Medical Thread

[BarakzaiAbdali]

Which one is the best medical school in Canada? Are not medical studies very pro-longed?

Da Yusufzo Malik,

There is a lot of cross over with Canadians coming here. I have little experience with Canada except to read good work coming out of Univ of Toronto from time to time (they have done an excellent job there defining a particular type of heart disease that is the result of an over-thick heart).

McGill is a name that comes up again and again because it apparently is the home of the original problem based learning medical curriculum that is beginning to come to the fore.

Otherwise, your guess is as good as mine.

I think there are prolonged studies, but you start earning as a resident physician out of med school. People tend to add in the residency and fellowship period where you actually take care of patients out of medical school as "prolonged studies" because your earn about $60,000 on average for 3 to 5 years while working 80 or so hours (probably more) per week. But I would personally exclude residency and fellowship from the schooling calculation part.

[Toramana]

Da Yusufzo Malik,

There is a lot of cross over with Canadians coming here. I have little experience with Canada except to read good work coming out of Univ of Toronto from time to time (they have done an excellent job there defining a particular type of heart disease that is the result of an over-thick heart).

McGill is a name that comes up again and again because it apparently is the home of the original problem based learning medical curriculum that is beginning to come to the fore.

Otherwise, your guess is as good as mine.

I think there are prolonged studies, but you start earning as a resident physician out of med school. People tend to add in the residency and fellowship period where you actually take care of patients out of medical school as "prolonged studies" because your earn about $60,000 on average for 3 to 5 years while working 80 or so hours (probably more) per week. But I would personally exclude residency and fellowship from the schooling calculation part.

Thanks Barakzai for the information and clarification about the duration of medical studies. What about McMaster? Somebody told me it also is a good school.

[BarakzaiAbdali]

Thanks Barakzai for the information and clarification about the duration of medical studies. What about McMaster? Somebody told me it also is a good school.

It is a well known name here in the states so I assume if they have a medical studies pathway that their degree would work perfectly well in transitioning to the US.

A famous pulmonologist that I knew was able to transition into an American residency rather easily with his Canadian training. He still had to take the USMLE examinations and fulfill the requirements but there was no hindrance to his steady rise in a famous US hospital in the Midwest.

Canada's medical system is more socialized than that of the US so I cannot really reliably quote the salaries their generalists and specialists command.

What I can say is that if a graduate scientist with the prereqs has a hard time in his own field due to the economic situation and decides to go back to school the options generally are pursuing an MBA versus going along a medicine pathway.

In the US there are older students that go into medicine. Everyone in medical school has the story of a classmate in their mid to late 30s who decided they wanted to go that route.

But I have certainly heard McMaster's name.

We also all know people who title themselves Phd MD instead of MD PhD. The reason for this is that medical schools love those individuals with a known prior commitment to academics with PhDs who interview based on the premise that they want to pursue an academic medicine route.

The future marriage between computational medicine and clinical practice is opening up massive new academic horizons and I am pretty sure that medical schools will want to keep pace with the rest of the fields with respect to recruiting academics with these sorts of analytical skills.

I refer you to the works of Eric Topol MD, world renowned cardiologist (he is considered by some such as myself as second only to Braunwald in fathering our modern field):

Transformative Trends in Medicine with Eric Topol --Atlantic Meets the Pacific 2013 - YouTube

Read the Creative Destruction of Medicine by him to see his vision.

[Admin Khan]

It is a well known name here in the states so I assume if they have a medical studies pathway that their degree would work perfectly well in transitioning to the US.

A famous pulmonologist that I knew was able to transition into an American residency rather easily with his Canadian training. He still had to take the USMLE examinations and fulfill the requirements but there was no hindrance to his steady rise in a famous US hospital in the Midwest.

Canada's medical system is more socialized than that of the US so I cannot really reliably quote the salaries their generalists and specialists command.

What I can say is that if a graduate scientist with the prereqs has a hard time in his own field due to the economic situation and decides to go back to school the options generally are pursuing an MBA versus going along a medicine pathway.

In the US there are older students that go into medicine. Everyone in medical school has the story of a classmate in their mid to late 30s who decided they wanted to go that route.

But I have certainly heard McMaster's name.

We also all know people who title themselves Phd MD instead of MD PhD. The reason for this is that medical schools love those individuals with a known prior commitment to academics with PhDs who interview based on the premise that they want to pursue an academic medicine route.

The future marriage between computational medicine and clinical practice is opening up massive new academic horizons and I am pretty sure that medical schools will want to keep pace with the rest of the fields with respect to recruiting academics with these sorts of analytical skills.

I refer you to the works of Eric Topol MD, world renowned cardiologist (he is considered by some such as myself as second only to Braunwald in fathering our modern field):

Transformative Trends in Medicine with Eric Topol --Atlantic Meets the Pacific 2013 - YouTube[/URL]

Read the Creative Destruction of Medicine by him to see his vision.

Does one have to do pre-med courses before they can take the MCAT?

[BarakzaiAbdali]

Does one have to do pre-med courses before they can take the MCAT?

Its not mandatory to do so. We had a professor in engineering school who was biomedical and electrical affiliated. He took the MCAT every so often just to gauge how well his teaching reflected the difficulty of the exam. Its not like the licensing exam requiring a medical dean to sign off on various letters to allow one to even sit for it.

