Oh CANADA!~

[lhereIaml]

My gpa is a laugable integer. I'm sure I'm gonna bomb the MCATs because the new 2007 version is said to be harder. But despite this, I still want to be a doctor after shadowing for a year and currently in the middle of EMT training. I was wondering how much easier Canadian med schools are to get into? Isnt it harder? Because they prefer local students rather than American rejects? Please enlighten me my wise peers

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[Monarch Kong]

I'm sure I'm gonna bomb the MCATs because the new 2007 version is said to be harder.

Where did you hear this

 

[saki0005]

i believe it is actually more difficult for americans

 

[lebam]

I think it's harder to get into canadian med schools. There are only a few who will even accept international applications and they usually have 5-12 spots available. so it's definitely not an easy route...

 

[lilmissfickle]

Even if you're a citizen, Canadian schools have very strict cut-offs for GPA and MCAT. Applying as an American is even harder, because there's less than 20 spots available.

 

[Medbound786]

Here's basically how mostly the good ole' Canuck system works:

Upon receiving all the applications (all schools are non-rolling), they establish a STRICT GPA and MCAT Cut-offs (for each sub-section). Without much consideration to your Essay, if you meet all the cut-offs, you get an Interview. If you DO NOT meet the Cut-offs, you're outright Rejected no matter how amazing the rest of your application is. During the Three-panel Interview, you're asked questions and scored by each member. Then, as each component of the application has different assigned weights (ie. MCAT maybe ~35%, GPA ~30%, Interview ~30% and so on...weights are variable school to school), your score for each component is fed into the system and out pops the ranked list of all interviewed students. The top 150 or so get direct acceptances on May 15th or 30th, the mid-ranked 10 or 15 students get waitlisted and the rest are Rejected !! ........and so ends their mostly straight-forward, robotic application cycle.

If yu're an American (International), you're out of luck at most places except maybe McGill which takes about 10 or so Americans each year. So by comparison, Canadian schools are very mechanic and mostly numbers oriented whereas Americans are holistic in their evaluation and allow for one component to compensate for the other. Make of this what you will.

 

[notdeadyet]

In short: If an American can't get into a halfway decent U.S. med school, there's no way s/he will get into a Canadian one. It ain't just the hockey that's tough up there.

 

[lealf-ye]

check out DO school, you should have a better chance there.

 

[coralfangs]

seriously, the cutoff is ****ed up in canada
however, the top school here doesn't have strict cutoffs

 

[ssc_396]

seriously, the cutoff is ****ed up in canada
however, the top school here doesn't have strict cutoffs

Coralfangs and medbound786,

There are 14 schools in Canada. Of those I believe only 3 have strict cutoffs (Western, Queens, UofO). Some others apply cutoffs only for OOP applicants because they get 900 applications for 10 spots and need to cull somehow.

But you should not generalize the Canadian application process based on 3 schools.

Yes – in general there is more emphasis on GPA than the US, but the US places more emphasis on the MCAT so it all evens out. And some Canadian schools have significantly less emphasis on academic qualities than the US, e.g. 50% of the UBC pre and post interview score comes from non-academic qualities.

But to the OP – getting in as an American is sadly very difficult.

 

[canucksfan]

Yup, most schools in Canada don't have strict cutoffs (if you're an in-province student that is - cutoffs are generally the norm for out-of-province students). Western and Queens are the only two with a firm cutoff across the board, while Ottawa has a step-wise cutoff system (ie. if you are a francophone from the Ottawa area, your cutoff is really low and may not even be much of a cutoff, while if you are an anglophone from outside Ontario, you will have an insanely high cutoff).

Honestly, Canadian schools each have their own different selection system. On one hand, you have the University of Manitoba, which bases 50% of the selection score on the MCAT. On the other, you have McMaster, which (until this coming cycle) didn't require the MCAT at all (in future, they will look at Verbal, and only Verbal).

How much a school looks at your whole application varies as well. UBC, as ssc mentioned, bases 50% of your pre-interview score on non-academics (and post-interview, 25% is non-academic, 50% is interview - only 25% is academic). University of Toronto is also pretty holistic at looking at applicants - although the percentages suggest that academics are important, they don't have a strict cutoff for MCAT scores and they REALLY care about the rest of your application (esp. the essay). Even a school like Queens which uses strict cutoffs isn't as academics-focused as you might think. Although the interview cutoff is strictly MCAT and GPA based, your MCAT and GPA are tossed out the window when deciding on interviewees to accept for medical school - Queens bases their final decision on your interview, answers to questions on their application (kinda like an essay broken into 5 parts), and references.

Of course, all of this becomes moot for American applicants once you come to the part about it being pretty darn difficult for Americans to get into Canadian med schools (unless, of course, you went to undergrad at a Canadian university). McGill is really the only school that accepts a significant number of Americans at 10 per year (which is double the number of out-of-province applicants they take - 5). Even then, the competition at Canadian schools can often be pretty stiff.

Anyways, good luck to the OP wherever you decide to apply this coming cycle !

(Oh, and see you in late Aug ssc!)

 

[trustwomen]

There are 14 schools in Canada. Of those I believe only 3 have strict cutoffs (Western, Queens, UofO). Some others apply cutoffs only for OOP applicants because they get 900 applications for 10 spots and need to cull somehow.

But you should not generalize the Canadian application process based on 3 schools.

Yes – in general there is more emphasis on GPA than the US, but the US places more emphasis on the MCAT so it all evens out. And some Canadian schools have significantly less emphasis on academic qualities than the US, e.g. 50% of the UBC pre and post interview score comes from non-academic qualities.

But to the OP – getting in as an American is sadly very difficult.

Must just add a small correction - there are 17 Canadian schools (did you not count the three Quebec French schools?): Memorial, Dal, Laval, Sherbrooke, UdeM, McGill, Western, Ottawa, Queen's, Toronto, NOSM, Mac, UofMan, UofSask, UofCalgary, UofAlberta, UBC.

I agree with the poster who said that if you can't get in to a mid-tier US school, you can pretty much forget about Canada. (It's easier, in many cases, for Canadians to get in to US schools than to stay here.)

The three French schools have GPA cutoffs also, for all applicants (including in-province).

 

[ssc_396]

Must just add a small correction - there are 17 Canadian schools (did you not count the three Quebec French schools?): Memorial, Dal, Laval, Sherbrooke, UdeM, McGill, Western, Ottawa, Queen's, Toronto, NOSM, Mac, UofMan, UofSask, UofCalgary, UofAlberta, UBC.

I agree with the poster who said that if you can't get in to a mid-tier US school, you can pretty much forget about Canada. (It's easier, in many cases, for Canadians to get in to US schools than to stay here.)

The three French schools have GPA cutoffs also, for all applicants (including in-province).

Appologies. I meant there are 14 English schools.