McMaster or UT???

**wlyyl** · 02-08-2006, 06:11 AM

I currently live in TO, and my first choice was UT life science. From what I've heard, UT's med school is really hard and only 1 out of 25~30 people can get in. A friend told me it is much easier to get into Mc's med school, but it only ranks 8th in Canada (means higher possibility of fail the certificate exam?

). Right now I have absolutely no idea which one is better for me. If you know some info, please share! THX in advance!!!

**Scottish Chap** · 08-08-2006, 04:08 PM

Originally Posted by wlyyl

I currently live in TO, and my first choice was UT life science. From what I've heard, UT's med school is really hard and only 1 out of 25~30 people can get in. A friend told me it is much easier to get into Mc's med school, but it only ranks 8th in Canada (means higher possibility of fail the certificate exam?

). Right now I have absolutely no idea which one is better for me. If you know some info, please share! THX in advance!!!

No such thing as an "easy" Canadian medical school to get into. The U of T does have a disproportionate numbers of applicants with graduate degrees (M.Sc. or Ph.D.) and this makes it harder for applicants right out of undergraduate. Their GPA average is around 3.8 and the MCAT around 33.

McMaster looks for older, unusual applicants. They do not ask for the MCAT. Don't let their website fool you with the "minimum GPA of 3.0 for consideration". They have not accepted anyone with a GPA of less than 3.5 in the last three years. Both schools are LCME-accredited but their mission is different; U of T wants to train medical researchers while McMaster wants to train family docs.

**sweet_lily** · 21-02-2008, 03:55 AM

Also, as McMaster does not require the MCAT, they are likely to get much more applicants that most other universities. Getting into med schools in Canada is very difficult regardless of which ones you're applying to.

**raymdc-89** · 10-01-2009, 01:49 PM

Getting into a medical school in Canada is extremely difficult. It's basically the biggest factor (along with not wanting to spend 4 years suffering over university-level physics, chemistry, calculus and others that mostly won't serve me any good use) that led me away from my own country. It's sorta sad, really.

And when it comes to Canada, I don't think anyone should really pay attention to what 'rank' the med school in question is. They're all LCME accredited, and they give you the same MD. I'm in my 2nd year of med school now (granted not in Canada, but western medicine is the same regardless of where practiced), and med schools will give you the same material you're required to know. If you work hard and don't slack around, you'll do well despite what test is thrown at you. A lot of it is down to you and whether the student has the discipline to put in the effort.

- Ray