Hi all, i’m from Canada and just found this site a few days. Like most people here, i’m also crazy enough to consider med school. I’m 36 (soon to be 37) years old, have a bachelors degree in electrical engineering, and my GPA is around 3/4. I’m all for going back to school and I’d prefer doing it in Canada. Med school admission here is very tight, I’d say it’s more luck of the draw from what I’ve been told. So I’m being realistic. If I don’t get in, so be it. I just want to apply at least once. Any guidance from other Canadians out there? Med school is only one of my grad school options.
Hello and welcome to the forum.
I’m also Canadian, from Montreal, and you are right that admissions are pretty tight in Canada.
Conditions to apply vary considerably depending on the province where the school is located. There is also quite a variety in program modalities, 3-4-5 year programs, as an example. Also note that French language schools in Quebec do not have a requirement for the MCAT to be taken.
As a first step in your quest, you will find that looking up your favorite schools’ websites will provide a lot of information and answer most of your questions with regards as to what to do next.
BTW, most schools (though not all!) do require recent (< 8 yrs) classwork.
I wish you the best of luck. You will find excellent support on this forum, should you have more questions as you move forward.
Regards
Ron
I too am Canadian. I am going through upgrading right now and then a full year to make me eligible for some of the schools in Ontario.
Your best bet is to look at the websites for the medschools in Canada (17 in total). They all have different ways of looking at applicants - best 2 years of undergrad, all courses ever taken, weighting of best 3 years, deletion of worst grade from each year. It is pretty amazing how many ways they can slice and dice your marks.
As Presse said, if you are fluent in French (your name sort of suggests it) then you may have an advantage with the schools in Quebec, The University of Ottawa, and the Norther Ontario School of Medicine.
Anyway, do some research on the schools you are interested in and then post back any questions. I’m sure that someone here will try to answer them for you.
Lynda
Also, there are a number of US med schools that consider Canadian applicants as US residents rather than international students, should you decide to also apply to US schools.
Cheers,
Judy