<p>Hello, i am a student at the University of Toronto, in my 3rd (Junior) year. I really wish to go to medical schools; i recently received a permanent residence (green card) in the US and am therefore am aiming for the American medical schools. But the main question now is, how many places should i apply to? As i will be in my senior year when i will be taking interviews, it is almost impossible for me to keep coming back and forth to the US for interviews (i’d need at least 3 days off from school each time). Under these conditions, how many med schools should i ideally apply to? I know that there is no specific answer to this question and many will say somewhere along the lines of ‘whatever suits you best’. But i really need to figure this out ASAP. Will 5 be a good number, given that i have a 3.8 GPA? Also, can you opt for telephone interviews/ interviews on the weekends under such special circumstances?</p>
<p>What is your MCAT score? </p>
<p>I don’t believe you can opt for phone interviews or weekend interviews. American students have the same problem as you since they need to take off from school to attend interviews. So you will not have much leeway being from Canada.</p>
<p>5 sounds too low. I think people advocate 15-20.</p>
<p>Since you won’t have any “instate public” options, you’ll likely need to apply to more SOMs than those who have state residency. </p>
<p>Five schools will not likely be enough in your case…not at all. And, right now, we don’t know your MCAT.</p>
<p>Also, not sure, but some SOMs might require that applicants take some pre-med pre-reqs in the US…so that may eliminate some choices. </p>
<p>As for interviews…Domestic kids face the same issue for traveling and missing school. It’s nice when interviews fall on Mondays or Fridays, but no one can count on that. </p>
<p>You might try arranging your Fall semester classes so that you don’t have classes all 5 days. Then you’ll miss less classes. </p>
<p>If your school is near the US border, then maybe it would help if you applied to SOMs that are relatively close across the US border.</p>
<p>University of Toronto is only in Toronto or do they have other campuses?</p>
<p>I haven’t written the MCAT yet (I will in August)</p>
<p>What is the SOM? </p>
<p>Can’t you choose your interview on a particular day even on a weekday? 
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<p>So how do kids here manage it? All i can do is to take one course in the summer so that i have 4 (instead of the regular 5) during Fall. And, also, are interviews ALWAYS conducted in the Fall? And, do you really think my school will compensate for missing lectures, practicals (or may be, midterms) because i have to go to a med school interview?</p>
<p>They have a campus in Mississauga (which is a town adjacent to Toronto) in which i go to.</p>
<p>Canadian university pre-med programs are accredited by the same accrediting body as US pre med programs. Taking pre-reqs in Canada shouldn’t present a problem.</p>
<p>Five is likely to be too few. It’s usually recommended that applicants apply to 15-20 schools in order to increase the odds of getting interviews. Applicants who have dings on their record may need to apply even more widely.</p>
<p>Interviewing is all part of the process. Many applicants arrange their classes so they only have class meetings 3 days week (M-Tu-W pt W-Th-F) or take fewer courses during their senior year to accommodate interviews.</p>
<p>We live in region that is far away from many more populous cities and the airline connections are not terrific. You aren’t the individual who will end up missing [lots of] classes to attend interviews.</p>
<p>It’s quite unlikely you’ll be allowed to Skype an interview and very few (none?) schools offer weekend interviews. A couple schools do offer interviews to locations other than their campus. (IIRC SLU and Drexel did when D1 was applying, but neither of those schools held interviews in Canada. Interviews were in San Francisco/LA, IIRC.)</p>
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<p>Not really. You’re usually assigned a date. Be there or forfeit your interview. A few schools may be amenable to rescheduling. But not all of them are. Some schools will give you a choice of 2 or 3 dates, but again this is school dependent.</p>
<p>Interviews are during the week because: 1) part of the purpose of the interview is for you to see the school in action and meet students; 2) faculty don’t work weekends</p>
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<p>Yes. Every med school starts interviewing in the fall. Some school start interviewing as early as August. Many schools continue interviewing thru March.</p>
<p>SOM = School of Medicine</p>
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<p>That’s something you will need to address with your professors/instructors. Some will; some won’t. (True for everyone.)</p>
<p>So hey, is it true then that even kids in the US can spend upto $300 X 10 = $ 3000 for attending med school interviews? 'Cuz $ 300 is what i usually pay for airfare travel to the US, and if i attend 10 interviews it sums up to $3,000 Added on is the cost of applying and the effects of missing (at least) a few classes. Isn’t that so much of a rip off? :O</p>
<p>August test date is really late for applying in your senior year. By the time results come and you file the applications, lots of schools would have gone through a few rounds of interviews. </p>
<p>Interviewing budgets can run into 10k or more. You have to add hotels, taxis, and expensive last minute flights and so on.</p>
<p>$3000?</p>
<p>Wait a minute while I stop laughing…I told D2 to expect to spend $5000-$8000 or more on the process.</p>
