Caribbean vs. Australian Med for Canadian hoping to come back to Canada

[nochu11]

Hi everyone, I'm hoping that there's someone out there who can offer some advice on what I should do.

A little background:

• 3.71 GPA
• volunteered/shadowed an ophthalmologist for 7+ years, volunteered at hospital for 1.5 years
• wrote the MCAT three times (most recent attempt: 127 on chem & psych, 129 on bio, 120 on cars)
• applied to medicine three times

My GPA is not the highest, but for Canadian med schools they adjust the GPA by dropping some courses so my GPA is a bit higher for some schools. And as you can see, my MCAT is absolutely horrible, especially that CARS score. My chances at Canadian medical schools is pretty much impossible. I'm considering writing the MCAT again...for the fourth time. So, first question is: Should I write my MCAT again?

And if I write again and my score is still not competitive enough for Canadian or US, I'm thinking of applying to Caribbean and Australian medical schools. But which one is better for someone who wants to return to Canada and wants to become an ophthalmologist? I know that Caribbean and Australian medical schools are NOT ideal, but I have no other options at this point. I know that I will be an IMG and I will be competing with US and Canadian medical graduates for the residency positions. I know that my Step scores have to be phenomenal and I need good reference letters. Say I do kill the Step exams and receive good recommendations, Carib or Aus?

I would greatly appreciate any feedback/advice!

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[Dr.Sticks]

Don't do Caribbean....
You might not even match, extraordinary students from there struggle to match.
Read a story of a guy who killed the boards, honored everything and he barely got into internal medicine.
He wanted to be an orthopedic surgeon though.

 

[DoctorS84]

You are not going to be an ophthalmologist going to med school abroad. Unless you manage to get PR in Australia, you have a chance of staying and training towards it.

Even staying in US/Canada doesn't guarantee you an ophthalmology residency, one of the most competitive residences. Not saying you shouldn't have a goal, but you need to keep your options open and have a backup, then a backup backup.

 

[Domperidone]

Maybe write the MCAT again (as it's 4th time - i'm not sure it's going to change much).
the steps are twice as long as the MCAT and harder. If you're not killing the MCAT now.. that's not particularly reassuring for when you go on to the steps and other standardized tests later.

Going the DO route in the US is another option, that is, if you want ophthal badly - is the context i'm getting at. Try the what are my chances forum.

If you go offshore, it's not merely about getting good grades or step scores or whatever scores to go back to the US/Canada. If you're lucky, you'll get electives in ophthal. But that's not a guarantee and it's hard to arrange. you also have to do research. All of that, will just bring you to the point of applying and maybe getting an interview. Just remember that any AMGs or CMGs will all be the same things to build their applications with the added bonus of being on 'home turf'. Just matching as an offshore student is a challenging, but to make it into ophthal is a big, big ask.

On the side, Ophthal is extremely competitive in Australia. As above, a selection requirement is having Australian citizenship or PR. Selection - RANZCO.edu. The way training is structured in Australia, you don't get to even apply until at minimum PGY3-4. We're talking a specialty that has few training spaces (and few jobs for attendings/consultants) to begin with. And currently a lot of interest in spite of this.

Also, how badly is it that you want Ophthal? would you be happy doing something else in medicine?

Cause going offshore in order to get into a competitive specialty is like this

Luck can be a huge factor.

As above. have backups.
you will still see some occasional eye stuff on family med for example.
how happy will you be with compromise? would you give other fields a chance? how will you cope if you don't get your end goal?

it may be too early to tell. many students/premeds change their minds during rotations. things aren't always what they seem from the outside.

 

[bearded frog]

If you are struggling with the MCAT, there are much harder hoops to jump through to get to residency, and optho is one of the most competitive residencies that you're not going to be able to do without med school in the US or Canada. Time to make some tough choices.

 

[Skip Intro]

...extraordinary students from there struggle to match.
Read a story of a guy who killed the boards, honored everything and he barely got into internal medicine.

We are all familiar with this anecdotal story on the Caribbean sub-forum. This particular individual is certainly an extraordinary... ahem... something.

He wanted to be an orthopedic surgeon though.

List of orthopedic surgery matches from "big four". That was not his problem.

-Skip

 

[Skip Intro]

But which one is better for someone who wants to return to Canada and wants to become an ophthalmologist? <snip>

I would greatly appreciate any feedback/advice!

Any feedback/advice? At this point, I would seriously start to become more honest and realistic with yourself about your actual chances at ever becoming an ophthalmologist, which is one of the most difficult residencies to obtain for even the most competitive candidates from the best U.S. and Canadian medical schools.

Every dream needs a realistic back-up plan. Otherwise, you're just setting yourself up for a lot of disappointment... and debt.

-Skip

 

[mcat_taker]

Hi everyone, I'm hoping that there's someone out there who can offer some advice on what I should do.

A little background:

• 3.71 GPA
• volunteered/shadowed an ophthalmologist for 7+ years, volunteered at hospital for 1.5 years
• wrote the MCAT three times (most recent attempt: 127 on chem & psych, 129 on bio, 120 on cars)
• applied to medicine three times

My GPA is not the highest, but for Canadian med schools they adjust the GPA by dropping some courses so my GPA is a bit higher for some schools. And as you can see, my MCAT is absolutely horrible, especially that CARS score. My chances at Canadian medical schools is pretty much impossible. I'm considering writing the MCAT again...for the fourth time. So, first question is: Should I write my MCAT again?

And if I write again and my score is still not competitive enough for Canadian or US, I'm thinking of applying to Caribbean and Australian medical schools. But which one is better for someone who wants to return to Canada and wants to become an ophthalmologist? I know that Caribbean and Australian medical schools are NOT ideal, but I have no other options at this point. I know that I will be an IMG and I will be competing with US and Canadian medical graduates for the residency positions. I know that my Step scores have to be phenomenal and I need good reference letters. Say I do kill the Step exams and receive good recommendations, Carib or Aus?

I would greatly appreciate any feedback/advice!

OP your MCAT is great except for that CARS score. If you could bump up that section to even 50th percentile 125 or so, based on your other scores you're looking at a 508 or 30 on the old scale. I think you are significantly blowing it if you don't focus on the verbal section for another shot. Otherwise what everyone else is saying is true, opthal is not realistic for IMGs. Some Australian schools may just look at your overall score of 503 (since your other scores are so high) which would be reasonably competitive for internationals but other schools might have individual section cut off scores. Research that. Australian schools will not care how many times you took the MCAT.