Originally posted by Ray22:
•Hi all,
I was wondering if there are Canadians studying in the US. i have severals questions and hope that you will answer me.
is it that hard to get into US medicals schools for canadians in the US.
Are we as Canadians eligible for any loans in the US .
How are canadians candidates seen by US commities medical schools.
I hope you will answer me
Good luck to all•••
There was a long discussion thread on the pre-med part of this board. YOu sould try to search for it, probably no more than 5-6 pages back.
short answers to them....
1. hard to get into a top 10 school. should have 3.9+ GPA and 35+ MCAT and good research background. but if average school in the US, shouldn't be too difficult... 3.6 and 33 should do (of course, there is no magic number.... 3.5 and 30 can do as well.
2. absolutely no aid in the US (maybe except Yale and harvard that might offer some financial aid). However a few things to keep in mind. you can compete for academic-based scholarships at Case Western and Wash U in St. Louis (20k and 30k respectively). It is competitive but you might as well try. Also, Baylor, although private, is heavily funded by the state of Texas, so its tuition is "only" 15k (huge amount for Canadian standard but is little compared to 30k at Penn, Duke, Yale, Columbia, etc. etc.).
3. if you have the money, the committees will be nice to you. if you don't have the money, don't bother applying because you cannot matriculate anyway so why waste $$$ on app fees and plane tickets if you cannot even set your foot into the door? Cornell, Wash U and Penn for sure wants 200k US upfront in a bank account they designate before you first day of class. No $$$ = no matriculation for you. The money will accrue interests but they will limit how much you can take out per year (enough for school and living expense). All other schools in the US work similarly. If you don't believe me, I can photocopy some of those letters from Penn, Wash U and Cornell for you.
Alternative.....
I believe there is such thing called CanHelp. My friend went through it to get some HELP.
Or, if you think that you are good enough, try to get into an MD/PhD program... tuitions paid. My friend was kind of smart. He matriculated and shelled out 200k with the help of CanHelp. Then he applied for the PhD portion after 1 year of med school. So now he is MD/PhD. He gambled. He could not get into MD/PhD initially and was only offered acceptance to the MD track. He took that chance and took out big-time loan. Now, he gets his money back and pay back the loans. However, his first year tuition and living expense (30K+15K) are gone. The school would not reimburse him for that even though he is now an MD/PhD. But overall, not a bad deal for him!
