How difficult is it to go to canadian med school?

[Jasminegab]

I have hard that it is near impossible to get into Canadian medical school and that US citizens trying to get into Canadian Medical schools should be as competitive as thoughs who are applying to Harvard or Yale Medical schools in the U.S. Is this true?

I also heard that there are only like 10 spots each year for the few schools that due allow Non-Canadian applicants. Compared with other around the world this makes it even more difficult to gain acceptance since I'm sure that there are more than just 10 people from around the world who apply to get into Canadian Medical Schools. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong.


Jasmine

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Dr.BadVibes]

I would say getting into a Canadian school might be harder than Harvard or Yale......only because there arent many schools in Canada.

 

[phenolphthalein]

Mcgill in Montreal: http://www.medicine.mcgill.ca/admissions/default.htm
seems to take a fair amount of US citizens. They have GPA and MCAT cutoffs of 3.5, 30 but those are the generally recommended numbers for admission into US schools too, so it doesn't seem that impossible to get into.

 

[redshifteffect]

Originally posted by phenolphthalein
Mcgill in Montreal: http://www.medicine.mcgill.ca/admissions/default.htm
seems to take a fair amount of US citizens. They have GPA and MCAT cutoffs of 3.5, 30 but those are the generally recommended numbers for admission into US schools too, so it doesn't seem that impossible to get into.

McGill would be the only exception....the rest particullarly those in English Canada would be a lot tougher..they have 10 spots set aside but rarely ever fill them....Also for McGill you would have to learn French wouldn't you?

 

[pitman]

For the public uni's, the general policy was (late '90s when I last checked ): nearly all successful candidates from within same PROVINCE, then some left for out-of-province CANADIANS, and 0 to a handful for COMMONWEALTH. I.e., 0 for U.S.

-pitman

 

[Kamikaze Dino]

From redshifteffect

McGill would be the only exception....the rest particullarly those in English Canada would be a lot tougher..they have 10 spots set aside but rarely ever fill them....Also for McGill you would have to learn French wouldn't you?

Actually, McGill is an Anglo University; one of two in Montreal, the other being Concordia (no medicine there). Many people in Montreal can speak English to an acceptable level, especially the less than forty croud, and you can do just fine without speaking French. There are also Anglo areas in Montreal, such as Westmount, Duluth, and I believe Outremont, where there is a large Jewish population who speak English as a first language.

So, smile! Classes in McGill are in english.

On a lighter note, the three French Med Schools in Quebec, Laval, Montreal and Sherbrooke use mostly English textbooks. So if your first language is French, you still have to know English (in the written form anyway).

 

[Surfer75]

One of the only med schools I got into was Canadian... and I had applied more than once without much of a look given a 3.65 GPA / 30 MCAT.

 

[Stephen Ewen]

Newfoundland regularly takes several U.S. citizens. Great emphasis on rural care there, too.

 

[Surfer75]

They pretty much stopped taking Americans... they did for the Classes of 2000 (5) 2001-2 (15) 2003 (9) 2004 (7) 2005 (5) 2006 (3) or thereabouts... now that they have a new contract with New Brunswick they're taking many more from NB.

S

 

[Friendly]

Originally posted by avingupta
I would say getting into a Canadian school might be harder than Harvard or Yale......only because there arent many schools in Canada.

...but it's easier for internationals than for Canadians - based on that fact that internationals pay around 5-fold greater tutition. This is why several Canadian schools reserve places for them. It's probably no more difficult than getting into an average U.S. school, I would think.

 

[pitman]

Originally posted by Friendly
...but it's easier for internationals than for Canadians - based on that fact that internationals pay around 5-fold greater tutition. This is why several Canadian schools reserve places for them. It's probably no more difficult than getting into an average U.S. school, I would think.

It's actually much harder for all but a couple (can only think of McGill as an exception). Citizens of Commonwealth nations have a fighting chance, but otherwise, there's about 0 chance of getting in as an int'l to most.

-pitman

 

[Friendly]

Originally posted by pitman
It's actually much harder for all but a couple (can only think of McGill as an exception). Citizens of Commonwealth nations have a fighting chance, but otherwise, there's about 0 chance of getting in as an int'l to most.

-pitman

A couple of schools in Canada told me directly that being a citizen of one country rather than another confers no advantage when they opt to admit internationals. They sounded pretty genuine.

 

[pitman]

Originally posted by Friendly
A couple of schools in Canada told me directly that they being a citizen of one country rather than another confers no advantage when they opt to admit internationals. They sounded pretty genuine.

Apologies then -- thus is why I started by prefixing with "late '90s when I last checked" . So is it really EASIER for an American than for a Canadian in the public uni's?

-pitman

 

[redshifteffect]

Originally posted by pitman
Apologies then -- thus is why I started by prefixing with "late '90s when I last checked" . So is it really EASIER for an American than for a Canadian in the public uni's?

-pitman

i think this guy meant that whether or not u were an american or a UK citizen would make no difference it would be equally tough for all.

 

[QM6]

It's not just McGill that's open, Queen's will also consider apps from non-Canadians if your parents are Queen's alumni.

Happy Christmas all!

 

[jbish]

I'm an Anglo US citizen first year at McGill med. If anyone has any questions regarding the int'l student application process, living in Montreal without speaking a word of French, or McGill Med in general feel free to PM me.