<p>AMCAS exam, application fees, secondary fees, airfare, hotels/housing during interviews, meals while traveling, transportation between airport/train station and campus, tips, appropriate clothing, dry cleaning costs…</p>
<p>The process is quite expensive, but it is what is. Either pay to play or don’t.</p>
<p>~~~</p>
<p>And nice catch on the late MCAT date, texaspg.</p>
<p>August is very late to sit th MCAT. You won’t have a score for another 4 weeks after that test date. Which means you won’t be submitting your application until sometime in late Sept. Add another 2-6 weeks to get verified and you’re already starting to miss application deadlines at some schools.</p>
<p>Noor…</p>
<p>You might want to consider a glide year so that interviews won’t interfere with school.</p>
<p>Plus, doing the MCAT in August will be LATE. It takes about a month to get the score, then AMCAS takes several weeks to verity your app. You might not get any interviews if you do the MCAT that late.</p>
<p>The thing is, applying to med school sucks. But you just have to do it.</p>
<p>Fitting in the prereqs. Doing all the extracurriculars. Missing the fun social stuff. Preparing for and taking the MCAT. Tracking down rec letter writers. Dealing with committee interviews. Filling out all the forms. Completing all the secondaries. Scheduling interviews. Missing classes. Explaining to professors. Figuring out travel arrangements. Packing, traveling to, and attending interviews. The list goes on and on and on.</p>
<p>Right now, it all seems really expensive. A few thousand dollars for a prep class; $250 for the MCAT; $400+ for primaries; $100 per secondary; $1000 per interview at least; $500 for new clothes. The list goes on and on.</p>
<p>I imagine you’ll check out some websites, breeze through their finaid section, and ignore the talk from the finaid lady at the interview. You’ll expect that because you’re such a rockstar student (as you always have been) that you’ll be one of the two people who gets a full ride, and thus you won’t have to worry about med school debt. (At least, you will if you’re me or my friends!)</p>
<p>Then you’ll fill out the FAFSA, and be happy that your EFC = $0 because you’re financially independent of your parents. Then you’ll get your measly finaid package that consists of one tiny grant and the rest federal loans. Then you’ll see that your loans have interest rates of 6.8 or 7.9%, and that interest started accruing yesterday. Then you’ll choose how much you want to take out, and you’ll have a little heart attack entering $37,000 into a box online. A few months later, the powers that be will divide that in half, subtract the fall semester’s tuition and fees and whatever, and send you the remainder to use for rent and bills. You’ll repeat this for a few more years, and all along the way this huge sum of debt will be following you around. “At least I’m investing in myself and my future–what better?” You’ll reassure yourself. You won’t even blink spending $560 to take the first board exam or spending $300 on practice questions for the same exam. </p>
<p>And then, one day, you’ll look back at junior-year-you and chuckle that you thought a $1200 MCAT prep class would break the bank. You’ll look back at your interview trips fondly. You’ll still wear the power suit and the shoes. </p>
<p>And then, every so often, you’ll decide to hell with all this crazy stuff, invite all your friends over, cook a delicious feast, drink too much red wine, and have a great time talking about things other than med school. And maybe every so often you’ll be happy because you know you picked the right path.</p>
<p>tl;dr–Yep, it’s pricey and time consuming. But it only gets worse. Try to enjoy the journey!</p>
<p>Ah, thanks for all of your advice. It gets me so intimidated that i sometimes think whether i must re-consider the idea of going to med-school. So this is what i was thinking… take as few classes as possible in 4th year, and apply to many medical schools. And for those of you who said August is too late for the MCAT… i thought i will study those 4 months in the summer and write it when i am fully prepared. So when is the latest i should be able to take the MCAT and not miss any deadline? Will mid-July be good?</p>
<p>The advice given by AAMC is spring of junior year.</p>
<p>The latest MCAT sitting I’d say is reasonable is May, resulting in a June score. And this isn’t optimal as your school selection is then pushed to the end since it is dependent partially on your MCAT score.</p>
<p>Like Kristin says, applying to med school sucks, so you only want to do it once. AMCAS opens in early June, every day after that means it will take longer to verify, later that you will receive secondaries, fewer interview invitations remaining, yadda yadda yadda. When you’re talking about the actual process of applying to med school, early application is one of the most important factors to a successful cycle IMO.</p>
<p>Give yourself a break, improve your application, take a gap year.</p>
<p>Here’s the timing that bdm gave way back when, wow he really is getting old ;):</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/pre-med-topics/282027-timing-alert-2.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/pre-med-topics/282027-timing-alert-2.html</a></p>
<p>August is just too late for the next app cycle…especially since you’re at a disadvantage not being “instate” for any public SOMs. </p>
<p>My son took the MCAT the last Saturday in April and even that seemed “late” in some ways. </p>
<p>In hindsight, we wish he had taken it earlier in the spring.</p>