I was told a 80+ at Western University of Ontario was a 4.0 in the USA. I am so sorry for my ignorance, this is all new to me..what does URM stand for? Where might I find a list of low/mid USMD schools that are Canadian friendly? Meharry (Nashville) and OUWB (Oakland)? I will be relying on a LOC and my parents will put their house up as equity...will I be able to afford US schools?
So you suggest applying to the AMCAS cycle this year with my 29 MCAT? I don't have ENG credits at the moment, I took Essay-based courses/ lab report courses, can I take them will applying or must they be complete before application. Should I start here:
https://www.aamc.org/students/applying/amcas/ ?
I was hoping to improve my MCAT, so I could apply to UofT (I was below cutoff), UWO, UBC, Queens (I was below cutoff), Cal etc. I am going to start prepping while waiting on the waitlist but I am obviously worried about damaging my chances. I think my Sciences were weak because I didn't practice...I just memorized the prep books as if it was a generic science exam and I was consistently getting 10+ on VR.
I have Aug 27th booked, should I be aiming to rewrite before or after I have re-applied to Mac/ Ottawa? How different will the new MCAT of 2015 be?
Thank you to both of you for replying, I cannot tell you how depressed I am right now lol.
Hi, I'm a US applicant, but I applied from a Canadian undergrad, so I have a little knowledge about your situation.
1) If you have 80+ in all of your courses from most Canadian universities, you have a 4.0. (UofT, McGill this is 85+ I think)
2) URM means Under-Represented Minority, these are racial groups which have a lower proportion of physicians compared to their US population. As an Afro-Carribean you are 100% a URM. URM applicants gain an admissions advantage, basically it's easier for a URM applicant to get into medical school compared to and Over Represented Minority (White, Asian) . This is good news for you, as last application cycle 94% of Black applicants with your statistics got into at least one MD school (source:
https://www.aamc.org/download/321514/data/2012factstable25-2.pdf). This number may be slightly lower for internationals.
3) go to premed101.com forums it's basically the Canadian version of this site. They have an entire section dedicated to listing Canadian friendly US MD schools.
4) For Canadian students going to the US for med school, your bank will provide and LOC of 150-200k (depending on which one you use). This will NOT be enough to pay for a US MD school. Also, for international students, most schools make you deposit 1-3 years of tuition into an escrow account upon acceptance (i.e. 40-150k UPFRONT).
5) I also applied without having taken ENGL, most schools let you complete prereqs during your application year. This shouldn't be a problem if you've already gotten BioI/II, Chem I/II, Phys I/II, Orgo I/II and Biochem I done.
6) If you want to apply this year, the application has already opened (I think). US schools have rolling admissions, meaning that as soon as they interview qualified applicants, they will accept them (ie, there will be less seats available for later applicants). To have a good shot at getting into a US MD school this year, you have to start working on your application NOW, (get a personal statement written, get LORs submitted, transcript sent in) and try to be completed at mid-June (even early June if you can do it, the earlier the better).
7) I don't know about the MCAT stuff, it would be best to ask around in the MCAT subforums here and (especially) at premed101
Good luck! Again, go to premed101, it has ALOT of resources for Canadian applicants.
