Pros and cons of Canadian and Puerto Rican schools

[Dr. Josh]

Yes, I'm looking at everything, so tell me why I should or shouldn't apply in Canada or Puerto Rico? Easier or harder to get in? Cost? can anyone tell me from experience how it is? I have some knowledge of spanish but prefer not to study medicine in Spanish, or french or any other foreign language.

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[HumidBeing]

Do you live in Canada?

 

[scarletgirl777]

Yes, I'm looking at everything, so tell me why I should or shouldn't apply in Canada or Puerto Rico? Easier or harder to get in? Cost? can anyone tell me from experience how it is? I have some knowledge of spanish but prefer not to study medicine in Spanish, or french or any other foreign language.

Canadian schools care a lot more about numbers than American schools. It is also harder to get into a Canadian school if you are not Canadian or if you are not from the province the school is in. Most Canadian schools do not require French, and those that do usually teach all in French. No matter what your nationality, it is cheaper to go to a Canadian school than an American school (at least, the sticker price is lower, I don't know about different rules for financial aid).

A lot of Puerto Rican schools are taught in Spanish, get an MSAR to see which ones, and they all seem to give preference to people who are from Puerto Rico...don't know how they look at people who are ethnically Puerto Rican but not from Puerto Rico.

 

[Dr. Josh]

Canadian schools care a lot more about numbers than American schools. It is also harder to get into a Canadian school if you are not Canadian or if you are not from the province the school is in. Most Canadian schools do not require French, and those that do usually teach all in French. No matter what your nationality, it is cheaper to go to a Canadian school than an American school (at least, the sticker price is lower, I don't know about different rules for financial aid).

A lot of Puerto Rican schools are taught in Spanish, get an MSAR to see which ones, and they all seem to give preference to people who are from Puerto Rico...don't know how they look at people who are ethnically Puerto Rican but not from Puerto Rico.

I'm only asking this after seeing the schools in a MSAR, checking prices, etc. I wanted to know from some one's personal experience how much of the schools are taught in something other than English. And I am from neither Puerto Rico or canada but just checking all options.

 

[Law2Doc]

I'm only asking this after seeing the schools in a MSAR, checking prices, etc. I wanted to know from some one's personal experience how much of the schools are taught in something other than English. And I am from neither Puerto Rico or canada but just checking all options.

PR schools will mostly be in spanish. Most, if not all, explicitly require matriculants to be fluent in spanish. Honestly, medical school is tough enough to keep up with in your native tongue, that trying to figure out a lecture which heavilly utilizes medical spanish would be rough. You would be working a lot harder trying to master it in a foreign tongue. And bear in mind that even if a lot of the classroom stuff does get taught in english (which I doubt), the clinical years will be exclusively in spanish because the patients will be speaking spanish. You can't plan to muddle -- you'd better be very fluent.

 

[Begaster]

You have basically no chance to get into any Canadian school. Save your money.

 

[Dr. Josh]

You have basically no chance to get into any Canadian school. Save your money.

I sort of figured that, thanks for the reaffirmation. I was only thinking of applying because they were cheap.

 

[Vihsadas]

I sort of figured that, thanks for the reaffirmation. I was only thinking of applying because they were cheap.

Well depending how good your stats are, it wouldn't hurt to apply to the schools that take internationals. In fact, it's easier to get in as an international student at McGill than an Out of Province school. If you were going to apply I think that UoT or McGill would really be the only two to bother with. Both of which are amazing schools.

If I weren't Canadian, I wouldn't even bother with my stats. My GPA is about .5 points too low...

 

[galaxie]

I sort of figured that, thanks for the reaffirmation. I was only thinking of applying because they were cheap.

Depending on where you're thinking of applying the cost of living would make up for the lower tuition. There are only a handful of Canadian schools that accept International students - I'm Canadian and my boyfriend is American, we just went through this last year when he was looking at schools. Basically your best options are in Ontario or Quebec, and personally, you couldn't pay me to live in that weather!

 

[Invalid]

I sort of figured that, thanks for the reaffirmation. I was only thinking of applying because they were cheap.

I don't belive they are cheap for americans. For canadians, yes, they are 'cheap' because our education is goverment subsidized.

But honestly, unless you have obscene stats and ECs, you have virtually no chance of getting into a Canadian school. Canadians themselves have a hard enough time getting into Canadian schools.

 

[Dr. Josh]

I don't belive they are cheap for americans. For canadians, yes, they are 'cheap' because our education is goverment subsidized.

But honestly, unless you have obscene stats and ECs, you have virtually no chance of getting into a Canadian school. Canadians themselves have a hard enough time getting into Canadian schools.

If I had obscene stats i wouldn't be looking outside of American schools.

 

[hp540]

If I had obscene stats i wouldn't be looking outside of American schools.

Unfortunately, if you don't have obscene stats, then you stand little chance of gaining admission anywhere in Canada - be it University of Toronto, McGill, UBC, etc. Canada is pretty cut-throat competitive.

 

[galaxie]

Unfortunately, if you don't have obscene stats, then you stand little chance of gaining admission anywhere in Canada - be it University of Toronto, McGill, UBC, etc. Canada is pretty cut-throat competitive.

UBC doesn't accept international students anyhow!

And Invalid had it right - Canadian med schools are reasonably priced for Canadians, but international tuition ranges from 25k to 40k.

 

[paradocs we are]

Unfortunately, if you don't have obscene stats, then you stand little chance of gaining admission anywhere in Canada - be it University of Toronto, McGill, UBC, etc. Canada is pretty cut-throat competitive.

Just to add: UBC doesn't accept applications from international students. Someone already mentioned that McGill holds more spots for international students than for OOP, so you can try applying there. But hp540 has OBSCENE stats AND got in to AMAZING top U.S. schools AND got a couple of Canadian acceptances (it's darn hard getting ONE CDN acceptance so that's quite the achievement) AND got interviews at all schools he applied to....and got waitlisted at UofT and McGill (the two schools you will consider heavily)... Sorry for being discouraging, OP, but take my advice below.

OP, your best bet is to strengthen your application so that you're in good shape for your MD state school. If you don't get in from the first try, try again before you explore other options. If you're interested in DO, apply DO as well.