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Logistics of Moving to the USA for Medical School

March 15, 2025
Having recently graduated, I want to share what I’ve learned about the logistical tasks and challenges that I encountered moving to the US from Canada.

Visa
- As a student, you will be on an F1 visa, which the school will help you to obtain before you travel to the US. The process can be a little daunting. You have to do some registration online, and receive something called an I-20 form, which you take to the border to obtain F1 visa status. Note: I’m not an immigration lawyer, and this is not legal advice.
- Once it is time to apply for residency, the visa situation becomes a little trickier since there are more options and things to consider (see my Applying to Residency post for more information on that).
Financing Tuition
- Tuition is very expensive in the US compared to Canada. You can expect to spend anywhere between $400-$500K CAD in tuition + living expenses over 4 years. The same in Canada might run you “only” $250K CAD.
- The banks in Canada are able to lend up to around $250-350K, but you will need a co-signer for that loan or put up collateral. You may also need to apply for an extension or another line of credit entirely once you’ve up the line of credit during your education and training.
- OSAP is actually able to contribute a little bit too. I applied for OSAP each year and got around 5-10K CAD each time. It’s a drop in the bucket, but it helps.
- You cannot obtain student loans from the US government because you are (presumably) not a US citizen.
- Typically, people use a combination of Canadian loans, OSAP, and family support to finance their medical education in the US.
Social Security
- For a lot of things in the US like credit cards, phone plans, etc., you’ll need a Social Security Number (SSN).
- In order to obtain an SSN, you’ll need to find employment while you’re a student. In my case, I applied to be an academic tutor for the university. Once employed, the school provided me with paperwork to apply for a social security number.
- Aside from employment, I’m not sure what other ways exist to obtain an SSN.
Identification
- It’s possible to obtain a US license, and depending on the state, you may be required to (see my Automotive) section below. However, in case you are not driving or using your Canadian driver’s license, you can still apply for a state ID card (it isn’t a driver’s license, but functions as a government-issued ID) for when you need to prove your age. I got tired of having to show my passport just to return something at Walmart.
Banking
- Before you get an SSN, you’ll need to find a bank that will open a card for you without requiring an SSN. I don’t know how many are out there, but I personally used Wells Fargo as my first bank account. I told them I was a Canadian here on a visa and they had no issue with that. Once I got my SSN, I quickly switched to a better bank (Charles Schwab) and applied for my first credit card (Discover). I’m personally not a fan of Wells Fargo.
- As far as credit cards go, I went with Discover as I heard they were pretty easy to get approved for with little-to-no credit history.
- A friend of mine was recently able to open up a Chase checking account with only her passport, address, and a utility bill.
Cellular
- Before I got my SSN, I was on a prepaid phone plan with AT&T. I paid around $350 each year, once a year. I had calling/texting and 8GB of monthly data that would roll over each month. It also worked in Canada, which was a huge plus. Once I got my SSN, I switched over to a postpaid plan with more benefits.
Automotive
- This was the most mind-numbing logistical challenge of moving to the US. I saved the best for last. Long-story short, I recommend buying a car from the US if you can.
- Many states require people to “register their cars within X days of moving to the state”, or some variation of that rule. If your car is Canadian, you would have to first import your car at the border before being able to register it in your state.
- However, medical students and resident physicians don’t exactly have to follow that registration rule since they’re not permanently moving to the state and are technically only there temporarily for their education/training. Consequently, you won’t have to import your car and can continue using your Canadian license plates. However, once you’re done your training, you may then need to figure out how to import your car or simply buy an American car.
- Importing your car can be a simple process, but only if your car is more than 20-25 years old OR has a digital gauge cluster that can switch to MPH from KMH, as well as a TPMS (Tire Pressure Monitoring System). Unfortunately my car is a 2017 model and does not have TPMS, so I am unable to import my car.
- Secondly, if you do end up using your Canadian-registered car in the US, you may still be required to obtain a US driver’s license. Some states may offer to exchange your Canadian license for the US one, but that depends on the state. I personally had to apply for a new driver’s license from scratch.
- There are two insurance companies that I know of who will insure Canadian cars: GEICO and Progressive. I’m with GEICO and I use a Canadian-registered car with Ontario plates, and I have a US driver’s license.
- Each step along the way, I verified these rules and regulations with my local BMV, and I recommend you do the same, as you might find that these rules could be different in different states.
There is so much minutia within each of these subtopics that I feel comfortable guaranteeing that I probably missed something. If you have questions or want to get in touch to discuss any of the above topics, please feel free to reach out to me through any of the avenues linked in the sidebar. Thanks for reading and best of luck.

