Question for the Canadians, and anyone else, eh.

[izz-ay]

I was wondering if any other Canadians interviewing at Am. med schools get asked why they would want to train and/or practice in the US. I get asked this at every Am. interview and never feel like my answers are good enough
Any opinions would be great.

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[Spiderman [RNA Ladder 2003]]

I am also interested in an answer. I would imagine that you can be asked such a question by AdCom since people may be not really aquanted with immigration laws. By the law, you are supposed to say that after completing your education, you would go back home.

 

[Resident Alien]

whats all this canada bashing abooot

 

[moo]

Yes, I just say that I feel the US system is more suited for what I want to do and don't really like the socialistic system in Canada, which is actually why I don't want to stay here. Just be honest, and u'll be fine.

 

[Thewonderer]

I don't know which law RNA Ladder 2003 was looking at, maybe only when after he or she smoke a joint or two. If you think about it, it does not make sense that after US med schools spend all the resources for you to get an MD in the US, they want you to pack up and just go back to your home country. In fact, there is no law that forces you to go back to Canada (or whichever country you are from) to practice medicine. However, the law does make it harder to work in the US in general; so you need to start planning early on.

I was never asked that question when I interviewed around a couple years ago (maybe I was asked once or twice but that was too long ago). I would say just tell them what you have on your mind whether to stay in the US or go back to Canada.

Some advantges of staying in the US:
1) higher pays (duh!)
2) more choices of specialties (IN Canada, government controls the number of specialists by limiting the residency spots. Hence, 55% of Canadian MD's are general practitioners while only 35% are GP's in the US).
3) higher technology in the US (I have heard that some stats a couple years ago said that Orange County in California has more MRI machines than the whole Canada combined. That had to do with regionalization of care in Canada. Your local hospital might do secondary care such as appendectomy but if you want CABG or something very specialized then you need to go to academic health centers in large cities)
4) no argument with the government over physician fee every single year and suffer nursing shortage (and deal with threats or real strikes once in a while).

 

[Legend]

one of my interviewers asked why I was not considering Canadian schools at all.
I completely bashed the majority of Candian schools (especially, my province school, UBC). My interviewer was convinced.

 

[silver]

i goofed my first interview at ohio state when he asked why i hadn't gotten into cdn schools the year before. truth is, i messed up my verbal on the mcat, but i rewrote this year and did much better. he seemed unconvinced that with "big mcats", as he put it, i would choose osu with $55,000 US tuition over a cdn school with sub $10,000 CA tuition. i smartened up at northwestern and really convinced them that i was willing to pay more for a quality education, i wanted to move to a big city, to explore the us healthcare system and really start a life there. they want to hear that you're committed, that you're dying to study and stay in the states.

on that note, if i were to study in the states and do residency there, i'm assuming it would be dead easy to work there afterwards. but if i should choose to return home one day (nothing beats vancouver), how difficult is it to become licensed? i'm having trouble finding info on this.

 

[brandonite]

Well, for the answer was pretty simple. I'm interested in research, and the amount of research going on at any top 10 school in the US is in a completely different league than many Canadian schools. That seemed to satisfy the people at Duke...

 

[moo]

There's no problem in coming back AFTER you do your residency. I've worked with many US-trained doctors in Canada.

 

[brandonite]

My derm did his med school at Winnipeg, residency at NYU, and then came back home to practice. Not too shabby... But I don't know exactly how he managed to get a derm residency at NYU coming from Manitoba... :wink:

 

[warpath]

My interveiwers didn't assume I wanted to work in the US. However, they asked me where I would like to practice. I said that whether I practice in Canada or in the US depends on where I go for medical school, and where I go for residency. I also mentioned that I would like to do some work in Nigeria. That seemed to satisfy them. I still want to practice in Canada, but who knows, I may change my mind after 4 years in the States.

 

[Original]

Warpath,
What's up? Good to read from you! I thought you vanished into oblivion for a minute. Hey! your friend from Cornwall Ontario is going to WashU in the fall. But hey I'm going to Duke. I'm definitely going to miss you folks. Have fun in STL. "The ARCH!!! whatchu know about that?"

 

[warpath]

•••quote:•••Originally posted by Original:
•Warpath,
What's up? Good to read from you! I thought you vanished into oblivion for a minute. Hey! your friend from Cornwall Ontario is going to WashU in the fall. But hey I'm going to Duke. I'm definitely going to miss you folks. Have fun in STL. "The ARCH!!! whatchu know about that?" •••••What?!! I thought you were gonna take one for the team I guess those guys at Duke have pulled you over to the dark side. Did you go for the revisit weekend? Oh well, we'll meet again sometime in the future. Like I said, it's a small world. Good luck at Duke.

 

[Original]

•••quote:•••Originally posted by warpath:
• What?!! I thought you were gonna take one for the team I guess those guys at Duke have pulled you over to the dark side. Did you go for the revisit weekend? Oh well, we'll meet again sometime in the future. Like I said, it's a small world. Good luck at Duke.•••••What team? I'm a free agent man! I ain't gat no team . It hurts so bad, but I've got to go to Duke. I can't schedule a Duke 2nd look cause I need to be in Europe by the end of May at the latest. Keep it locked in the STL. Easy out there.

One!