Students wait until their their third or fourth year in university before applying to medical schools at which point people are pretty invested to have gotten themselves to where they are. Its a big financial burden as well as a huge time commitment. When applying to medical schools it seems that there are different categories to fulfill. Academic (Marks), Experience (work / volunteer), MCAT (depending) and References. The hard part is knowing which factor is critical. Do you take on those few extra volunteer hours at the risk of letting a grade slip? do you pass up that volunteer position at the hospital because you need that A+? Do you give up that research position this summer because you need to study for the MCAT? Its not easy, and if you choose wrong it may cost you. Even when it comes time tally up all your most proud achievements and efforts over the past few years, put them into an online application and hits submit, it is a mystery as to where you stand. I assure you that along the way you've asked your buddy how many entires he has on his character sketch and that when you realize he has 65 when you only have 64 you went back added that time you won the award for best model car is grade 11 tech class because you never know.. It might make the difference. When the emails from the schools start to arrive your inbox telling you nothing but bad news and Facebook eagerly telling you who got good news, you're left to wonder where you went wrong. You then suddenly remember that over 5000 people applied for those few interview spots. If you're one of the many who meet all the requirements but doesn't have an absolutely amazing GPA because that A- in plant physiology or the B+ from that damn first year class everyone said was going to be super easy is holding you down, your part of the unfortunate group that most likely never stood a chance. Sad to think that your mediocre understanding of the inner workings of a fern is preventing you from becoming a doctor. But when a medical school has 5000 people to choose from, why not choose from the minority that managed to have achieved that 4.0 as well as score a 40 on the MCAT. Makes perfect sense really. Its just hard to figure out how your going to get where you dream to be. If becoming a doctor is truly your dream, then you shouldn't let discouraging news turn you away. If when you're thinking about your future the only thing you see yourself doing is medicine, then find a way to make it happen. Don't give up. This guy will tell you.
Everyones story is different. We all have unique situations and thats why its really important to think long and hard about your next move because it most likely comes at a cost. A cost of time and financial responsibility. You must decide for yourself the kind of life you want to have and your willingness to step out of your comfort zone. You need to take the first step.
“When you find your path, you must ignore fear. You need to have the courage to risk mistakes. But once you are on that road... run, run, run, and don't stop til you've reached its end.”
― José N. Harris
*Disclaimer: Read this next paragraph only if you are interested in learning an bit about me :)
My Path
Now for a little about my story and why UMHS is part of it. I didn't go into university knowing that I wanted to be a doctor. I had always had an interest in medicine, but the concept of becoming a doctor became apparent to me towards the middle of my first year in university. My interest started much before this. My first real job was that of a lifeguard when I was 16. The best and most memorable moments where always when I got to deal with medical type situations, whether it was sitting through a first aid class or simply treating a child with a bleeding nose. Naturally as time goes on, I was exposed to more and more medical related problems th at escalated beyond that of nosebleeds and bumped heads. This is what really got me going. I did this for a few years until it came time to start university. I was accepted into a 4 year Neuroscience program at Carleton University. One of the biggest contributing factors to my decision to pursue medical school came near the start of my first year when I joined a Medical Response team at my school. Essentially this team operated 24 hours a day responding to medica l emergencies on campus. We would arrive on scene, provide basic treatment and decide if further help (Paramedics, cab to the hospital etc.) was necessary. I was now trained with a higher level of medical care and was responding to real emergencies on a regular basis. If nothing else, I became a master at predicting when a drunk first year was about to vomit all over me :) This was so much fun (amazing huh) that I continued to do it for another 4 years! I must say that the experience I got here far exceeded anything I could have hoped for. After surrounding myself in this environment and with people who had the same interests as me, it was clear that being a doctor was what I wanted to do. As I mentioned before, it was at this point that I experienced that life shift. Now everything I did was someway aiding in my journey to becoming an MD. The summer after first year I landed a job with the Canadian Coast Guard working on the west coast of Canada. Here I gained an indescribable amount of experience. I was put in situations that tested my mental and physical abilities and as well gave me a taste of big world medicine. My job was quite diverse, but I gravitated towards the medical side of things. I was now dealing with people in true life or death situations where my my crews abilities and decisions were critical. I figured out how I work under pressure. I worked a total of 4 summers with the CG. The rest of my experience came from a job working for a patient transfer company and volunteering for an EMS service in NY state. This brings me to now. The service that I volunteer for was kind enough to put me through an EMT-B course which allows me to respond as an EMT for the remainder of my time prior to leaving for St. Kitts. I just finished the course two weeks ago and am waiting for the results! Fingers crossed! If all goes well I will work this summer on the ambulance. I must say one of the more advantageous things I gained from my experiences was a very proficient level of patient communication. The extent of this was made aware to me in the past few months. Its amazing the amount of people looking to get into the medical field who do not have any experience in this area. Simply being able to communicate has put me ahead of the majority of the students in my EMT class as well as many paramedic students I know. Not in terms of knowledge and skill but with the ability to apply the skills and knowledge efficiently. If you are not comfortable talking with a patient, getting them to trust you with their problems is quite difficult. Not only that, being comfortable in these situations makes the world of a difference. I urge everyone thinking about professions in the medical field to seek out an experience where you get to talk one on one with a variety of patents. This can be in a medical setting or even volunteering at a nursing home. It is a skill that is so very important.
