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Hey,
Introduction
I'm currently going into 3rd year undergrad (BSc in Biotech) in Canada. Due to an illness I had for the past 2 years, my gpa has really suffered (2.5/4). Treatment is underway and I seem to be making progress so I'm hoping in 3rd/4th year my marks will be better.
I understand that because my first 2 years have been horrible and I can't expect a huge jump to 4.0 in my 3rd and 4th years, my chances to get into a canadian and american med school is next to zero.
Unlike a lot of pre-meds, I'm really not 100% sure I even want to be in medicine. I have a few reasons to go into it, namely my passion to help people (I tend to go out of my way to help people, even though I'm working on trying to get rid of that heh), good problem solving & application skills on problems I've encountered by experience, passion to travel (so I need a profession that is universal to a degree), etc.
One of the reasons why I'm debating going into the profession is because I'm not sure I'm ready to give up my other interests (languages, cultures, world religions, traditional medicine [i.e. use honey, not cough syrup, to get rid of your cough symptoms].)
Anyways, I'm in the research stage right now, trying to figure out whether this is what I should be doing. My parents keep pushing me for "financial security" but I obviously don't want to sacrifice so much just for something like that, which can be achieved in other ways.
I know if I study internationally, my gpa won't be a huge problem if I factor well on the MCAT (i.e. Caribbean) or if I apply based on contacts (South Asian countries). I'm under the impression that 3rd world countries provide better clinical experience, since you encounter all sorts of diseases there that don't exist in in the Western world so I keep leaning towards going to South Asia if I do decide to choose this path.
My parents, on the other hand, want me to go to the Caribbean because I can get residency in the US and make my way back to Canada.
Questions
My questions are:
1) Does Canada treat Caribbean graduates and other foreign graduates (i.e. India/Pakistan) the same way or do Caribbean graduates have an easier time making it back to Canada (i.e. easier to get residency, licensing etc)? I personally don't want to practice in the US all my life. In fact, I'd only want to be there for residencies and the like if i REALLY have to (i.e. if it'll make my degree worth more in 3rd world countries). Canada's my home country so I'd like to come back here and eventually, perhaps, move to a developing country.
2) Do I have the pathway right?
-Graduate from foreign country
-Write exams & Gain residency in that country
-Write 4 exams i think in Canada and compete for residency spots in Canada.
-Complete 1-5 years.
-Now legal to practice in Canada?
I don't need to write the USMLEs if I don't want to go to the US right?
Introduction
I'm currently going into 3rd year undergrad (BSc in Biotech) in Canada. Due to an illness I had for the past 2 years, my gpa has really suffered (2.5/4). Treatment is underway and I seem to be making progress so I'm hoping in 3rd/4th year my marks will be better.
I understand that because my first 2 years have been horrible and I can't expect a huge jump to 4.0 in my 3rd and 4th years, my chances to get into a canadian and american med school is next to zero.
Unlike a lot of pre-meds, I'm really not 100% sure I even want to be in medicine. I have a few reasons to go into it, namely my passion to help people (I tend to go out of my way to help people, even though I'm working on trying to get rid of that heh), good problem solving & application skills on problems I've encountered by experience, passion to travel (so I need a profession that is universal to a degree), etc.
One of the reasons why I'm debating going into the profession is because I'm not sure I'm ready to give up my other interests (languages, cultures, world religions, traditional medicine [i.e. use honey, not cough syrup, to get rid of your cough symptoms].)
Anyways, I'm in the research stage right now, trying to figure out whether this is what I should be doing. My parents keep pushing me for "financial security" but I obviously don't want to sacrifice so much just for something like that, which can be achieved in other ways.
I know if I study internationally, my gpa won't be a huge problem if I factor well on the MCAT (i.e. Caribbean) or if I apply based on contacts (South Asian countries). I'm under the impression that 3rd world countries provide better clinical experience, since you encounter all sorts of diseases there that don't exist in in the Western world so I keep leaning towards going to South Asia if I do decide to choose this path.
My parents, on the other hand, want me to go to the Caribbean because I can get residency in the US and make my way back to Canada.
Questions
My questions are:
1) Does Canada treat Caribbean graduates and other foreign graduates (i.e. India/Pakistan) the same way or do Caribbean graduates have an easier time making it back to Canada (i.e. easier to get residency, licensing etc)? I personally don't want to practice in the US all my life. In fact, I'd only want to be there for residencies and the like if i REALLY have to (i.e. if it'll make my degree worth more in 3rd world countries). Canada's my home country so I'd like to come back here and eventually, perhaps, move to a developing country.
2) Do I have the pathway right?
-Graduate from foreign country
-Write exams & Gain residency in that country
-Write 4 exams i think in Canada and compete for residency spots in Canada.
-Complete 1-5 years.
-Now legal to practice in Canada?
I don't need to write the USMLEs if I don't want to go to the US right?
