Maple Syrup and Moose Heads (Warning: Canadian)

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Sylvester Sly

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Long time reader, first time poster, let's go thought a quick run through.

I go to University of Western Ontario, I'm applying next year.

MCAT: 40S
Percent Average (years 1-current): ~93% (all above 90 though)
OMSAS Calculated GPA: 4.0
AMSAS GPA: 4.0
AMSAS sGPA (to be fair I only have the pre-reqs in science, all my other courses are econ/maths): 4.0

ECs:

A bunch of scholarships and such.
Published Economics research paper (unrelated yes, it was my interest)
Unpublished bio/med research
A couple of leaderships in university clubs
Started an investment club back in HS (makes enough to pay my way in uni)

The Negatives:

I'm Canadian
I'm Canadian
I'm Canadian
First year I was an econ major

What I'm Asking:

Do I have a shot at the top US schools? (Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Cornell, Baylor, NYU)

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How many years of research have you done? What is your clinical experience? Have you done some physician shadowing? Tell us about your community service.

Leadership activity and a publication are a good start.

Illegal to shadow physicians in Canada. Community service, I teach Arabic to young children on weekends for the past 6 years. I've done 2 summers of Bio research 1 summer of Engineering research and 1 summer of Economics stuff.

I'm still third year so I'd welcome any suggestions.
 
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"Top US schools" tend to be research giants. They value substantive, committed research activity. I'm not sure that four summers of research will fit that expectation. There are some other schools in the US that are less-selective where the research you've done will be sufficient. Some people get into top schools without research, but they tend to have stand-out activities in leadership and/or community service. I don't think you are quite in that category either, though what you've done is good.

With the research you have, your current leadership and community service, and year to a year and a half of clinical experience (ideally involving some work directly with physicians since you can't shadow) gained at 3-4 hours per week, you'd have a solid application with great stats that would appeal to a lot of US schools. But top twenty is iffy. I'm not saying not to try though.

bannie22 is from Canada, applying to US schools as an international, and active in this forum. Why not PM him and ask him to comment on your question for another opinion.
 
OP, I think you should double check on whether or not it is illegal to shadow a physician in Canada. Im in Ontario and this past summer I assisted one of the physicians I worked for with a paracentesis as well as some smaller procedures on other occassions
 
good job on the mcat and the gpa.

i think it would be important to build on your clinical experience from here on till you apply.

clinical experience should mostly involve volunteering at a hospital, but any other related work should be fine. you shud try to get in at least 150hours before you apply.

i do not think it would affect you at all that you are an econs major, schools might also like to see that you can handle the higher level science course loads, so if ure currently in science u will be able to demonstrate them that in 4th year. however, i have a feeling that you are currently a math major. but once again, not a problem at all. being able to handle the prerequisites with a 4.0 is more than good enough.

to answer your question
(Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Cornell, Baylor, NYU)?

if u manage to accumulate 150hours+ of clinical volunteering. you should be able to have a fair shot at all the above schools, particularly NYU.

you probably listed NYU together with those giants because canadians are more familiar with schools in the northeast.

i would drop baylor because they show way too much texas love :) but i think they accept canadians so go for it (just double check), i am quite sure they do not take internationals.

i wouldnt look at your nationality as too much of a negative.

remember. ure canadian, ure considered OOS at many schools, and even when schools consider internationals they consider canadians with much higher regard. so the disadvantage is present, but not overwhelming, especially not with a strong application like yours (abeit lacking the clinical experience)

like stratego said, continuing with a lab for your final year will also be important if you want a shot at those research giants
 
and strat is going to bite me on my lack of CAPS :p
 
schools would definitely like to see more of the heart that goes into becoming a physician (which can be found in the form of more volunteering experiences!)
 
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