Medical School Competitiveness By Country (US vs Canada vs UK)

We all know that getting into medical school in the United States is tough, but how does it compare to other countries? Figuring out how difficult it is to get into medical school in a particular country is not as simple as just looking at acceptance rates. There are many other aspects of medical school admissions like GPA, test scores, prerequisites, and even the steps leading up to the medical school application that needs to be considered. Here’s how the U.S. compares to Canada and the United Kingdom.

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TIME STAMPS:
00:00 Introduction
00:29 The United States
04:08 Canada
06:11 The United Kingdom
08:54 Which Country’s Medical School is Most Competitive?

LINKS FROM VIDEO:

#medicalschool #premed #doctor
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Disclaimer: Content of this video is my opinion and does not constitute medical advice. The content and associated links provide general information for general educational purposes only. Use of this information is strictly at your own risk. Kevin Jubbal, M.D. and Med School Insiders LLC will not assume any liability for direct or indirect losses or damages that may result from the use of information contained in this video including but not limited to economic loss, injury, illness or death. May include affiliate links to Amazon. As an Amazon Associate, I may earn a commission on qualifying purchases made through them (at no extra cost to you).

[KM-]

I find a lot of people, questioning whether they're "smart" enough to do medicine. Perhaps, you can make a video on hardwork vs "intelligence" in medicine. A detailed video on your personal opinion of what it means to be "intelligent" and hardworking in the field of medicine will be interesting! Awesome videos! Keep up the great work!

[Ali-tswn]

In terms of competitiveness
1-Canada
2-USA
3-UK
In terms of pay
1-USA
2-Canada
3-UK
In terms of slave wages
1- UK
2-N/A
3-N/A

[HassanPoyo]

In the UK they pay us peanuts. Its only good if you want to have a relatively decent lifestyle at the expense of pay. Its great if you’re coming from a third world country, if you’re from Canada or the US I think you’ll be better off staying in your country.

[ariyanhoque]

In the UK, things are a bit more competitive than you think. There are actually only a handful of medical schools which accept a UCAT below 2700 and these are mainly aimed for contextual students (something similar to affirmative action in the USA). Most medical schools will require a score above 2700 meaning you need to be in the top 20% at a minimum. Most medical schools, despite their requirements being AAA in a A-Level, are almost certainly likely to reject you if you applied with those predicted grades and usually expect at least A*AA or A*A*A to have a decent shot of getting in. You have also missed out on another key admission exam called the BMAT. This applies to about 20% of the UK medical schools including the most competitive and prestigious ones such as Cambridge, Oxford, UCL, Imperial and a few others - a lot of candidates will take both exams. For these more competitive universities, you would require a top 20% score at a minimum in the BMAT before being interviewed.

So once you have the minimum grade and admission score to meet their cut offs, (roughly about 40% of applicants), you will need to pass the interview (approximately 30%-70% do). At this point you will receive a conditional offer where you will need to meet certain grades in your A-Levels otherwise you will lose your place. Most medical schools, this offer would then be AAA or A*AA (Cambridge being the only one requiring A*A*A).

Similarly to the USA and Canada, there are also a lot of extra curriculars required. Most competitive students will undertake 50+ hours of volunteering / healthcare work within a 1 year period alongside their studies. Work experience in several placements is very frequently a minimum as well as research projects, further reading into the career and many students also take on an EPQ (a large and graded research project) too to increase their chances.

The limiting of four medical school choices also make this process a lot harder as we cannot simply brute force apply to as many schools as we like and hope one of them hits. You have to be very tactical on where you apply by choosing the right schools by looking at previous admissions data - but past figures can often change quite dramatically and students are often rejected from 1 or 2 of their 4 choices they felt confident in because of a sudden and significant change. Yes, we do not have to complete a degree to apply to Medicine, or publish research papers but our application process does take place at the age of 16-17 and is quite intense in a short period of time.

Side Note: this isn't a rant or complaint, but just trying to paint a more accurate picture of the UK medical school application process. The USA and Canada may well be more competitive than in the UK - I just wanted to get a point across.

[khalilahd.]

I actually didn’t know this thank you so much for this video. It really helps when deciding where to go for school 🙏🏽

[obaid.h]

I competed in India where I had to compete with 1.5 million students to get a seat in a Government medical college, I had to rank in the top 2000 students, and I did. Luckily, in India the government College education is almost free so I never had to pay much for my medical degree!

[babalas_]

For A Levels in the UK, an AAA grade would be 80% or higher. An A*AA grade would be similar, with the exception that the grade for one subject has to be 90% or higher

[StudyWithMe]

Cool vid, thanks for the info Med School Insiders! Good luck to all my fellow students out there!!

[roger]

The selection process is nuts in India:
About 2 Million students give the medical entrance exam for about 40, 000 seats.
That's like 50 students competing for 1 spot.

[maddy.kilty.mcconnell]

This was great! Sending support from Canada.