Why I switched from Pharma to Medicine

March 9, 2025

I get asked this question pretty often. I worked at Astellas Pharmaceuticals for about 18 months – 12 months in Analytics and 6 months in Market Access. After that, I moved to Arizona for medical school.

Although the two industries are related, the day-to-day experience is very different. Each career also has their pros and cons, and I’ll outline some of the main ones below.

	Pharmaceutical	Medicine
Environment	Mostly office environment, but can be remote or involve traveling to clients/meetings	Clinic/Hospital/OR/Remote
Schedule	M-F 9-5, +/- overtime	Can vary from 50-80h/wk, may include weekends
Compensation	From what I’ve heard, it can range from 100-250K CAD	200K+ CAD
Lifestyle	Conducive to balanced living	A little more difficult to achieve a balanced lifestyle

On a personal level, I went for Medicine because I wasn’t the biggest fan of the office environment and because I wanted to increase my salary ceiling. Another factor that I don’t want to overlook is that I feel Medicine awards more independence in your work, although I may find out later in my career that this might be a myth. But per my current understanding, you don’t really have a boss or manager as a physician. Although you may be at the mercy of hospital administration or insurance companies, I don’t think you really report to anyone (except patients?). I also appreciate the respect and prestige that comes with being a physician. It makes me feel appreciated for the work I am putting in. On the other hand, Medicine has a massive barrier to entry: 4 years of medical school, 3-7 years of residency training, and all the tuition + accrued interest along the way. I’m also finding that Medicine does come at the cost of balanced living and has more work-related stress, at least in my specialty. In essence, Medicine requires you to spend a lot of upfront cash, time, and effort for the increased compensation, security, and prestige down the line.

All this is not to say that a career in pharmaceuticals isn’t worth it. Quite the opposite. My colleagues from the Master of Biotechnology at the University of Toronto are doing really, really well for themselves. Despite their young age, many have achieved titles of Director or Senior Managers in the industry, which I think is really impressive and it speaks to the career field’s potential. The work is always evolving with new technologies and market dynamics. The company’s products help patients live healthier and longer lives, and that gives your work meaning at the end of the day. The pharmaceutical industry is also pretty tight knit in Canada – everyone knows each other – and I think that gives rise to lots of access to career opportunities and cross-company movement.

Overall, both careers are exception and like many things in life, it ultimately comes down to individual preferences. Feel free to reach out to me through any of the channels in the sidebar if you’d like to discuss more! Thanks for reading.

Update: May 28, 2021 + Information for the Reader

May 28, 2021

It is great to be able to write another post as it certainly has been some time since I last provided an update. I am four weeks into my summer vacation after completing the first year of medical school.

The first year was challenging, but not impossible. I have forgotten a lot of what I learned, but I feel that I have retained “the big picture”, which is exactly what is intended to happen. There is a steep learning curve with regards to learning how to study and manage your time. Once you’ve figured that out, you’re prepared to tackle second year. Until then, I plan to relax and reflect.

Information for the Reader: One of my motivations for writing this post is to inform you that I am still actively engaging with people who have reached out to me via YouTube or this blog. If you are a student or professional wanting to learn more about MBiotech or medical school, or looking for mentorship in general, I would encourage you to reach out to me. I have worked with more than twenty people who have reached out over the last year, and I have enjoyed every minute of it. If I could do it all over again, I would have found myself a mentor as soon as possible. I can be contacted through LinkedIn or by email.
Update: 2021

February 8, 2021

Hi all,

I am on break after completing the second of three quarters comprising the first year of medical school, so I would like to provide an update for those who may be curious.

The first year of medical school has been quite busy. Based on my observations, it is a 60H full-time job of studying. To date, I have written a total of 41 exams since August 2020, which averages out to 1.5 exams per week.

Although it has been a lot of work, I do think it has been an interesting experience especially given the pandemic and how it has impacted the way students are engaging with the medical school.

