It’s Day 2 of our live Q&A session where I bring one of you on the podcast. Today, we have a Canadian student who has a question about how to stand out in the U.S. medical school application.
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For more help on your medical school application, check out The Premed Years Podcast.
Q: How do I, as a Canadian applicant, stand out against the U.S applicants in the personal statement?
A: Regardless of your race, your personal statement is your story on why you want to be a physician. End of story. So it doesn’t matter if you’re a Canadian.
For example, I worked with a Canadian this past cycle. In her personal statement, she had a little backstory on her personal statement because it was relevant to why she wanted to be a physician. She was an immigrant to Canada and lived in low socioeconomic status. She lived around a lot of diversity and this got her exposed to some healthcare and medicine that led her on this journey.
She was able to show a bit of her journey in her personal statement. Outside of that part of her story, the fact she was Canadian didn’t come up because it wasn’t relevant to her personal statement.
'Your personal statement needs to show why you want to be a physician.'Click To TweetIn your extracurriculars, you’re going to have locations for all of your experiences. All of your experiences are going to be in Canada. In your demographics, your citizenship is Canadian. It will be all over your application that you’re not an American citizen.
Extending beyond your personal statement, you can stand out by doing what any student would do to stand out. Obviously, MCAT and GPA are very important. You can’t avoid these things
'They're looking for your story.'Click To TweetIn making your school list, apply wherever you want to go. In terms of which schools are more likely to accept you as a Canadian student, you have to do your research. Look at the MSAR (Medical School Admissions Requirements) and see if the schools you’re interested in accept Canadian students.
Look at their breakdown to see who they’re interviewing and who they’re accepting. All of that is on the MSAR assuming the school gave AAMC that data.
This would be more challenging when it comes to DO schools. But do some research to find out which schools are “Canadian friendly.” One of them is Michigan State University College of Osteopathic Medicine. They hold seats for Canadian applicants. They have a deal in place with Canada to increase the osteopathic physician population in Canada.
'Find out which schools are 'Canadian friendly.''Click To TweetIt doesn’t mean you shouldn’t apply to a state school in the U.S. if you’re Canadian.
The Canadian student I helped this past cycle, applied to the University of Kentucky state school as an international student. When it came to the secondary applications, she explained that she goes to Kentucky every summer to visit her uncle. So she had ties to the state.
It’s no different than a U.S. applicant applying to public out-of-state schools here in the U.S. You should have some reasons why you are applying to that school. Aside from your stats, have a great personal statement. Have good extracurriculars.
'There's no secret sauce. It's just a matter of finding the schools that are going to give you a shot as a Canadian applicant.'Click To TweetQ: Something we run into in Canada when applying to medical schools, they accept 90% in-province students, 10% out-of-province. Are there a lot of restrictions like that from U.S. schools?
A: Public schools in the U.S. may have very similar restrictions. If you look at Texas stats, they accept 90% in-state and 10% out-of-state.
This basically depends on the state’s guidelines for their public schools. For example, the University of Michigan MD program is about 50-50 in-state and out-of-state. They’re a public institution.
Michigan’s a little less populated with premed students. This is probably the reason they’re more forgiving with it. Again, look at the MSAT to see their breakdown of in-state and out-of-state.
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I just received my admission to XXXXX! This is unreal and almost feels like I am dreaming. I want to thank you for all of your help with my application. I cannot overstate how influential your guidance and insight have been with this result and I am eternally grateful for your support!
IM SO HAPPY!!!! THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR ALL YOUR HELP, IM INDEBTED TO YOU! Truly, thank you so much for all your help. Thank you doesnt do enough.
I want to take a few moments and thank you for all of your very instructive, kind and consistent feedback and support through my applications and it is your wishes, feedback, and most importantly your blessings that have landed me the acceptance!
I got into XXXXX this morning!!!! It still has not hit me that I will be a doctor now!! Thank you for all your help, your words and motivation have brought me to this point.
I wanted to once again express my heartfelt gratitude for your help in providing feedback during my secondary applications. Your guidance has been instrumental in my journey.
Just wanted to share my wonderful news! I received my first medical school acceptance! Thank you for all that you do for us Application Academy!!!
I am excited to tell you that I just got my third interview invite from XXXXX today! I can’t believe it. I didn’t even know if I was good enough to get one, let alone three – by mid-September. Thank you so much for all of your help and support up to this point; I would not be in this position without it!!
I wanted to thank you for helping me prepare for my XXXXX interview. Even in a 30-minute advising session, I learned so much from you. Thank you for believing in me, and here’s to another potential success story from one of your advisees!
I just received an acceptance with XXXXX! This is so exciting and such a huge relief and so nice to have one of our top choice schools! I also received an interview with XXXXX which brings the total up to 20 interviews! Thank so much, none of this would have been possible without you!
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