[tagtraumerin]

Germany
- basically you have to have a perfect A-level score
or (since 2020)
- have a really good A-level-score + a perfect TMS (test for medical degrees) + already have a degree in the medical field (I‘ve already got a three year nursing degree + clinical experience) + volunteering

Medicine in Germany is a 6 year degree and you don‘t have to pay high fees
(Sry for my bad english, I worked a hard night shift)

[riandrenel]

Some light on the process in South Africa: We have a very similar system as the UK. A 5/6 year course directly after high school and 3 years compulsory training after med school. So best case scenario 8 years before you get licensed. We have a similar test to the MCAT and UCAT. However, the sheer amount of applicants is what makes our selection so difficult. It might seem like I’m making these numbers up, but I assure you they are accurate.
In 2014 a total of 36000 applications were sent in for a total of 1770 spots. That equates to a 5% acceptance rate… This figure increased a lot over the years. Getting into med school is nowhere easy…

[giuliacaputi]

Wow I had no idea. In Italy is so different! There is a national test happening every year right after the end of highschool, about topics like science, physics, math ecc. and everyone with an highschool diploma can partecipate. Usually there are 70.000 people competing for 14.000 spots, and based on your score you can choose before others where you woud like to study. The highest is the score, the wider is your choice. The degree is 5 years long, and after that there is another national test to decide the specialization (again, the highest the score, the wider the choice) which is usually another 4 or 5 years long with retribution. They don't care about your highscool career or extracurricular activities, if you studied and you know stuff, you get in; if you don't, you have a whole year to prepare better and try again. Onestly, I like this system, since it really values your knowledge. Cheers by a first year Italian med student <3

[tylerm.]

I got my acceptance Monday! Can’t wait to start in the fall

[thecomputersurgeon]

Pleasantly surprised how accurate your understanding of the UK system is to be fair. Only a couple of bits weren't right on

UK is very competitive. It was a 14 to 1 ratio at my med school. Lower debt but also WAY lower pay than the US! Not a good career if you're after wealth. Med school is shorter but specialty training is much longer and due to the monopsony of the NHS, you can't train anywhere but the NHS. Plus there are a lot of specialty bottlenecks that prevent progression, in the name of service provision. Anyway, loving the videos as usual :)

[nxtgenmd]

Great video dude 🔥 for anyone wondering, there's been recent announcements here in Canada that they'll be adding more spots to certain Canadian medical schools and will likely even be opening 1-2 additional schools in the (relatively) near future, but from what I'm seeing and from speaking with new premeds... I'm not quite sure that this will do much to absorb the excess supply of applicants. On the other hand, adding new seats would do very little to address one of the largest issues with the Canadian system which is the lack of family medicine doctors in some Canadian provinces. Especially if the new medical students all decide to gun for ophthalmology or plastics. Hoping for the best 🇨🇦🤞

[darkfireblaze]

Just a few things about the UK medical school application which I think others have touched upon:
GCSE Grades - the grades medical schools want for GCSE's are much lower than what the average medical school applicant actually has achieved. Majority of medical school applicants will have all A*/A's (9/8/7's now under the new grading system).
A-Levels - you are given 'predicted' A-Level grades at the beginning of your last year of college (equivalent to last year in high school in the US I believe). Many uni's may have an AAA requirement, however, to be competitive and have a decent chance of receiving an interview offer you most likely need a predicted of A*AA or higher. Predicted grades are based on your performance in your first year of A-Level mostly, but some teachers can be very generous whilst others very strict - and so there is a slight element of luck in this part of the process.
Work experience/volunteering - wasn't mentioned at all in the video. Whilst we do not have any specific hours like how the US had, it is expected students have had significant exposure in a healthcare/medical setting where they have ideally interacted with patients or followed a doctor. No specific requirements like I mentioned, but it is almost a guaranteed rejection if you apply without adequate work experience.
UCAT/BMAT - Maybe the situation has changed, but when I applied in 2018, a UCAT of below 2600 would not be considered by universities. The BMAT is also another entrance exam which exists, for the more competitive uni's such as Cambridge, Oxford, UCL etc. Many students will have to prepare for both of these exams simultaneously.

[nathanmugande]

You forgot to mention that A levels =four years of your science courses in the US Bs degree. I did A levels in Maths, Bio, and chem and I’m now about to finish my chem undergrad in the US. It's basically the same stuff I did in two years.
Also in A levels, your final grede was based on the final exams only. So you had to learn stuff for two years and sit for about 5 exams at the end. Exams were a mixture of multiple-choice, feel-in, and practical exams.

[igniculusquartz]

Your Canada prerequisite part is mostly incorrect. Most schools have little to no course prerequisites except the University of Ottawa, which does not require any physics. The University of British Columbia requires two semesters of English, but that is its only requirement. The others simply require that you have a 3-4 year degree (some don't even require that you have a finished degree), that too in any discipline. There are also only 2832 seats. I know this is quite close to 3000, but thinking about the fact that is a difference of 168 candidates, I think it's worth the specification. Although, they are adding a new med school soon which might bring the amount of seats up to 3000. I also think the "20% admission rate" is a bit misleading. Most people don't apply to every school, and most schools usually have an acceptance rate of 2-5%. Some have much higher acceptances, but that's only because very few people apply to them, which is a further attestation to my point. I would say your chances of getting in are more around 4%, especially if you're applying to the more competitive schools such as those in Ontario or BC.

[KazuaLzT]

As a top 5 UK med school matriculant, I don't think this paints the complete picture for UK med school admissions, however, what was said was accurate. Good job, nevertheless!