The information is extremely interesting, and it is unfortunate that we do not get enough time to appreciate it due to how fast the information must be learned and processed to prepare for non-stop exams. I must include a disclaimer that my particular medical school has an unusually rigorous exam schedule and not every school operates this way.

The material has been a combination of the basic sciences and clinical skills – the latter of which includes learning the components of a physical exam as well as upwards of 60+ osteopathic manipulative medicine techniques.

I have signed up to do research during the next quarter and a few weeks of the summer. The project will involve screening different anti-fungal small molecule inhibitors for efficacy and subsequently producing a paper outlining the methods and findings. This is something additional that I am taking on in order to make a contribution in the realm of research and because I found this more interesting than the other research opportunities that were available to me on campus.

In these past two quarters I have learned how to excel in my coursework. It was a trial-and-error process to identify the most efficient methods for studying based specifically on how my brain processes and understands information. I am at the point now where I feel that I can safely cut back on the time I previously devoted to studying and repurpose that towards research during the quarter. I think this will be a challenge because I have a hard time balancing two obligations at once. It is easy to be a good student when all you have/need to do is study. Once you throw something else in the mix, you are suddenly required to prioritize, and that can be tricky (for me, at least).

Additionally, next quarter I have some interesting courses to look forward to such as: Medical Ethics, Humanity in Medicine, and Immunology. It will be a fresh change of pace to spend time with these courses in exchange for the more hardcore basic sciences that we have had the past two quarters.

Until then, I plan to relax. I will provide another update near the end of the school year as I enter the summer period!
Life Update: Medical School

August 10, 2020

[Written on August 10th, 2020]

Hi,

I am pleased to share with you that today is my first day as a medical student in Arizona, USA. Yes, this is quite the pivot.

On Friday, I made the move from Toronto to Phoenix with two checked bags, a carry-on, and a backpack. So far, the transition has been manageable. I’ve been buying furniture, cooking, and talking to my friends and family who are integral members of my support system.

Since I received my acceptance to Midwestern University, the move has been looming over my head every day for months. But today, there is no more anticipation, and it feels good to leave that constant psychological burden behind – it was exhausting.

On the topic of leaving things behind, I am equally happy to have survived the crucible which is the medical school application process. On the flight to Phoenix, I was reminiscing about a time in early 2019. It was the back-end of winter with sunsets in the late afternoon. Around this time I had decided to apply to medical school a second time, and it would be the last time I could use my MCAT score before it expired. After work, I went to the nearest Starbucks to chip away at the application process. At this stage, I was making a list in Excel of every medical school in North America that I could apply to. I wanted to shoot my shot everywhere. I was going onto every school’s website and taking note of their GPA/MCAT requirements, prerequisite courses, whether they accept international students (in the case of schools in the US), and their contact information.

It was only an hour or two after work and already pitch-black outside, I had the usual ninety-minute commute back home ahead of me, and I remember leaning back against my seat and wondering how the hell I was going to find the time and energy to get through this. In my first application attempt, I was fresh out of university with very few, if any, demands on my time. This time around, I was working a full-time job, commuting 2.5H per day, was in the middle of a gym-everyday-for-a-year challenge, and still maintaining the Chemistryfamous store.

So I started making moves. I quite literally moved to Toronto from the suburbs. My commute remained just as long, but instead of driving, I was able to travel using the subway. I then switched phone carriers from Rogers to Freedom because Freedom offers cellular service in the subway. True freedom. Now I was able to tether my phone to my MacBook. I bought earplugs to drown out the sound of the subway and other passengers to focus on my writing. I skipped morning coffees so that I could have both hands available for typing. I stomached the motion sickness I felt from focusing on a laptop screen in a moving subway on the way to work and then back. This allowed me to turn my commute hours into productive hours.

After dinner, I worked on applications some more before hitting the gym and going to sleep. And, my condominium building had a small gym, so now I had no commute for my daily workouts either; I would just head downstairs at the end of my day to get it in.

I used my lunch breaks at my 9-to-5 to call universities and clarify their prerequisites, citizenship requirements, coordinate reference letters. On weekends, I would continue chipping away at the applications. Yes, I may have spent an excessive amount of time wordsmithing, but I wanted it to be perfect. This was my last (realistic) chance.

