Canadian applicants + anyone who understands residency matching

[KCSpelunca]

As a Canadian, I would like to keep my options open to where I want to practice in the future. My question is this: if I go to an American med school, how does that affect my status in the matching? Do Canadians use the same system as the Americans? If so, do they match up Canadian students first and then leave the leftovers to American students?

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[PetraP]

from what I know about canadian residency matching is that it is really hard to get matched if you arent from a canadian med school. I think canadians will all get the first picks, and then international applicants are allowed in for the second round. Whereas if you go to canadian school, I think you have a slightly better chance getting matched in the states (if you go to U of T or McGill), but as to how good of a match you can get, I dont know, but would definitely like to find that out!

 

[ocean11]

I am a Canadian applicant and I heard that it is EASIER to get residency if you go to a US school than another international med school.... if you're a Canadian Citizen that is. Check out the CARMS web site

 

[KCSpelunca]

For those of us who are Canadian residents, this will be of interest. I sent an email to CaRMS yesterday and this is what they told me:

"U.S. Medical Students starting their final year at an accredited
medical school will be considered in some provinces for the First Iteration, providing they are a Canadian citizen or have landed immigrant status in Canada."

exactly which ones I have yet to find out..will try to e-mail again..

 

[ocean11]

thats exactly what I heard too, great news eh?

 

[KCSpelunca]

CaRMS sent a reply today:

"While students at LCME Accredited Medical Schools are eligible to register for the First Iteration of the Match, the eligibility to be ranked by the programs will vary from province to province. Please contact the postgraduate office at the medical schools of interest for further information on eligibility for ranking."

so, it's still up in the air..my thinking is that if Canadian residents are leaning towards going back to practice, it will just be a a heckuva lot easier to attend med schools back in Canada. Only come down to the US (1) you want to spend enormous sums of money (2) have a vested interest in practising in US (3) you got acceptances in the US but not in Canada.

comments welcome..

 

[moo]

It varies from program to program and province to province. I've looked into some programs in internal med in BC and I emailed one PD who replied saying that Canadians from US schools are at no disadvantage when applying. Again, it varies from program to program: some will drop you to the second iteration, while others will consider you, but you will be at a slight disadvantage all things being equal. Also, if you plan on coming to the US, I feel that it is really unfair of you to go to a Canadian med school and then abandon the province/country in which you trained to come down here. Some do it for academic reasons which I feel is ok, but others do it purely for the money.

 

[KCSpelunca]

Thanks for the clarification. For me personally, I'm attending an American undergraduate school right now and am applying to both Canadian and American med schools. Since I ultimately would love to go back to Canada to practice, Canadian med schools are my first choice, but I'm applying to American ones too cuz I understand how hard it could be to get into a Canadian one..I didn't realize that choosing a med school can have important consequences later on--such where you could practice--so I wanted to get it straight in my head first.

As to your comment about abandoning one country for another, I very much agree. Besides, I'm not even sure if American doctors really make all that much more money. I mean, it's hella expensive living down in the States, paying for education, health insurance, car insurance, malpractice insurance. The cost of living's higher (Baltimore versus Vancouver from my perspective) and medical litigation is off the charts in the US.

 

[Legend]

why would you wanna go to US med school if you plan to practice in Canada?

I myself decided to go to US med school because I didn't want to practice in Canada.

 

[KCSpelunca]

If you can't get into a Canadian school, what other options are there besides skipping a year?

 

[Thewonderer]

Originally posted by KCSpelunca
Only come down to the US (1) you want to spend enormous sums of money (2) have a vested interest in practising in US (3) you got acceptances in the US but not in Canada.

comments welcome..

I agree with the later two points. But I don't think that anyone WANTS to spend an enormous sum of money for no reason. So that point should be changed to, "(1) wants to go to big-name US programs (i.e. Hopkins, Columbia, Penn, Yale, Vanderbilt, Baylor) as opposed to UBC, etc. and get treated better in terms of student lounge and hospital facilities, and be willing to pay hefty sum in the process."

Originally posted by KCSpelunca

If you can't get into a Canadian school, what other options are there besides skipping a year?

I don't quite understand that. If you can't get into a Canadian school, then you cannot get into a Canadian school THAT year. There is no way around it.

Option A) go ahead and matriculate at a med school in US, Ireland, Australia, etc.

Option B) enhance your application (post-bac program, doing research, get a master's, etc.) for next year's Canadian app or

Option C) do ABSOLUTELY nothing but try to find a way to get into UBC and MacMaster by playing their games according to their rules.

 

[KCSpelunca]

I'm at Hopkins right now and have little intention of going back for med school purely for the sake of the name. The (a) option is what I'm getting at..if I can't get into a Canadian med school, then American schools are a natural second choice because they offer (1) reasonable chance to go back up to Canada for residency and (2) great chance of practising in US (which even if it isn't Canada, is close and a great country no less).

Another question: I'm a BC Resident..applying to UBC, Toronto, Queens, Western Ontario, Calgary, and Memorial. Are there any other Canadian schools that I have a decent shot of getting into and whose deadline isn't over yet? For example, there's really no point of wasting money on Saskatchewn is there?

 

[Thewonderer]

Originally posted by KCSpelunca
I'm at Hopkins right now and have little intention of going back for med school purely for the sake of the name. The (a) option is what I'm getting at..if I can't get into a Canadian med school, then American schools are a natural second choice because they offer (1) reasonable chance to go back up to Canada for residency and (2) great chance of practising in US (which even if it isn't Canada, is close and a great country no less).

Another question: I'm a BC Resident..applying to UBC, Toronto, Queens, Western Ontario, Calgary, and Memorial. Are there any other Canadian schools that I have a decent shot of getting into and whose deadline isn't over yet? For example, there's really no point of wasting money on Saskatchewn is there?

I am surprised that you are so set on going back to Canada. Since you are a premed at Hopkins, there are a lot of people shooting for top 10 med schools in the states and when you tell them about UBC, MacMaster, etc., they will be like, "uh? That will be such a waste of your GPA and MCAT!!!"

U of Alberta is very good to BC'ers. Saskatchewan is not a very good choice. But you should never ever cut out school from your list unless it is due to financial reason. According to AMCAS, Manitoba also interviews quite a few out-of-province I believe. And it seems that they have a formula to grant interviews. Get the AMCAS book and find out more about it.

Honestly, for my friends from BC who wanted to make sure that they got into "a" school, they applied to all the english-speaking ones across Canada, including Dalhousie, McGill, MacMaster, etc. It all depends on how willing you are to shell out application fees.