So leaving Canada eh?
Now that you know me a bit better, I'll talk about why I'm leaving Canada. I chose a path in university that kept me very busy. It kept me doing the things I enjoyed while at the same time building up a profile for medical schools. I thought it was a win win situation. What I failed to grasp was the difference between an A- and an A+. Like I said before, I seriously got the MD bug towards the end of my first year, a year that is very far from the reality of applying to medical schools. I was a good student and worked really hard at everything I did. While my marks were good, there were those few marks that I was not so proud of. I wasn't too worried however until the level of intensity of those crazy med students around me started to ramp up as we got further into our university carriers and closer to the day we would apply to medical school. I think the turning point was at the end of second year when I ran into a student leaving a lab in tears after receiving their mark. I later found out that the reason for this was that they got an 85% and not the 95% they are used to. Ohh ohh. I just left the lab with the same mark and was perfectly content. The rest of my time at university pretty much followed the same general trend. MD hopefuls comparing transcripts and taking about how back in first year they got an A-... Terribbllleee. The really only acceptable mark is an A or an A+ they would say. Im all for working hard to get the mark you want, but I've seen my fair share of people burnout and I didn't really want to be one of them. These people would put so much pressure on themselves to get straight A+'s and would eventually run out of steam. So I went through the rest of university trying to ignore pretty much any talk of med school and focused on getting through university with a good balance of acceptable marks and valuable experience. I can say I achieved what I was after. The only problem is that when it came time for me to apply, those students I was talking about earlier might have been onto something. The difference between an A- and an A+ is hugggee when calculating GPA's. Anything less then an A? pretty much watch that GPA drown. I realized that I had a few marks that were holding me back. So I decided to take another year. Turn that 4 year program into a 5. I re-did classes I was unhappy with and to my realization, it really didn't do much at all. Sure I got a boost, but when you are trying to move a percentage that is calculated off of 5 years worth of school, moving a significant amount is not easy. So when the next round of med applications came around I figured out the application process, payed over 700$ in application fees and applied to Ontario medical schools with less then high hopes. My application was strong especially within the experience factor but unfortunately in the academic category when compared to other medical hopefuls I was average. I learned that average really doesn't cut it when applying to Canadian schools. So I had to decide what to do next. Do I keep trying to apply in Canada? Well I just spent a whole year re-doing courses which helped me minimally. Do I keep paying hundreds of dollars to apply over the next three years when I know I have an 8% chance at best? Maybe less people will apply next year and the odds will be better. Is this enough to justify the time and money I would need to put out? Well you can probably guess what I decided. Getting into a Canadian medical school would be ideal. It is the safest and most cost effective option that exists for a Canadian. The reality is that if given the option of either a Canadian or International school (held at the same level of risk), I would pick international in a minute. Its simply where my motivation lies. Obviously when factoring in all other considerations, I would be obligated to choose a Canadian school, but I have gotten to the point where the benefits of leaving outweigh the costs. This is not a simple decision to make. I assure you I have gone over every possible detail imaginable. I have factored in everything you can think of and still believe that this is the right choice. There is no denying that attending an international medical school comes with its risks. The difference is that I have put in the time to thoroughly understand the risks and know how to make them as irrelevant as possible. Some may argue that going to an international school costs so much more, much more then redoing a few more courses would take. The reality is that it would be like redoing my entire university undergrad. That also leads to the time issue. Applying more then once is the smart thing to do. Applying three or more starts to be less so I my opinion. I'm young, but time is a big factor when you consider the journey to becoming a doctor. I have goals in life that I would like to achieve and not being able to do these things until I'm in my late thirties and finally done medical school and a residency is not ideal. But to each their own. Your judgement of me is very much dependent on where you are in your own life. If you're in a similar position as me, this will be very familiar. If you're one of those who is in the upper 15% of medical school applicants, you might not agree. If you're just reading this because you're family or a friend, you're probably asking yourself why anyone on earth wants to become a doctor..
