew's vet schools are on the list.

I have $48 000 worth of debt right now... if I don't get into my inprovince school, I'm going to work for a year to get rid of some of that before applying elsewhere.

Probably only obscure to you 😛

For going internationally (at least outside of North America), it used to be that Canadians could get private loans from US banks to fund the cost of attendance + living. In 2007 that all pretty much stopped and all that was left for most Canadians was personal funds, provincial bursaries, and professional lines of credit from a couple of your banks.

 

[168135]

Yeah... I can't remember the name of it, but it was a tiny, private, women-only school that deals with the arts or something that nobody here has heard of.

Thank you for the information 🙂

 

[VeganSoprano]

Living expenses means housing, insurance, food, utilities, etc. Cost of living is definitely higher in the Caribbean, plus travel expenses and extra licensing expenses after graduation. You can also work up to 20 hours a week on a student visa in the US. I don't think that's possible in the Caribbean. Overall, an AVMA/CVMA accredited school should be considered a more favorable option, if you have a choice.

 

[Minnerbelle]

I was looking at the Tufts website. It's ~$42000 tuition and says that it includes fees and living expenses.

you might want to check that again. the $42,000 is just tuition and doesn't include fees and living expenses. the cost of education (which includes fees and living expenses) is >60,000/yr and rising. 😱

 

[jpeterman13]

It's ~$42000 tuition and says that it includes fees and living expenses. What does it mean by living expenses... is that including a place to live? The carib schools are ~$22000 tuiton/year plus living expenses, which would make it cheaper, not including travel and visa and stuff.

Where is Western? When I do a google search, the school in Ontario is the only one that comes up.

Minnerbelle is right, that is JUST tuition. And for the Carib schools, at Ross, it was $22000 for tuition/fees PER SEMESTER! There are 10 semesters and semesters 7-10 tend to be more expensive. Tacking on living and all for a preclinical semester, you're looking at ~$25000 minimum. Which translates to muy expensivo! SGU is cheaper at ~$25000/year and about $16-18000/year living/travel/etc (BUT they are just private loans, unless something has changed recently so interest rates need to be taken into account). But that is just a ballpark. But remember that a round trip ticket to an island is about $1000. So if you fly home twice a year for the first 3 years, that's about $6000 on flights alone. Then add of the fee of either the PAVE or ECFVG which are ~$1000/$6000 respectively. Western is actually called Western University of Health Sciences in Pomona, CA...again, it's a VERY expensive program! Well above the $200000 mark I believe based on the estimate that they gave on their site. However, all OOS tution is fairly expensive. I will be lucky (!!!) if I get out of ISU at $200000.
DISCLAIMER: if my math/numbers is/are wrong, don't kill me 😳! Crunch the numbers whenever you get some free time, but have a bottle of tequila or whatever your poison is to mitigate any panic attacks.

 

[rugbychick16]

Kansas State accepts internationals. amd doesnt require any animal science classes for admission
http://www.vet.ksu.edu/admit/requirements.htm

Tuition is roughly $40,000/year for OOS as well.

 

[pierlucke]

A friend of mine has a friend who chose to go to some obsure school in Austrailia. She got a student loan to go there. The government has a list of hundreds of schools that they will give you loans to go to, but other than that, I have no idea how it works. I have to look into it. I was thinking of applying to SGU, but only their med school is on their list. Ross and St Matthew's vet schools are on the list.

I have $48 000 worth of debt right now... if I don't get into my inprovince school, I'm going to work for a year to get rid of some of that before applying elsewhere.

Edited to add: I do know that banks offer lines of credit for students in professional school. It's $20 000 - $25 000 per year.

Hi, I'm also a Canadian and I had a look at all my options before going back to vet school. I really think your best shot would be mooving to PEI for a year to apply to AVC as a PEI resident.

Applicant from NS to AVC are very competitive (many applicant for few spots). Applicants from PEI are way less. You might want to consider moving to PEI to work for 12 month in a way that you establish residency there. This way you will have cheap 'instate'' tuiton fees and you will be close to your friend and family.Moreover, I think this is probably the place you have more chance at getting in. If I was in you situation, this is what I would do. Remember that a 200k$ or more loan is difficult overcome with a vet salary (50-65k$ after graduation).
Also , if you stop school for a year to work, you loose a full year working as a Vet...I don't know what kind of job you could do right now but its not easy to repay a loan with a small salary. You should check if it really worth it...What I'm trying to say is numbers talk and they may help you take a decision...

 

[thnythe]

As someone else suggested, if you're planning on working for a year you can also always change your province of residency.

I'm not sure what the stats are like for AVC or OVC, but if you worked for a year in Manitoba or Saskatchewan your chances of getting in increase to about 1/3 (http://explore.usask.ca/programs/nondirect/vm/#stats).

Even working in Alberta for a year may be advantageous, as you could then apply to both WCVM and UCVM.

Honestly, with your stats, I think you have a good chance of getting into a Canadian vet school and saving yourself all the international student fees.

 

[168135]

Thanks guys for the advice and the math. I know I can't afford to go to school out of the country, but I keep thinking I'm missing something and that I'm going to come across something that's not as crazy as $60 000/year.

In Manitoba, Saskatchewan and PEI, do you gain residency after a year? I asked my vet about BC because I have an aunt who lives there, and she said it takes two years to gain residency there.

 

[Braki]

If you decided to move to any of the western provinces and lived there for a year, you would be considered a resident of that province by WCVM's definition. This is what they say:

For an applicant not residing with his or her parents, residence is established by the applicant's residing in the province in question for at least one year (12 consecutive months) without attending post-secondary education.

So although you might not be a resident of BC for tax purposes or whatever, you would still be considered a BC resident for vet school applications. If you look at the stats posted above though, if you want to go to WCVM, it'd be best to apply from Saskatchewan or Manitoba. Alberta and BC are more competitive when it comes to spots.

 

[sunshinevet]

Yeah... I can't remember the name of it, but it was a tiny, private, women-only school that deals with the arts or something that nobody here has heard of.

Haha... nooo... we don't really have unis here like that...

The only vet science unis in Australia that accept international students are Murdoch, Sydney, Melbourne and Queensland.

We also have Charles Sturt, Adelaide, and James Cook, but they don't accept internationals.

International tuition here at Murdoch is around $40,000AUD a year. Not including living expenses. It's not exactly for the faint hearted, given its atleast 5 years.