Temple, along with other Podiatry schools in the US, will only give you advance standing if you completed some of your basic science courses in a Medical School (MD/DO) or a graduate level science program. To my knowledge, the completion of the Chiropody program in Canada will not allow you to be advanced standing since the Canadian Chiropody program is considered to be an undergraduate certificate program and not a Professional Level / Graduate Level education. I heard of a rumor that Michener is trying to convert the Chiropody program to a Graduate Level Diploma starting in September 2006. You can check with David Martin at TUSPM admissions in regards to accepting any of the Chiropody courses for advanced standing at TUSPM. Podiatry schools in the US are considered to be Professional Schools, same as the Medical and Dental Schools in the US and Canada.
As for Temple offering a podiatry prep program, I have never heard of this. It is possible that your friend is taking one of those commercial prep courses for GRE exam. The only two programs that Temple has for Pre Podiatry students are the Summer Internship Program (where undergraduate students have a chance to learn more about Podiatry) and the SARP Program (which is a program for students who have been admitted to Temple and wants to get a head a start on the basic science courses).
You are right about that the Chiropody degree in Ontario Province will allow you to function as a Podiatry assistant in US. The training between the US Podiatry School and the Canadian Chiropody School differ greatly. The US Podiatry School basically trains and prepare students to enter into residency training programs where the graduates will be able to render all aspect of foot and ankle care (both surgical and conservative management). If the Podiatry graduate enters into a three year residency program, they can potentially be board certified to perform all aspects of foot and ankle surgeries that a foot and ankle fellowship trained Orthopedic Surgeon can do. Chiropody Schools in Ontario will only train you to do the conservative (none surgical) management of various foot and ankle ailments. Hence, obtaining advanced standing into the third year at the US Podiatry Schools after getting a Chiropody diploma is difficult since the Chiropody program lacks many of the surgical courses and certain basic science courses that are taught in the first two years of Podiatry School. In addition to the Podiatry relevant courses, US Podiatry School students takes pretty much the same basic science courses that one would take in the first two years of US Medical (DO/MD) schools. This is the major reason why majority of the Canadian students opted to come to US for Podiatry school training and not go to one of the Chiropody school in Ontario. If you do not want to leave Canada for Podiatry school training, there is a Podiatry school in Quebec that is founded with the aid of the New York College of Podiatric Medicine.
As for the requirements for entry into the US Podiatric Medical Schools, the previous poster already listed them for you.
My recommendation is for you to decide what you want to do in terms of what type of foot care you hope to render. If you wish to render both surgical and conservative management, then I would recommend skipping Michener and go directly to a US Podiatry School program. If you are only interested in rendering conservative foot care only, then go to the Michener Program and don't waste your money in a US Podiatry School program. Remember, the laws in Ontario restricts a Podiatrists from doing surgery in hospital. I know that the laws are changing, such as in British Columbia, Podiatrists are able to operate in a hospital. I hope that this helps. Good luck.