I Finally talk about UMHS
Now why UMHS? I went through University with the impression that going to international med schools were for the weak students. The failures. After doing the amount of research I have done, I can say with certainty that if you were to spend some time with a Caribbean med student, 9 times out of 10 you would see an individual with equal if not more drive and passion to be a doctor then any Canadian med student. Remember that these people want to chase their dream so bad that they will pack up their life and move it far far away from everything they have known. They sacrifice and take on risk that can only mean they will do everything in their power to be amazing doctors. While there are exceptions to everything, in all the work I have done to prepare myself for this decision I have been nothing short of amazed. So when I put in the time, the stigma of having to attend med school somewhere other than Canada became an acceptable option. The big ones for me were Australia, Ireland, and even South Africa! Both Australia and Ireland are great places to live, have astonishing med programs and great success rates for securing residencies after graduation. South Africa was always the wild card. I have a fascination with Africa and think that studying there would be incredible. This was shut down pretty quick however when I was told by numerous South African faculties that the demand for med school seats was so high they could not offer admission to non-South African citizens. I see Canada is not alone! So minus SA, I naturally started researching these options. I got in touch with students and graduates from medical programs in both countries. I had some good Skype chats, email convos etc. and generally got great reviews. It turns out that the reason why I am not going to these schools is due to a few things, but the primary reason being cost. There is always the option to seek acceptance in the land of stars and strips below, but if you have done any investigating into this option you will understand that as a Canadian it is just as difficult as Canada. It wasn't until I had the opportunity to attend a seminar at Carleton about UMHS in my last year that I even considered the Caribbean. The seminar gave me tons of info which I then used to do some research of my own. So there is about 70 med schools throughout the Caribbean compared to the 17 schools in Canada. There is no denying that the destination medical schools are a money making business. They have to be. With 70 schools to choose from each accepting anywhere from a low 70 students to a disgusting 600 students per class, there is definitely a spot in medical school for pretty much anyone that has the money to get in. While accepting anyone who wakes up in the morning and decides being a doctor is a good strategy to make money, it does nothing good for the reputation of the very few excellent Caribbean med schools out there. By no means have I had the time to research every last med school in the Caribbean, but it is pretty easy to narrow it down to a potential few. I have been told that out of the 70 schools in the Caribbean, the acceptable ones can be counted on one hand. I'm my research I have only found two that I would even consider going to. UMHS being one of them. So this negative stigma surrounding the Caribbean for the most part comes from the the horror stories of students attending schools from the 97% of scary medical schools. Not to say that the acceptable ones don't have their own faults, because all medical schools do. Its a matter of finding the school that is best suited to your needs and that makes you feel comfortable. To get UMHS specific, I have never received so much help and guidance then I did with them. Form the start, anything I needed and any questions I had were answered with speed. If I had concerns, I could meet for coffee with the senior associate director of admission for Canada, who so conveniently lives in Ottawa. At one point I needed a little more info and asked to be put in touch with UMHS students (I highly suggest doing this if your interested in going to UMHS). I talked too people at all stages of the process. Two people who were in their island phase, one who is currently in the states doing clinical rotations, and even got a chance to meet a Family Medicine resident from Ottawa who was a graduate of UMHS. I got to talk to people just like me giving their honest and personal thoughts. This was invaluable. To be honest, its one of the biggest reasons why I am choosing to go to UMHS. Another huge source of information for me came from student blogs. Other people documenting their experiences for others to read. This is one of the reasons I am doing this. In order to help incoming students the same way others before have helped me. I'm not going to describe the school and all it has to offer because 1) this post is way too long and 2)The informations is readily available. What I will do in the future is outline the things that may not be so obvious. You can follow me through the process so you know what to expect yourself. Coming from an indecisive person like me, who when asked what I want for dinner literally cannot give you an answer, you can be assured that I have tirelessly gone over all there is to go over. At the end of it all, I can happily say that UMHS will soon be my home as well as the key to my future.
Thanks for reading. I hope this will be it for super long posts. Also, I promise to have more fun pictures and things in the future.
Cheers,
Mike