Even after submitting the applications, I spent an unreasonably excessive amount of time preparing for my interviews. You’d think the suffering ends when you’ve submitted the last application, but no, a new kind of hustle begins. When I received my interview invitations, I became a legitimate background-check-professional when learning about these universities. I collected as much information as I could possibly get my hands on. I read their websites, forums, spoke to alumni, the whole nine.

Once I completed my primary research, I drilled mock interviews where I’d get suited up and video tape myself answering interview questions (I used Anki to present questions in a random order from a bank of roughly one hundred questions so that I wouldn’t end up memorizing answers to a small handful of specific prompts). I used the video tape to judge myself from the perspective of the admissions committee. It is awkward but very eye-opening. I practiced my interviewing skills in the mornings before work, after work, during lunch, while on walks, in the bathroom – pretty much anytime I had a few minutes where I could talk to myself out loud.

The applications were also extremely expensive. The cost of the applications themselves, the secondary applications to select schools, the flights/hotels/cars for interviews, and the other little administrative costs all together summed to several thousand dollars. By the time I had spent my last dollar on the application process, I had no savings and my credit card was maxed out by the time I had paid for the last application.

On top of these monetary costs, there is also opportunity cost. It was 9 months from first starting on my applications to getting accepted to Midwestern University. It is a bit annoying to think about what else I could have been doing as a bachelor in my early 20’s living in downtown Toronto.

A part of this process also involved resigning from Astellas. I had a good thing going for me there: decent pay, extremely flexible hours, manageable work, lovely colleagues, and a trajectory towards a successful and comfortable career. I would be lying if I said I didn’t have doubts about leaving the pharmaceutical industry for medicine.

As I write this, I am taken aback by the sheer magnitude of the sacrifices I have made just to get to this point. Sometimes I wonder: And for what?

I would say that a factor in my decision to pursue medicine is that I think there’s value in accomplishing difficult things. For me, the experience of writing this post is proof-of-concept – Although the content here is regarding the hardships and challenges I encountered over the last eighteen months, when I reminisce on these experiences I feel pride and happiness. I think that being able to look back at what you’ve endured and overcome gives you a kind of genuine confidence. I anticipate that I’ll feel the same way at the end of this, and that’s really what I’m looking forward to.
MBiotech Update: April 2020

April 30, 2020

I am currently nearing the end of Week 7 of working from home during the lockdown. If you had told me in February that this is what life was going to look like, I (and probably nobody else) would have believed you. Yet here we are.

To be honest with you, I am enjoying the experience of working from home consistently. I had a fairly brutal commute so this is a welcomed change. That being said, I recognize the fortune it is to still be employed during this time.

Astellas has been really great to their employees during the pandemic. We’re awarded excellent flexibility and Friday meetings are no longer permitted in order to give people even more flexibility with whatever unforeseen personal obligations have cropped up. Would I recommend working at Astellas during a pandemic? Yes.

We are currently anticipating returning to the office in June, so I will be back with an update at that time.

As for my experience in Market Access, it has been… challenging. A lot of my time has been dedicated to familiarizing myself with definitions and acronyms. I have started a Word document for myself where I store all of this sort of information as a reference guide. On top of that, the general reimbursement pathway is nuanced depending on the product and the jurisdiction. The added variables contribute to complexity. I won’t try to bore you any further so I’ll summarize by saying that it is (and continues to be) a learning experience. I reckon it will be some time before I’m able to contribute to our team in a more strategic way.

The projects I have been involved in so far revolve around helping the Market Access team get more organized. There’s a lot going on and they needed someone to help them stay on top of everything. For lack of a better label, I am working as a project manager. The role itself isn’t as sexy as it sounds. The best part is just how much I am exposed to. I get to see and be involved in everything that’s happening. I am using the opportunity to learn as much as I can so that I can potentially set myself up to work as a consultant in the distant future.

Final Semester (January – April 2020)

In my last post, I shared with you that I was enrolled in my final two MBiotech courses: GAMBiT and Management of Technological Innovation. As we approached the end of the term, these courses were both ‘virtualized’. The final classes were delivered over Zoom and Blackboard Collaborate.

