I will change things, I promise

I just made a pretty big promise over twitter, to a fellow canadian who suffers from chronic pain and lack of access to doctors willing to help her. I promised, that if I get into medical school (and graduate) that I would change things in health care.

I don't know how yet, but it needs to be fixed. Health care (in my humble Canadian Socialist opinion) is a right. It is not a business, it is not a luxury, but it is a basic human right that we are entitled to all over the world. Your medical diagnosis, your medical history, your financial status, your sexual orientation, your religion and your race should not dictate whether or not you receive medical care. Sadly, this is not the case, and it makes me angry, especially when I hear about Canadians who are denied access to a supposedly universal system.

I will change things, I don't know how, or when, but I will. When I make a promise, I keep a promise. 

The AMCAS Dilemma

On Wednesday, May 8th, just two days from now, I will be able to start my AMCAS application. This is the summer where I officially apply to donate the rest of my life to the practice of medicine, to the art of healing. I'm almost more scared of what will happen if I do get in than if I don't, and if I get into an American school, and not a Canadian one.

Most Canadian schools (or the ones I am applying to at least) drop your worst academic year. The University of Calgary drops your worst year if you have completed 3 full time years (yippee for me!), and UBC will drop your worst year if you have 120 credits (ie, you have completed 4 years). This is where the problem begins. I am in third year, so uCalgary will drop my worst year, but UBC will not. My best chances for admission are at UBC (if I had my worst year dropped, ie the year I spent in the hospital), which would only happen if I applied in the NEXT cycle, not this one.

So, if I complete my AMCAS application, and I apply to the 10-12 schools I have a chance at in the US, and I get into one of them, but not a Canadian school, do I go, or do I wait a year and reapply? If I wait a year, UBC will drop my first year and my GPA will increase (likely) to above admission averages, but my GPA alone won't guarantee me admission. But UBC has a large rural assessment component to the application (which is very much in my favour as I grew up in a town of less than 4000 people), and my extra curricular activities will only improve with the addition of one more year on my application. So, my application, if I were to apply in the 2014/2015 cycle would likely be much stronger, and my chances for admission are higher.

Back to the dilemma, do I submit an AMCAS application? If I get in only to an American school, do I go? My intentions for the past year was that I would apply to US schools, but that was on the thought that UBC would be dropping my worst year, and now that they won't be, I am second guessing. I want to cover all of my bases in Canada, and ensure I have the strongest application possible submitted to Canadian schools before I hop across our southern border.

I want the best chance possible at becoming a doctor and I don't want to miss an opportunity to fulfill my dream, but waiting one more year and getting in to a Canadian school would mean that I would be at least $200,000 less in debt and be able to get a residency spot in Canada. (Plus, I don't have to write step 1, or go through the silly basic science courses that US medical schools force you to go through.)

WHAT DO I DO??? I just want to be a doctor! (Preferably in Canada, and if not Canada, Washington or Oregon state because they are the most similar places to Canada other than of course Canada itself and New Zealand.)