I am not a Canadian resident or citizen, but I would like to go to Medical School in Canada.
Not sure if it would be a good idea to apply to Medical school there. Would it be a problem if I want to return for the Residency? Would I need to take some type of degree re-validation if I become a doctor through a Canadian school? I was under the impression that US and Canada accepted each other’s MD degrees without re-validation, but I am not sure. Will I be treated like any other US medical school graduate at the time of the residency, meaning same admission chances? I know that there are loans available for schools like Calgary, BC, etc https://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/prepare-for-college/choosing-schools/types/international#financial-aid-for-degree . Thank you for any advice.
The US and Canada have an integrated medical education system. each country recognizes the others MD as equivalent to its own. However, most medical schools in Canada do not accept any international students and those that do accept very few.
As in the US you would have to obtain a bachelor’s degree before applying to medical school.
It is very difficult for a non-Canadian to get into medical school in Canada. Some of the medical schools in Canada if they accept any non-Canadian students charge a high tuition for international students and as @TomSrOfBoston said only accept very few. Two that you might consider (or at least check out their web sites) are Dalhousie and McGill. Calgary and UBC also have very strong medical schools (as do many other schools) but I am not sure whether they accept international students for medical school (they do for their undergraduate programs).
If you are a US citizen and if you do succeed in going to medical school in Canada, then doing residency in the US should not be a problem.
Also, going to Canada for undergraduate study is a very different story, and is a relatively straightforward thing to do.
Calgary and UBC will not consider any international applicants. (And in Canada, US citizens are international applicants.)
Dalhouse accepts up to 10 international applicants per year, but those 10 seats are sponsored seats, reserved under a contract with a foreign government. (Which is not the US)
McGill only considers Canadian citizens/PRs or those who are current visa students in Canada.
Out of all the Canadian medical school only U Toronto is “friendly” to US citizen/US educated applicants. It has a special ombudsman to assist US & other international applicants to its programs. Tuition at UT for internationals is over CDN$80,000/ year. http://www.md.utoronto.ca/international-us-applicants
**Please note in the linked document, the number of “foreign” students includes all Canadian citizens, permanent residents or “landed immigrants” who are attending college outside of Canada so the number of foreign students accepted may be misleading.
US citizen graduates of Canadian medical schools are consider to be domestic applicants for US residencies.
There is one disadvantage to attending a Canadian medical school, Canadian medical schools require students to take MCCQE; US residencies require USMLE scores. This means you’re on your own to study for and take the the USMLE.