Advice for Canadian going to school in US.

Help.. does anyone have any advice on this one? I just got accepted to a U.S. med school for next year (yay!). I applied there in the 3rd year of a degree program at my Canadian school. When I filled in my AMCAS application, I wrote down that I would have a BA with a Bio major at the end of this year. It turns out that this isn't the case- I thought that would work out (I was enrolled in the Bio major at my university when I filled out my application) but it won't due to a number of reasons, mainly because the courses I would need to take to finish a Bio major would end at the end of August, and the school I was accepted to begins classes in early August (not September, like I had originally assumed it would). I figured out that I can still get my BA- but here's the catch- it would need to be with a double minor instead of a major. I don't think that such a concept exists in the States, but at U of T you can choose a combo of 1 major OR 2 minors to graduate. But I'm too scared to tell the school that accepted me about the change. I have this nightmare that they'll rescind their offer of acceptance if they hear that my degree was done without a "major"- I really don't know what to do about this. They're going to find out about it at some point, anyways, so I should probably tell them now. But to know that I caused the problem by calling their attention to it in the first place.. help!

That's a real dilly of a pickle. See, if you don't tell them, you could end up moving down there, spending thousands of dollars, and then have them simply kick you out shortly thereafter. I think you need to tell them. Who knows, maybe they'll accept your double minor. Or else they may make an exception in your case. If not, try this: ask for a deferral to next year so you can finish off your major. You've only finished 3rd year...if the 78 in your name refers to the year you were born, you've still got plenty of time to become a doctor. If you have to re-apply chances are good that the same school will accept you again next year, not to mention the fact that there's a better chance that other schools will accept you as well because you will have a) an honours degree b) more volunteer/research c) an extra year's experience/maturity d) already been through the application & interview process. Have you no desire to attend a Canadian school?

Just to echo Uncle Freddie,

Think of the worst case scenario. People have been thrown out of med school for lying on their application forms before. When students are thrown out for academic failing reasons, generally they have great difficulty finding other schools to accept them. I believe that in the US, when you have failed out of med school, you generally have little opportunity to re-enter med school, even at a different school. My feeling is that being ejected for falsely mis-representing your academic background would have similar results. If you are tossed out of one school, expect to have an uphill battle getting accepted to any other schools.

In my opinion, your best course of action is to notify the school before you actually start attending. Ideally, you would contact them as soon as possible, and see if you need to complete any requirements that would enable you to attend this year. Even if they deny you, the fact that you got accepted this year virtually guarantees that you will be successful at applying the next year, at that school or another. You could even seek a "deferment" status, where you and the med school agree to attend the next year, after you have finished your undergrad requirements.

I don't think it's in your best interest to withhold this information from the school. They are on your side right now; they have accepted you and want you to attend. Don't get on their bad side by concealing important info.

Best of luck!

Ian
UBC, MS2

Thanks for your advice. Yes, I did apply to the Canadian schools, I'm anxiously awaiting a reply from U of T but it will only come at the beginning of June. Meanwhile, I have this acceptance at a school in the U.S. that I absolutely LOVED and that I have a feeling is a perfect match for me personally, so I really would like to work this situation out so that I can be a bit more confident about my plans for next year. Although the "getting kicked out of med school for lying/ misrepresenting your credidentials" scenario does sound scary, I don't think it quite applies in this case because I AM still enrolled in the Bio major program at my school, at the time I applied I thought I would be finishing it up, and there's nowhere in this process where I lied about anything at all. I just have to work up the courage to call them in person, I guess, risking the possibility of being "un-accepted"- I don't even want to think about that, it would be SO terrible after all the hard work I've done to gain an acceptance.
Thanks again for your input.

Heya,

I didn't really like the words mis-representation, because as you've alluded to above, that seems to imply a malicious intent, which I am sure you didn't have. It's just that circumstances that you weren't expecting happened.

However, if the medical school accepted you on the condition that you were going to have XYZ degree by the time that you start attending there, and when you arrive it turns out that you ended up with a slightly different degree, whether you had good intentions might become irrelevant. The bottom line is that the med schools expectations don't quite match with what you ended up obtaining.

My suspicion is that everything will turn out for the best. The med school saw a lot of potential in you, and accepted you for a reason. It's quite unlikely that things will turn sour on you, but on the remote chance that they did, it would be much better to find out now, than after you've moved to your new city, rented an apartment, and started attending class. I think you are doing the right thing by working up the courage to call them, and I'm rooting for you. Please let us know how everything turns out.

Good luck!

Ian
UBC, MS2

Ian, everyone... thanks for your advice and for helping me summon up the courage to call... I did, and everything looks okay for next year, thankfully! (I do this all the time- invent things to worry about instead of savouring the enjoyment of , for example, getting into med school). They really didn't think it was a big deal at all... whew, am I ever releived!

Hi tigereyes, I know this might be too personal....but I am really interested in getting to US med school...do you think you could maybe state your gpa and mcat scores (just to see whether I have a decent chance), and any special extra curricular? also could you tell me what US universities are relatively receptive to canadian students...please any help in this matter would be invaluable...

Hey, no prob. U of T undergrad, 3.92 overall GPA, 3.98 sci GPA, 11/11/12/T MCATs, research presented at two international oncology conferences.
Problem- my OMSAS GPA only came out to a 3.89 (excluded my summer courses, all of which were A+, go figure), and people have been rejected from U of T meds with similar/ higher numbers (that's the only school in Canada which I was interested in, am awaiting interview results May 31st).
My experience with US schools is that it's totally worth applying- if you have decent MCATs, you're in a really good position to get in and they won't look at you as a "foreign" applicant. I got interviews at about half of the US schools I applied to, despite being an August MCAT- taker and despite having only a 3-year degree. (In my experience, no one really cared that it was a 3-year, although I've heard otherwise from others about their own experiences.)
As far as where to apply- I would suggest private schools, but unless your stats and extracurrics are stellar, don't count on an Ivy- there are several good private schools that will accept foreign students w/o a problem and aren't THAT hard to get into- e.g. NYU, Einstein, Jefferson, Tufts- don't just count on Harvard and P&S! (There may be other examples of good private schools, look in the MSAR to see which ones are private, also go to the US News website, click on the school you're interested in, and click on "admissions"- it will show you, among other things, how many "foreign" students were accepted. This can give you a rough estimate as to whether or not you have a fighting chance at all. E.g. I found that none of the Chicago schools, although they may be "private", accepted ANY non-US citizens at all.) There may be other good examples of non-stratospheric private schools in other parts of the USA that are feasible as far as being accepted as a Canadian, but I wanted to stay in the NE area, so I only looked into those schools relatively close to home (Toronto).
Good luck, feel free to ask me anything else about this!

Tiger,

I was curious as to how you will be financing your studies in the States. I am considerding applying there as well, but I don't know if I can afford it. Are there any financial aid programs for Canadians that are studying medicine in the States or do you have to apply for a personal loan from a bank? Someone else may know too, can you defer payments of these loans until after med school? Thanks!

Congrats on getting into med school =D

You wrote in an earlier message that you took summer school courses? Did you take these for any particular reasons (e.g. raising GPA, taking interest courses, etc.)? Is it possible to take summer school courses and do volunteer/work as well?

Also, I am planning on going away for university next year. Do you sugest I take summer school course at that university or at UofT (since I will be coming back to T.O. for the summer)?
I would really appreciate your help.

P.S. what U.S. schools gave you an interview and which one were you accepted to? Thanx.