Canadian Electives compared to US electives.

[Doctor Brk]

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When i reach year 6 in my med school (m4 equivalent) , i am supposed to go to the US to do USCE to gain experience and get some LOR's. Came to my attention that i need ALL my core clerkships to be done by the time i apply , which isnt possible since in my school , we do some core clerkships in the final year , year 6. One of my friends told me that Canadia Electives can count as USCE in most cases. I wonder if this is true? Because Canadian electives only require the core clerkship you plan on doing an elective on to be done, which can help me massively. Also , I checked most US hospitals and MD schools. 99% of them require all core clerkships so im in a bit of a pickle. I dont wanna pay for those scam companies like MedClerkships or whatever. Appreciate any help i can get.

 

[NotAProgDirector]

Do not exchange Canadian rotations for US rotations. ALthough clinical training is theoretically exchangable, grading and LOR style are not. Do your rotations in the US. The requirement for "all cores" to be done is boilerplate. Check to see where/what previous students have done. Chances are you'll be able to rotate in the US. Talk to your school.

 

[Doctor Brk]

Do not exchange Canadian rotations for US rotations. ALthough clinical training is theoretically exchangable, grading and LOR style are not. Do your rotations in the US. The requirement for "all cores" to be done is boilerplate. Check to see where/what previous students have done. Chances are you'll be able to rotate in the US. Talk to your school.

Ah I see, so LOR's from canadian electives are just like any other LOR from somewhere other than the US? So there is no point in trying to get a LOR from Canada?

 

[Iris42]

Agree with the above, unless you can get a place at U of Toronto where you can find some big names to get your letters from.

 

[Doctor Brk]

So ideally , U of T is the best place to go for? My friend told me that since both canadian and american schools are accredited by LCME , LOR's are equal in weight to some extent. Is this true only for U of T? Thing is , i will keep searching and contacting places in the following year , maybe somewhere in the US someplace would help me out. Maybe not , who knows. I felt if that didnt woirk out , i can lean back on the canadian electives option.

 

[Iris42]

The most well known ones are U of T, McGill, McMaster, UBC. But ideally you want US clinical experience if you're applying to US, some programs specifically say that on their page. Letters should be fine if you find a big name to write them for you, but make sure the programs you're applying to accept Canadian clinical experience for IMGs.

 

[Planes2Doc]

I know someone who did her urology fellowship at Hospital for Sick Children (I thought it was a joke, like "School of Hard Knocks," but it exists!) in Toronto. She was pretty much at the top of her class since medical school. Otherwise, I haven't heard too much aboot people rotating in Canada. In fact, there were a couple Canadian students in my class, and they did exclusively US rotations. It's probably safer to stay in the United States.

 

[NowAnAmerican]

I know someone who did her urology fellowship at Hospital for Sick Children (I thought it was a joke, like "School of Hard Knocks," but it exists!) in Toronto. She was pretty much at the top of her class since medical school. Otherwise, I haven't heard too much aboot people rotating in Canada. In fact, there were a couple Canadian students in my class, and they did exclusively US rotations. It's probably safer to stay in the United States.

SickKids (Hospital for Sick Children) is one of the biggest pediatric hospitals in Canada. It's actually a research and clinical powerhouse. Most students aiming for pediatric residency who lean academic probably rank UofT (the affiliated medical school) very high due to the affiliation with SickKids.