You could still apply to public US medical schools but admission would be more difficult not being from that state.
“The LCME does NOT accredit any medical schools located outside of the US and Canada.”
I went to the LCME site and you are correct. The 17 schools in Canada are all listed, as well as any school that I can think of in the US (there are too many for me to remember them all). No other school is listed.
Separately I have heard of students going to schools in the Caribbean. However, apparently these are accredited in some other way that I don’t understand. I would be very nervous about attending any of them.
Yes, I’ve heard of the studying in the Caribbean but I’m not really open to that.
What do I exactly need to be qualified to practice medicine in the US? Do I need to get my MD there or would a residency there suffice?
I am completely open to studying in the US or Canada. My final goal is to work in the US but if going to the US from Canada lowers my chances at all, I’m going to be hesitant about Canada. The only reason I want to know how much I can study in Canada but still be able to practice medicine in the US is simply money. Canada is so much cheaper and likely to be less pressure in terms of finances.
US osteopathic med schools have a separate accreditation organization, COCA.
https://osteopathic.org/accreditation/
Additionally, there are several dozen accrediting agencies located in various countries around the world, each with its own standards for medical education
There are a dozen or more FOR PROFIT medical schools in the Caribbean that cater primarily to US & Canadian students who were not accepted to a US or Canadian medical school. Many of the Caribbean schools are eligible for US federal student loans (For now… Starting in 2021, these school must meet new federally mandated minimum USMLE pass rates to hold onto that eligibility.) and are accredited by a Caribbean accrediting agency. The best of these schools send their 3rd & 4th year students to do some of their clinical rotations at US sites. The schools use a business model that requires half or more of students who begin there to flunk out prior to clinical training since the school don’t have enough clinical sites to support all their students.
According to most recent NRMP data, only about 40% of all IMGs/FMGs match into US residency.
@Superpatel101
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So would that mean I would still be open to private medical schools in the US?
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Yes, you would be eligible to apply to all private US med schools.
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I want to know if this is a feasible plan for someone of dual citizenship:
Undergrad in Canada (cheaper)
Medical School in Canada (cheaper)
Medical residency in the US (So I can practice there)
Would I be allowed to immediately practice medicine in the US if I had an American residency?
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Yes, that would be a feasible plan (But like all plans made by high schoolers, your plan has many potential failure points and operates on the assumption that everything goes exactly as planned.)
Yes, you would be immediately eligible for a US medical license once you complete a US residency.
During your 4th year of med school in Canada, you would need to do several elective rotations at US clinical sites so you can gain first-hand exposure to the US medical system, and, more importantly, to gain US LORs from practitioners in your potential specialty.@WayOutWestMom So would that mean taking supplementary US online courses for medical school? Sorry, I’m unfamiliar with elective rotations.
Yes.
You would be a Canadian med grad. Your would not be an IMG.
It will be slightly more difficult to Match into a US residency if you graduate from a Canadian med school–and I’ve mentioned both issues earlier in this thread.
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You would need to prepare for and take the USMLEs in addition to the MCCEE exams. Canadian med school do not provide study materials or support for the USMLE.
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You will need to do several clinical rotations in the US during the your 4th year of med school so you can gain US clinical experience and LORs.
See pp. 8-10 in this report to get an idea of how many Canadian medical grads Match into US residencies
[Results and Data: 2018 Main Residency Match](http://www.nrmp.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Main-Match-Result-and-Data-2018.pdf)
Note: the low number of Canadian students matching is due to 2 reasons:
- few Canadian citizens apply to match into US residency programs since they are basically guaranteed a Match in Canada.
- the Canadian government has greatly reduced the number of Letters of Need it will provide to Canadian med grads, a document that is required to get J1 visa to the US. Something you don’t need to worry about.
However, you might check on whether attending a Canadian med school will require you to sign a contract that requires you to return to practice in Canada for X years once you complete residency. I know this is true for Canadian citizen med grads who wish to do a US residency.
An elective rotation is a non-mandatory clinical rotation. Rotations require in-person attendance .
Your first 2 years of med school are called didactic years and are classroom-based coursework in general medical topics, like anatomy, physiology, biochemistry, disease processes, pathology, pharmacology, immunology, etc.
Your last 2 years are called clinical years because all your time is spent working in hospitals and clinics doing hands-on training with actual patients. During your 3rd year you will do a 3 to 6 week rotations in every basic specialty–pediatrics, internal medicine, surgery, psychiatry, OB/GYN, neurology, family medicine, emergency medicine. In your 4th you can mostly choose which specialties you do rotations in, although every med school has some required rotations during 4th year.
If you want to do rotations in the US, you would apply through the VSAS (Visiting Student Application Service) to do a rotation in a particular specialty at a particular US clinical site. Positions are not guaranteed and are often filled on a first come-first served basis.
Would my Canadian med school treat it as if I’ve done a Canadian rotation? Or would I need to do both? If they’re first come-first serve, does that mean I’d have an equal chance for residency as a person who did medical school in the US?
Also, because I like prepping for the worst-case scenario, if I did undergrad, med school, and residency in Canada, what would be the process to be allowed to practice medicine in the States and what would the time frame look like?
I am not entirely sure what you mean by this question.
If you mean, would you be allowed to substitute a US rotation for an in-house rotation required by your medical school for graduation–certainly not. If you mean will you be allowed to use a US rotation to fulfill an elective option during your 4th year–that would be up to your medical school to decide. Policies vary among schools.
Yes, with the understanding that program directors are individuals who have their own criteria and programmic needs for making decisions about visiting students. IOW, you wouldn’t be screened out just for being Canadian, but being accepted as a visiting med student is always at the discretion of the program director. (This also holds true for US student who apply to do away rotations at other US hospitals that are not part of their home program. A very common practice, btw.)
There are 44 states that will accept your Canadian medical license as a basis for applying for a US medical license.
If you want to work in one of those states- all you need to do is apply for a medical license with the state licensing board. The process takes anywhere from 6 weeks to 6 months, depending on how often the licensing board meets.
A US medical license only qualifies you to work as a general practice physician, not as a specialist.
Getting a US medical license will not make you board eligible/board certified in your specialty.
Getting board certification/board eligibility in the US is a bit trickier. After you’ve completed residency (and ideally after you’ve sat for and passed your specialty boards in Canada), you will apply to the equivalent US specialty organization for an evaluation of your credentials. You’ll supply whatever documentation they ask for (copy of your residency’s curriculum, patient logs, etc) and a accreditation committee will evaluate your materials and decide if your training is wholly or partially equivalent to the US residency training. If your training is deemed wholly equivalent you will be named board eligible and can start working in your specialty as soon as your US medical license is granted. You will be able to sit for US specialty boards just as if you had graduated from a US residency. If your training is considered partially equivalent, you will not be able to work in your specialty without completing further training under supervision (i.e. additional residency time).
The evaluation process can take up to a year.
From the sound of it, it seems like maximizing my chances it simply going to the US for undergrad, med school, and residency…