International (canadian) mature student - process/recommendations

Student Lounge International Students
1

<p>Hi all,</p>

<p>I'm in a bit of a unique situation which I can't seem to find a lot of information on. I'll probably get a lot more information by talking to admissions counsellors at colleges, but want to get some feedback from here first from anyone who can provide insight.</p>

<p>Here goes:</p>

<p>I'm 30. Canadian citizen, born and raised, have a decent job (some might consider it to be a great job) in an industry I've never had a passion/interest/respect for. I'll eventually get to why.</p>

<p>I dropped out of good engineering program at one of the universities here in ontario because there were a few extenuating circumstances which completely diverted my attention away from school and life in general. I gave up and started working full time at the age of about 21. Always had thoughts of going back to university to complete engineering, in which I know I would have done well in the courses. I had been getting 4.0's in most of the classes studying somewhat like a "normal" person until the meltdown.</p>

<p>Over the years I've hummed and hawed several times, thinking it would be nice to go back, but money was always an issue. I was happy studying engineering. The knowledge acquired made my brain glow with an awesome feeling of being capable to do anything I wished. I wanted this feeling again.</p>

<p>Maybe I didn't quite think of myself as being motivated enough to do something extraordinary with all that knowledge, or perhaps it was more of a realization of what my strengths were, but I've since decided that I want to go to med school and become a psychiatrist. There are many reasons for this, but I won't belabor the point.</p>

<p>I wish to complete my undergraduate degree in the US, but there are a few concerns:</p>

<p>1) Having gone to university previously and bombing (I don't even want to know what my GPA is)</p>

<p>2) My high school grades are nothing to write home about if all years are being scrutinized. My senior year is where I pulled up my socks in order to get into engineering at my preferred institution.</p>

<p>3) My age, having been out of school for a long period of time.</p>

<p>Intelligence was never an issue, though motivation and focus had been for some time. I know this is a big sign of ADHD, but that's another story.</p>

<p>As a worst case scenario, I will go to university in Canada and try to transfer to a college in NYC, if this is possible.</p>

<p>I would greatly appreciate any and all advice anyone has to offer. Even if its going to a lower tier school and then transferring to something better, citing names of schools in NYC would be of immense help in saving me some time with research. And yes, being in NYC is a priority.</p>

<p>Thanks in advance.</p>

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<p>Is there a particular reason that you want to complete your degree in the U.S., and particularly, in NYC? Why spend multiples of what you would pay at a Canadian university when you want to continue on to med school? That just doesn’t seem to make very good sense to me. The additional issue, and probably the most important one, is being accepted as a transfer student if your gpa is low. That will likely be much more difficult at a new school in the U.S. than if you were to finish in Canada.</p>

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<p>One additional consideration is that it will be very difficult to impossible for you to attend a medical school in the US. (If that’s your intent.) Only a handful of US med schools will even consider international students. And Canadians are considered international students.</p>

<p>Plus you will ineligible for any kind of financial aid (including federal loans–which is how most US students pay for med school) at US med schools.</p>

<p>Canadian med school reserve most of their seat for provincal residents–will attending a US college interfere with maintaining your residency?</p>

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<p>WOWM - I’ve kept the federal loan issue in mind, what do you know about receiving scholarships if I’ve got a high GPA after first year? This is something I’m betting on to help alleviate the costs somewhat, otherwise I’ll have to stick to home.</p>

<p>alwaysamom - My fiance just recently moved to NYC to complete her post graduate studies. She’s a strong influence on getting me to hit the books, so I’d like to keep that present most times. Sounds pathetic, I admit, but it gets the job done and at the end of the day, that’s what matters. ;)</p>