# Question about practicing medicine in Canada



## ARQ_man (Apr 21, 2011)

Hi, or Asalamo Alaikum to all you fellow brothers out there.

I hope someone can give me an honest opinion about this: is it worth it to goto Pakistan and do medical school there, come back to Canada and be a licensed physician? Are there certain schools certified by Canada to be legible for foreign physicians to take an exam to be qualified as a Canadian physician? Or does Canada also follow the same policy as US for MBBS-students coming from Pakistan? 

If someone could elaborate on what is the difference between US and Canada, and if that opinion, I would really appreciate it. I am looking towards applying for this upcoming cycle and I am unsure if I should proceed with doing so.


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## twinklystar (Jan 3, 2011)

https://imed.faimer.org/

go to this site, if the school u plan to attend is listed in here, then yes, TECHNICALLY, according to their rule book, u can apply to their post grad programs for residency.. however, u will need to write canadian medical exams...that's MCCEE, and I think there's one more, but i havent looked into it.. 

anywayz, in terms of US vs Canada:

first and foremost: matching back into Canada is MUCH MUCH more difficult, near impossible for IMGs infact, as compared to matching into US residencies.. that's something u will have to accept if u decide to do the IMG route.. that matching back into Canada many times more hard as compared to US.. 

secondly, in terms of the procedure of matching, it's pretty similar for both US and Canada.. for US it's the USMLE, for canada its MCCEE.. as long as u pass these exams, u can apply for their residencies.. just make sure ur school is listed in the FAIMER list.

however, for canada, IMGs are subjected to ROS - return of service.. which is basically, as much as i know from having read it once or twice, u gotta do two or so years of residency in some rural, underserved, area, before u can practice in the mainstream urban areas... 

practically speaking... being a canadian myself, i wud say, if u r definitely set that u wanna practice ultimately in canada, then don't go the IMG route.. it's crazy hard, VERY RARE, to match back into canada through IMG routes.. u can match back in US (which itself is getting very hard right now as well for IMGs), but canada is a LONG shot.. so u gotta accept that if u consider pak route.. i hav considered and accepted that..

but in terms of the procedure and policies, the process and requirements are pretty similar for matching back in US and Canada, except for the differing qualification exams..the only diff is, for IMGs, matching back into canada is many many more times difficult as compared to US.. 

hope that helps.. u shud look at the CARMS website, and also PREMED101 website, for detailed information on this, as i havent looked much into this.. but from wht i've learned from my research, this is the basic info.


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## ARQ_man (Apr 21, 2011)

Ok then its either taking the IMG route to Pakistan, or staying back here for University. But the problem with staying back here is that it is very competitive to get into med school, with all the ECs, reference letters, essay, and distinction that you must show to the admissions officers. On top of all of that, you need a 3.8-4.0 to really qualify. So now I am stuck: stay here and go for a bachelors which may deem useless if I don't make it to med school, or goto Pakistan, where I have a better shot of getting some kind of medical degree, and have exposure to a medical insitution.

Also, could you elaborate on why it is difficult for IMGs to apply for residency?


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## ARQ_man (Apr 21, 2011)

also, does IMG stand for immigrant?


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## twinklystar (Jan 3, 2011)

IMG stands for international medical graduates.

and why it is difficult for IMGs is basically due to the fact that there just aren't that many IMG sports in canada.. like REALLY LESS.. according to this: https://w1c.e-carms.ca/pdws2011R1-1/jsp/pd.do?p=p1&m=1 there r like 234 TOTAL IMG spots, all over canada.. that is CRAZY.. 

oh one of the other differences i forgot to mention, was, for the first round of canadian matching, they hav separate IMG and CMG spots.. whereas in US, both IMG's and AMGs can apply for the same spots.. ofcourse, they PREFER US graduates first, but there's nothing stopping u from applying to some spot..

i think, the reason they hav such less spots is reflective of their overall medical system..i mean, 16 med schools in all of canada.. so the low residency numbers arent much of a surprise.


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## twinklystar (Jan 3, 2011)

oh, for the other part of ur post:

yes, there is that risk..the fact that getting into med school here is, CRAZY.. i am a university BSc graduate myself, from UofT.. and even with a 3.6 gpa, it's absolutely a nightmare for me.. unless u have a GPA of 3.8+, some CRAZY exceptional extracurriculars on ur profile, some solid referees (not references, referees who r actually willing to fill out all those diff forms for u), u really don't hav much of a shot here.. and yea, with a just Bachelors, ur pretty much screwed.. lol.

BUT, however, u have to weigh that option vs the option of pak: u go to pak, u take loans from here.. u get ur mbbs in 5 years.. then u write ur usmle.. and then u face the fact that according to their stats, even the match rate for IMGs (in US) is going down DRASTICALLY over these years.. so really, by 2015 or so, even matching back in US as IMG is goign to get crazy tough..what with all those caribbean schools graduating tons of kids..who actually HAVE US clinical experiences.. so, there's ALWAYS the risk of not ending up matching back in US/canada if u go Pak (or any IMG) route.. however, on the other hand there still r ppl who say, if u do well on USMLE, u can match somewhere.. 

now, going back to completing a bachelors here option, lets say u complete a bachelors here, then u realise ur stats aren't AS high for canada.. then u always hav the option of going pak route again, caribbean, or US.. US med schools have slightly lower entry stats than canadian.. there's both US DO and MD..

i guess wht i mean is, even though having done bachelors and not having the stats for canadian schools, i feel having done a bachelors opens many more options for u.. MD, DO, MBBS, graduate schools.. there's ofcourse the extra 4 years.. but u learn a lot, not just in terms of studies, but abt urself, once u enter uni..by the time u come out of uni, u will have much more of an insight into wht u really wanna do.. for eg, from my experience, first year bio class: prof asks how many kids wanna do med, 80% of class (500 ppl class) raises their hands.. by the third year, prof asks, how many wanna go to med? 50% raise their hands.. lol. so u hav so many options after u complete ur bachelors.. that's just my perspective though.. others may hav diff ones.. 

do ur research, think abt whts really imp to u.. discuss with others.. and make the choice.. =)


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