[Admin Khan]

Its not mandatory to do so. We had a professor in engineering school who was biomedical and electrical affiliated. He took the MCAT every so often just to gauge how well his teaching reflected the difficulty of the exam. Its not like the licensing exam requiring a medical dean to sign off on various letters to allow one to even sit for it.

So I, with my Engineering degree, can take the MCAT tomorrow, and if I score well, I get admitted to a medical school in the US. Is that right, or do I need something else as well?

[~Gangster~]

So I, with my Engineering degree, can take the MCAT tomorrow, and if I score well, I get admitted to a medical school in the US. Is that right, or do I need something else as well?

Admin khan lol you can take it if you want but scoring well without completing the required courses they tell you to take and that will be covered on the mcat is highly unlikely. Lol go for it tho and tell us about the results you got. I wouldnt even experiment with it tho, from what ive heard its a long and boring exam and a waste of money if ur not prepared. After you get ur score though if you do well, you will need to fulfil the minimal requirements such as basic chem, organic, biology and some others before you could apply to med school.

[Admin Khan]

Admin khan lol you can take it if you want but scoring well without completing the required courses they tell you to take and that will be covered on the mcat is highly unlikely. Lol go for it tho and tell us about the results you got. I wouldnt even experiment with it tho, from what ive heard its a long and boring exam and a waste of money if ur not prepared. After you get ur score though if you do well, you will need to fulfil the minimal requirements such as basic chem, organic, biology and some others before you could apply to med school.

I'm sure I can learn everything that is required for it in a month or two max, during my 12-15 hour study sessions.

[Admin Khan]

Admin khan lol you can take it if you want but scoring well without completing the required courses they tell you to take and that will be covered on the mcat is highly unlikely. Lol go for it tho and tell us about the results you got. I wouldnt even experiment with it tho, from what ive heard its a long and boring exam and a waste of money if ur not prepared. After you get ur score though if you do well, you will need to fulfil the minimal requirements such as basic chem, organic, biology and some others before you could apply to med school.

Alhamdulillah, I already have the best job on earth, as per a dozen sources(and my own experience, we have surgeons and physicians on standby to serve us on a floor above, hired by us )and this will be for fun.

[Herat]

Awesome thread (didn't see it before); as a contribution, Im willing to provide any assistance for UK applications as well as any other UK medical school related business for the users here.



If you can handle the financial burden and are willing to study abroad, you may find it convenient to apply as an international student here in the UK. Here, compared to what seems to be case for the states, the entry requirements for medicine are virtually nonexistent for graduates. The vast majority of our schools require an aptitude test called the UKCAT, which is basically a verbal/abstract/quantitative reasoning test (one standard deviation above the mean will get you an interview in most schools) -I spent about 2 weeks preparing for it.

I don't know about the states but here you do, however, need "relevant" work experience -for most people, the best you can find is usually voluntary work at a hospital/GP but we also do volunteering at elderly homes, charities etc. You will also need the equivalent of a 2.1 in GPA (2.1 in the UK is an average of 60% in overall GPA).

On the other hand, this will probably mean an extra year of medical school. The UK has two routes into medicine, both undergraduate and graduate entry. The former is a 5 year course for school leavers but will accept graduate applicants as well. The later is a specialized 4 year course for graduates only and it seems to be akin to the US system, it also requires a separate entry exam called the GAMSAT which seems to be somewhat similar to the MCAT and will require extensive study (it has a science section, worth 50% of the exam, which tests general Bio/Chem to roughly the first year of undergrad; however, you study for it by yourself).
I think about 3 schools have the graduate only entry option yet only require the UKCAT but I have heard that as a result, the competition for those tends to be ridiculous.

[~Gangster~]

Alhamdulillah, I already have the best job on earth, as per a dozen sources(and my own experience, we have surgeons and physicians on standby to serve us on a floor above, hired by us )and this will be for fun.

Khe de jwend pe khwand poh shwe. Living the goodlife while all of us are lost haha. Yeah if u study for it for a month or two but why would you waste your time if you have no desire to go into the field. Forget ur job you can just live on money generated through the pf website jk.

[BarakzaiAbdali]

So I, with my Engineering degree, can take the MCAT tomorrow, and if I score well, I get admitted to a medical school in the US. Is that right, or do I need something else as well?

Most places will still want the prereqse though they make exceptions at times. Most engineers have already gotten most of the prereqs with the exception of biology and potentially organic chemistry (they are thinking of getting rid of this one and replacing it with biochemistry)

[Admin Khan]

Most places will still want the prereqse though they make exceptions at times. Most engineers have already gotten most of the prereqs with the exception of biology and potentially organic chemistry (they are thinking of getting rid of this one and replacing it with biochemistry)

I don't have organic chemistry, or biology. I took Physics instead. I took the super tough Physics series instead, 3 courses.

I'm serious about taking the MCAT BA, if you can post some advice, that would be great.

Best,

[Admin Khan]

Most places will still want the prereqse though they make exceptions at times. Most engineers have already gotten most of the prereqs with the exception of biology and potentially organic chemistry (they are thinking of getting rid of this one and replacing it with biochemistry)

Even though I save lives as well, I'd just like to learn about the human body a bit more, and it just sounds a bit interesting. I'm not sure how as an Engineer, I'd fit in with the rest. I'm a bit different.

[کیش]

Even though I save lives as well, I'd just like to learn about the human body a bit more, and it just sounds a bit interesting. I'm not sure how as an Engineer, I'd fit in with the rest. I'm a bit different.

Do you work in Manhattan?