The Road Not Taken (Yet)

If your dream is a career in medicine then your goal should be to become a physician, NOT to get into my first choice medical school. If, like so many of your peers, you weren’t offered admission into a Faculty of Medicine in Canada, there are other roads you may travel to reach the same destination, otherwise known as Plan B.

Thousands of students each year go abroad to earn their Doctor of Medicine (MD) degree with the goal of returning to Canada for their residency and/or licensure as a physician. While looked at as a Plan B to studying closer to home, the amazing benefits you stand to gain from your study abroad experience are often overlooked. Academically, the MD curriculum mirrors that of medical schools in North America preparing students for the licensing exams, clinical rotations and residencies of students in North America. Personally, students pursuing studies internationally agree that they returned more mature, with greater self confidence and with a broadened world view.

From the standpoint of reaching your goal, a global medical perspective and the ability to include International medical experience on your CV demonstrates to Residency Program Directors that you are:
- A Team Player who has experience interacting with locals and fellow foreigners
- Flexible and can adapt to new or unusual circumstances, critical to problem solving as a physician
- Independent and responsible for having established to new study routines in a new environment to ensure your academic success

Studying abroad strengthens your adaptability, communication skills and critical thinking, all tools that no future physician should be without.

Not being accepted to a medical school close to home should not mean abandoning your goal. If your goal is to become a doctor, consider taking the road less traveled by, as poet Robert Frost said, it may make all the difference.