Tulane you need to have a waitlist from an MD school to be eligible. Temple is great but its a very specific thing that only have a handful of people in the program. Rosalind Franklin was the one I think that half the SMP graduates or close to it go onto their medical school. With a high enough MCAT score, it's perhaps feasible a very strong showing at a well regarded SMP like Georgetown could get an international an MD acceptance somewhere but that's a rather big if.
I agree though, not the greatest gamble in the world to say the least(you know all about my takes on SMPs and all my cautionary tales lol) . But if you are boning for an MD in the US and are the type who just isn't interested in a DO at all(which is a whole separate discussion) it's perhaps the most feasible option. Getting another degree won't bump your GPA up high enough to be a legitimate candidate in the majority of cases be it for Canadian schools or US. And having a 37-38 type MCAT score if you don't have a great GPA(which is what you'll need to have a shot as a Canadian applicant) isn't just something the majority of people can just go out for study for and just get.
You are right though, its a sad reality for Canadians. Imagine the people in top 20 med schools in the US who would have gotten get screened out from not having an 11 on the verbal like some Canadian schools do.
The scary thing is there is no data showing what happens to the Canadians who do well in the program, which raises several questions. The best we get is a list showing one Canadian med school where one program grad went Are U.S. MD schools willing to take a second look at low-GPA Canadians? Are Canadian MD schools willing to take a second look at low-GPA Canadians? Do Canadian MD schools know anything about SMPs? The whole thing is just one big question mark.
I dunno man, I can't think of any MD schools (or DO schools for that matter) that are ok with spending a ton of money educating Canadians only to have them go back home to practice. On SDN at least, AdCom members generally say that U.S. trained medical students are expected to practice in the U.S. Top schools are an exception, but they are out of the question here for obvious reasons. So, I guess this leaves low-GPA Canadians with three options:
1.) Do something else.
-As with most GPA redemption stories, this is probably the most practical decision.
2.) Practice medicine in the U.S.
-As I said, medical schools in the U.S. want to train U.S. physicians. Frankly, I don't think it's asking that much considering that they are willing to spend all of this time and money on you. We haven't even discussed all of the problems that come up during residency (green card/visa)!
3.) Figure out a way to get into Canadian MD schools.
No idea. I'm sure there are sources of knowledge on this on SDN if you look hard enough.
Of course they could lie and say they want to stay... but we'll just pretend that everyone's above that.
