How do I become a doctor in Canada?

So, you want to become a doctor? Amazing! Canada needs more! The steps and requirements to joining the medical profession are different depending on where you apply to medical school. Let’s get into it.

How do I get into a Canadian medical school?

Canada currently has 17 medical schools in eight provinces. Admission requirements vary, but here are some general guidelines to consider:

• Most schools require at least a bachelor’s degree. It’s more competitive than ever to get into medical school. Some students apply only after completing advanced degrees.
  • There is no specific “pre-med” major or degree. However, most medical schools have prerequisite courses, like some level of biology, chemistry and math, as part of their academic admissions criteria.
• The number of medical school spots available is determined by provincial governments and shaped by budget and future workforce requirements.

Do I need to take any entrance exams or tests?

It depends on the school, but likely yes. There are two main tests to guide admissions to Canadian medical schools:

• The Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) is a computer-based standardized examination for prospective medical students in the United States, Australia and Canada.
• The Computer-Based Assessment for Sampling Personal Characteristics (CASPer) test is a 90-minute, web-based Situational Judgment Test designed to evaluate key personal and professional characteristics.

️What’s medical residency like in Canada?

Residency provides medical school graduates with hands-on training in their chosen field. It is required for a license to practise medicine in Canada.

• The Canadian Resident Matching Service (CaRMS) assigns residency spots. The process involves interviews and ranking lists from both applicants and prospective programs. Students share their wish list of programs and hospitals share a list of expert fields they are looking to fill. CaRMS then uses an algorithm to match applicants with available residency spots.
  • Medical graduates who complete their education in Canada must take the Medical Council of Canada Qualifying Examination (MCCQE) Part I at the end of medical school. This exam can be taken (or retaken) during residency if necessary. All examinees have a maximum of four tries to pass this exam.
  • Medical graduates who complete their education outside of Canada must complete both the MCCQE Part I and the National Assessment Collaboration (NAC) Examination before applying to a Canadian residency program.
• Depending on the specialty, residency can take anywhere from two to seven years. Family medicine has the shortest, a period of two years. General surgery requires five years. Pediatric surgery requires seven.

At what point do students officially become a doctor?

Once Canadian medical students acquire skills through years of education and training, they need to make it official with licensing, certification and registration.

• Doctors first apply to be included on the Canadian Medical Register, also known as the Licentiate of the Medical Council of Canada (LMCC). If you want to practise medicine in Canada you need to be on this list, but it’s not a license to practise.
• Doctors also need to apply for licensure with the provincial and territorial medical registration authority of the jurisdiction in which they would like to practise. Right now, you can’t use one license to practise across the country but that’s something a lot of doctors want to change.
• Depending on what kind of medicine they will practise, doctors need to get a specialty certificate from the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, the College of Family Physicians of Canada or the Collège des médecins du Québec.
• Learning is ongoing! Throughout their careers, doctors maintain their certification through continuing education and professional development.