With respect to the courses themselves, they were very good. To anyone considering the MBiotech program, I would highly recommend GAMBiT. It is a small class with no more than ten students. The class has students from MBiotech, MMI (Master of Management and Innovation at UofT), and Immunology students from UofT, as well. In other words, you’re surrounded by a diverse group of students and that is reflected in the discussion. Every week, we are assigned case readings and are asked to prepare a two-page response to the cases taking a certain viewpoint. Then, we all meet at a cafe to discuss the cases and our responses. You learn a lot through these conversations, and it’s a humbling experience where you discover how much you have yet to learn about… well… science. It is great for building your network outside of your typical classmates, too.

The Management of Technological Innovation course is taught by Dr. Ruben Gaetani, who is a really great teacher. The course is lecture-based but with lots of class discussion. Every week, we discuss cases from the Harvard Business Review, which are interesting to read and often based on modern businesses that many of us are already familiar with (e.g. Spotify, Google, Tesla, etc.). This is a mandatory course, so you’re guaranteed to enjoy this one. It’s a good class to wrap up the program, as we’re able to put all of our knowledge together from previous classes during our discussions. Unsurprisingly, you and your MBiotech team are tasked with one final presentation for the course, which will be the last time you and your group will present together. Make it last.

As of today, April 30, 2020, I am officially done the program! I can certainly say that two years have literally flown by. I now have ‘M.Biotech’ after my last name, which is a flashy designation. Our convocation ceremony was canceled for obvious reasons, but we’re due to have a virtual convocation, an in-person convocation in the Fall, and an MBiotech-exclusive party in the Spring of 2021! I may not be able to attend all of these (due to a more recent opportunity that I will share here in a few weeks) but will try my best.

Also, I uploaded my first video onto YouTube where I discuss the MBiotech program in far more detail for anyone who’s interested.

That’s it for today’s update. I will upload another one in a few week’s time. Thanks for reading. Stay safe!
MBiotech Update: February 2020

January 31, 2020

Hi all! Happy-belated New Year. What a rough year it’s been for everyone – lots of tragic news. It can only go north from here. It’s time for an update, and today I will be discussing some news at Astellas and my initial thoughts on the final semester of the program.

Astellas

Nearing the end of my internship, I was offered a role in Astellas’ market access division duly named Patient Access & Government Relations. These days, market access is a “hot topic” because of the evolving pricing regulations set forth by Canada’s PMPRB. For a long time, the pharmaceutical landscape was pretty stable and predictable concerning pricing guidelines. Now, things are uncertain and companies are looking for ways to respond tactfully to the newer guidelines that are periodically being released. In North America as a whole, soaring drug prices is a topic of conversation especially with the upcoming elections in the USA. You’d think the entire populace is planning a crackdown on pharma.

Another factor to consider is the entry of biosimilars into the market. Biosimilars are to biologics what generics are to small molecule drugs. There’s a catch though – biosimilars aren’t the same as their reference biologics, but they’re close enough (hence, similar). Biosimilars are roughly 25% cheaper than the brand-name biologics, so this is another threat for pharmaceutical companies to consider as the new decade unfolds.

The role of market access is to help the pharmaceutical company negotiate deals with payers that are favorable for all stakeholders involved, while still abiding by the (newer) rules set forth by regulatory bodies.

So, long story short, I’m looking forward to my year in market access. Already four weeks into it, I can tell you that there are a lot of acronyms to learn. Once that’s out of the way and I’m able to speak the same jargonistic language as my colleagues, things should get much more interesting!

Final Semester (January – April 2020)

The final semester of MBiotech is already underway. Boy, does time fly.

I’m taking two courses this term, one mandatory and one elective. The mandatory course is “Management of Technological Innovation” and the elective is “GAMBiT – Generations of Advanced Medicine: Biologics in Therapy”.

In the former, we discuss Harvard Business Review cases as a class. I won’t lie, this has been interesting and it forces you to think outside the box when trying to understand why certain events unfolded the way they did. You also learn a lot from reading about the strategies and philosophies of highly successful businesses and individuals. Often, the cases are fairly new and will discuss a company or individual that we are all familiar with or interact with daily, and it just makes the content that much more engaging and interesting to read. The professor, Ruben Gaetani, is awesome.

