Canadian in need of some help.

[PKU]

Hello guys.

Hope everyone is having a great weekend! I sure am, studying for my finals.

Anyways I just had a question for you guys.

Say I take the US route, and go to MD/DO school in the states, either do residency there, or if I'm lucky, here in Canada, would I be able to practice (open my own clinic, work at a clinic/office) from where I come from? I live in Richmond Hill Ontario and would want to practice after I get my MD. Anyone want to clarify some things for me, such as the process, etc. I know I have to take an exam when I come back from the states and I may be under 1 year supervision, but that's, I just want to be a Doctor in my place of residence (home).

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[ThunderBear]

Um.. Why dont you just go to med school in canada if you want to practice in Canada?

 

[PKU]

Sorry I should have added this, the US route is there as a backup.

 

[PKU]

Why would you want to go to a US medical school if you want to practice in Canada? It's going to be much more difficult for you to get into a US medical school as an international applicant than it would be for you to get into a Canadian medical school. And it will be waaaaaaaay more expensive. We are talking 75 - 80k cost of attendance in the US (you won't qualify for any government aid as an international student) vs 20 - 25k in Canada.

Please read fourth post, my fault in not clarifying. Also are you from canada bro?

 

[PKU]

Nope, I'm not from Canada. I do know a tiny bit about the med school system there though. I know that it is harder for Canadians to get into Canadian med schools than it it for Americans to get into US med schools. But that certainly doesn't mean that it will be easier for you as a Canadian to get into a US med school than a Canadian school. Trust me. I have international student friends who are premed and want to go to a US med school with the intention of eventually settling down in the US, and even though they have great grades they are constantly panicking. Most US med schools only fill 1 - 2% of their class with international students, so you are competing for a painfully small number of seats. It's a bit easier for Canadians than it is for other international students, but you've still really got to be the cream of the crop if you want to get into a US med school as a Canadian. It is not a back up by any means.

EDIT: Only about half of all US med schools are able to take international students at all. Those that do usually only fill 1 - 2% of their class with international students.

EDIT 2: I'm not saying that it would be a waste of time to apply to US med schools -- the more schools you apply to, the better your odds after all. But don't be surprised if you have excellent grades and an excellent MCAT score but still get rejected at 80% of the US schools you apply to. Oh, and if your interviewing at a US med school and your interviewer asks you about your future plans, definitely don't tell them that you plan on heading back to Canada.

Sorry I believe "back up" was not a great word choice, sorry if that offended you bro, was not implying US is easier or anything. But let's say I want to get a DO instead, is the ball park different? Because there is no DO schools in canada. So will I be able to come back to canada after I get my degree and finish my residency to practice here?

 

[PKU]

Really appreciate all your help buddy!

 

[ZtetNb]

Hi OP, check out this forum: http://www.premed101.com/forums/ it's essentially Canada's version of SDN. You should be able to get your answer there, and get tons of useful info.

And please don't speak about the odds of admisison to US vs. Canadian med schools if you're not Canadian. Canadian med admisisons are ridiculously tough, especially if you're from the Toronto area (this includes Richmond Hill). This is not to say US med applicants have it easy, but there are a few low-mid tier US MD and some DO schools that accept Canadians. Frankly I know of several Canadians who went to US for med schools (Wayne State, Rosalind Franklin, NYMC, Albert Einstein, SLU, Meharry), and only one who applied to both Canada and US, and only got admission to Canada (which was likely because he only applied to top 10s). So I'd say US med admissions can certainly be a backup for Canadians.

 

[ZtetNb]

I didn't mean to ruffle any feathers. I'm not saying it's easier to get into Canadian med schools in any way: I know it's harder. But you have to admit that while a Canadian can apply to a DO (or MD) school as a backup, it's not quite the same as a US student applying to a DO school as a back up. It's going to be a more volatile backup for the Canadian student. The overall acceptance rate for international students at US med schools is 13% compared to 25%ish percent for Canadians applying to Canadian med school. It's something to try, but it's not a sure fire thing.

Yes indeed. Keep in mind though that Canadians do far better than the overall international rate, and that some students don't bother applying to Canada because they don't hit strict GPA cutoffs. I was just getting irked by people saying "why don't you apply to Canada?" when the answer is that many of us did, sometimes multiple times, only to fail yet later get acceptances (sometimes multiple) on the first shot at the US.