Hi guys! i really need some help here! May 1st is approaching and I need to decideee
I am planning to become a premed student, so I want to go to a school that has the best premed undergraduate program or has the most research or shadowing opportunities for undergraduate students nearby and one that will prepare me well for the intensity of med school. Also, I wanna go to US for med, will attending a US undergrad increase my chance? Thanks guys~
Your chances for US med school will go up about a percent.
Cost differences? How are your finances for med school?
Thank you for replying! Rice is around 43k, UCLA around 37k, McGill 9k, U of T 6k since I am Canadian. It will be great to save money if undergrad doesn’t make a difference, otherwise finance is not a huge problem if going to US for undergrad meant better chances.
Your chances at a US med school as a non-American are extremely tiny regardless, so I would save the money.
But then I am not entirely sure if I will change my mind or not, so I want to go to a school that is good for both sciences and humanities. I am also considering doing bioengineering or go to law school in US (I can’t do law school in Canada because I don’t know any French but I speak Spanish), will it be better to go to US then?
You’re saving a minimum of $128,000 (UCLA vs McGill). That goes a long way to paying for law school. McGill Law requires French, but you can study elsewhere without it. Besides, you won’t qualify for any US aid for law school in the US, should you require it, and with the lower Canadian dollar, you’re going to be well over $200,000 CAD. So unless your parents have over $300,000 that they can toss at your education, you’re far better off studying in Canada. If you really want to end up in the USA – saving a hockey bag full of cash in the process – shoot for a top US Ph.D. program.
I heard that engineering cares about where u went for undergrad is that true? If I want to become an engineer, which school will be the best option?
@LoveDolphins You have a lot of misconceptions. As long as an engineering program is accredited employers don’t really care.
And where did you get the notion that law schools in Canada, other than in Quebec, require French!!! That is an odd thing for a Canadian to say.
Oh my friends told me to go to the US for undergrad engineering degree if I wanna get a job in the Silicon Valley or somewhere like that. But it’s possible that what they say might not be entirely true. I also heard the law school thing from my friends so…not the same friends though.
Now if I am staying in Canada, I am still faced with the same “where to go” question. Should I go to U of T, McGill or UBC?
UBC probably gets recruited more for Silicon Valley.
Not sure which U of T - Texas or Tennessee? In either case, go to the cheapest school, get good grades and then go to wherever you can get in. Unless you are set on academic medicine, any med school will do, even a DO school or a Caribbean school. You did not mention why you want to go to med school in the USA. We are told that Canada is the model to which we should aspire. By the time you finish residency, you might regret taking on debt for attending a US med school.
Have you visited all three campuses? Which university are you leaning toward at the moment?
Toronto is the best overall university in Canada. Go there! The exchange rate between the Canadian and U.S. dollar will make schools in the states even more expensive!
My advice is to save the cash – med school is very expensive. Adding a lot of undergrad debt to that equation just makes it more difficult.
If you must do your undergrad in the US, you have two fine options in UCLA and Rice. Rice will give you more personal academic support, smaller classes, and more access to professors. UCLA will probably have more programs and classes to choose from, a bigger sports/fan atmosphere, and greater anonymity. Really, these are typical differences between a good private school and a good large public school.
There’s plenty of culture in both Los Angeles and Houston.
One big difference is the weather. There is more precipitation and humidity in Houston – more variability overall. Los Angeles weather is pretty one-note – but it’s a nice version of boring. Both have hot summers, but Houston’s add humidity.
Another difference is in housing. Look into that if you are still considering these two schools.
Considering the massive price difference, which is especially important if you plan on spending even more money after graduation to go to medical or law school I would say hands down pick a Canadian School. I would say though that if you do go the medical school route, you really need to go to a Canadian medical school if you plan to practice in Canada (at least early in your career). US and Western European degrees are fully recognized in Canada but the snag is that it is very hard to get a medical residency without a Canadian medical degree. I have a few friends who couldn’t get into any of the Canadian medical schools (they are small and generally very selective, UofT Medical school only has a 10% acceptance rate) so they went to less selective schools in the US or Caribbean instead and pretty much resigned themselves to practicing in the US. Since you plan to practice in the US after graduation this may not be an issue for you, but you should be aware of this if you plan on eventually going to medical school overseas.
A note on Law school at McGill vs UofT or UBC: Quebec has a separate legal system (based on Civil Law) that runs parallel to the Federal Legal system (Common Law) whereas all the other Provinces have a Common Law legal system. Therefore the legal education required to practice in a Lawyer in Quebec is different then anywhere else in Canada (putting aside also having to be fluent in French), so you should consider that if in 4 years you decide to look at a Law School in Canada.
There are plenty of undergrads from top tier Canadian schools like UofT and McGill who go on to graduate school in the US. An undergraduate who did his honours project in my old lab at McGill just started graduate school at Harvard this past fall with all tuition waved and a ridiculous stipend (god that school is rich!). To be fair he was a standout, straight A student so this probably wasn’t the standard graduate package. Anyway, graduate schools and professional schools tend to want the best applicants possible, and if you excel at McGill or UofT or UBC you should be able to get into a good program at a top US school.
Just a note: UofT and McGill are part of the Association of American Universities (along with Rice and UCLA) so thy do have some presence in US academia.
Thanks for the feedbacks guys! I am choosing between UBC and McGill for Canada and declined U of Toronto already
because the fact that it is located in downtown and near China town really holds me back. However, there’s a possibility that I will go to Asia to find jobs and in that case a US degree will be easier to find jobs since I already asked some people and they told me they consider people with US degree first, then UK, then Canada. Both of my parents, my grandma and uncle vote for UCLA, but I visited Rice and really like it there, but it’s farther away from home. 
Who is telling you all this information about how people consider degrees?
OP, you have some of the most ill informed friends that I have ever heard of! Are these the same people who told you that all law schools in Canada require a knowledge of French?
Why would the fact that U of T St George is in downtown hold you back???