GAMBiT is even better. It’s a small group of ten students from different programs (GAMBiT is not just exclusive to mBiotech), and each week we’re assigned a case study and asked to submit a response to the study while holding a particular stance (regulatory, generics company, originator company, etc.) We meet at the end of the week at a restaurant, and we debate and discuss the case over dinner. It’s a good way to connect with really bright and successful people, and everyone has a different thought process because they’re from different academic backgrounds. So far, I recommend it (even if there wasn’t free dinner)!

The End

Thanks for reading this update. As always, if you have any questions for me, I am always reachable by email (ramisnazir@gmail.com).
MBiotech Update: December 2019

November 28, 2019
Hi everyone, I figured it was time for another update since it has been five (very short) months since my previous post! In this update, I’ll be talking about new experiences at Astellas, job hunting, the current MBiotech semester, and what is coming up in the final four months of the program.

Astellas

I’m now nearing the end of the year-long internship at Astellas. The end of the learning curve is nowhere in sight; I have been consistently exposed to new information in my own role and through conversations with my colleagues in other departments.

The pharmaceutical industry is so nuanced that there’s always something more to learn, to understand, to consider. Canada’s government and healthcare industry are constantly changing, which impacts the way pharmaceutical companies like Astellas conduct their business.

In October, I was fortunate enough to attend Astellas’ Fall National Sales Meeting in Vancouver (picture above), a city that I have always been curious about but never really had a reason to visit!

As MBiotech interns come closer to the end of the year, we all develop a new hobby – job hunting.

Job Hunt

At the end of your internship, there are four potential outcomes:
1. Your company will extend your contract, also turning it into a full-time position.
2. Your company will offer you a full-time, permanent position.
3. You will obtain a full-time contract/permanent job at another company.
4. You will be temporarily unemployed.
In industry, you’ll quickly learn about a concept called “headcounts”. Each company is limited on the number of full-time (permanent) employees (also dubbed “FTEs”) they can bring on, and each FTE uses up 1 headcount. As a result, there is competition between employees to obtain a headcount for themselves. By law, companies can only keep you in a contractual position for up to two years, at the end of which they must offer you a permanent position or let you go.

Typically, at the end of your internship, it will be easier for you to score another year on contract since it’s less of an investment and risk from the company’s point of view. Once you’ve got two years of industry experience under your belt, you will have twice the leverage. However, you might also be an all-star and land yourself a full-time permanent role straight after your internship. It happens. The worst-case scenario is that you do not land an opportunity before the end of your contract and you’re out of work. Luckily, the industry is fairly tight-knit and it’s easy to leverage connections, which brings me to my next point.

When I was interviewing, I quickly learned that everybody knows everybody. At one of my interviews, my interviewer had actually worked with my current manager and knew several other people at my company. You will constantly find that people who join your organization are often MBiotech graduates themselves from several years ago, which always makes for an interesting icebreaker. A quick browse through LinkedIn will show you just how interconnected this industry is. It is therefore important to build a good reputation because you never know where or when it might come in handy.

Lastly, to anyone who is interested in MBiotech or even in MBiotech right now, if you’re gunning to stay at the company where you hope to land your internship, be sure to research if the position is designated for interns only. Some pharmaceutical companies have positions that they’ve reserved for MBiotech interns, which means that the likelihood of you continuing in that role past a year is slim. Just a heads up. I would recommend asking an MBiotech alumnus who has interned in that role or at that company for guidance.

This Semester (September 2019 – December 2019)

The summer came to an abrupt end in September, as the days immediately became shorter and weekly Tuesday evening classes came around the corner. This semester, both the junior and senior students participate in a seminar series course where the first set of lectures are presentations by leaders in the pharmaceutical and healthcare industry, and the second half for group presentations by the junior class. In my opinion, the first half of the class wasn’t as interesting this year as it was last year. Anywho, as seniors, we are assigned one junior team to mentor as they prepare their presentation and another junior team to “dragon” or judge during their official presentation. I am part of the dragon panel for the group that is presenting next week, so I will let you know how that goes in the January 2020 MBiotech update.

One of the major assignments in this course is the Disruptive Tech in Healthcare paper, where we have to pick one disruptive technology in healthcare and make a case for why it will be a dominant technology in the next five years. The professor this year is pretty lax, so this was not very stressful.

This is the first year in MBiotech where the program has debuted its “Digital Health” stream, composed of 10 students who will have an educational focus on programming and technology throughout the MBiotech program. For new applicants to the program, they will now have the choice to choose between the Digital Health curriculum versus the original stream (I’m forgetting the name they assigned it – Biosciences or something).

Final Semester (January 2020 – April 2020)

In the final semester of MBiotech, I will be taking the standard evening class in addition to two electives: Decision Analytics and GAMBiT. It’s going to be a heavy course load to manage alongside working, but I will do my best. These are electives that I assume will be offered to future MBiotech students, so I hope to do a thorough review in a potential April/May 2020 MBiotech update to help others decide whether they’re worth enrolling in or not.

The End

Thanks for reading – see you in January! Happy Holidays & New Year!
MBiotech Update: June 2019

June 24, 2019

Hey everyone,

I am now officially in the second year of the MBiotech program, and six months into my internship at Astellas Pharma. The last update from me was in March, at which point I was just finishing up my coursework for the semester.

First off, I want to take this opportunity to comment on a course I enrolled in at the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto, St. George campus: Pharmaceutical Strategy (RSM2017H) taught by Will Mitchell. Take it with a grain of salt, but I think this is one of the most important courses for learning about the pharmaceutical industry. I started this course at the same time as my internship, and I found that it helped me recognize and contextualize a lot of the new information being thrown at me at work. On top of that, given that the course is at Rotman, it’s a chance to meet with a very, very diverse group of people. All in all, it was a useful and refreshing experience. My only warning is that if you plan to start this course at the same time as your internship, be prepared to deal with the brutal Canadian winter during your commutes.

Next, the internship. Now, in all honesty, it’s too early for me to give advice regarding what you should do (or not do) throughout your internship. Everyone goes into their internship with one goal: To secure a higher-paying full-time, permanent job. There are a hundred ways to go about achieving this, but since I’m only six months in, I can’t speak to one of them. However, stay tuned for the MBiotech January 2020 update and I might have something for you. Moving on – The pharmaceutical industry is actually really nice. There are a lot of unique, fun experiences: Sales meetings, development conferences, dinners, and traveling. I’m seeing a trend here; hotels & dinners. The header image is the view from the rooftop pool at Hotel X, where we stayed one week for a conference. Also, it is nice to know that at the end of the day, your work is helping someone live longer and/or better lives. I would recommend Astellas Pharma Canada unreservedly as a place for a new professional to start their careers in the industry. The size of the company makes it a great environment for learning the ropes extremely quickly, and the culture is incredible.

More to come in the next update.
MBiotech Update: March 2019

March 25, 2019

Since the last update, the internships have started. I am interning at Astellas Pharma Canada Inc., and I feel that I can look back and comment on the placement process.

The placement process occurs in two rounds; Almost everyone is matched to a position in the first round, but for those who didn’t, a second round is available.

There are approximately 40 students in my cohort, and in total there were 60+ positions available. Obviously, the quality of positions varies, but there was something for everyone.

The placement process is described as the most facilitated job search you’ll ever have in your life since the University of Toronto has agreements with Canadian Big Pharma to pump in fresh blood annually.

The internships last a year, and after that you may continue at the same company or switch to a new role and/or company, depending on your candidacy. You’ll be on your own at that point, but not to worry, the employment rate upon graduation is very, very high.

The internships themselves are great, in my experience. It’s a great way to get exposed to the industry and learn the nitty gritty details that you might not have picked up too well throughout the coursework. Depending on the company, you may also have several classmates hired alongside yourself and MBiotech alumni already working there. If so, you’ll hardly ever feel like the odd one out in your first few months and the assimilation becomes very easy.

You should squeeze as much as possible out of your internships because the “Intern/Student” title can open a lot of doors for you. People are far more inclined to recommend opportunities, connect you to people, and explain concepts that they would otherwise withhold if you were just another employee.

My internship is in Commercial Operations at Astellas, and it is an analytical role that involves using big data to drive insights and formulating recommendations for sales and marketing. I’ve learned a lot in the last three months since I’ve started, and I’m curious to see where this takes me in the coming months.

Stay tuned for the next update, and thanks for reading!

Kind regards,

Ramis