Dr. Nicholas Conradi left Ireland with a medical degree and $350,000 in debt. That includes federal and provincial student loans, but the majority is a bank student line of credit.Amanda Erickson/The Globe and Mail
For Nicholas Conradi, becoming a doctor was in his blood. His grandfather and father were both pediatricians in Edmonton, and his younger brother was born with a congenital heart disease.
But the path would be long and expensive – ultimately costing him about $350,000.
With an undergraduate degree from the University of Alberta and a master of public health from King’s College London, Mr. Conradi worked in health care consulting at KPMG. But practising medicine was still what he wanted, so he applied to medical schools across Canada in 2015, without success.
Then 26, he could have tried again. He estimates it may have taken another two or three attempts before he was accepted, meaning more years of his life “caught in limbo.”
He had colleagues who spoke highly of studying in Ireland, so Mr. Conradi decided to try his luck by applying to the University of Limerick.
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Fast forward 11 years. Mr. Conradi is now Dr. Conradi, a pediatrician at the Stollery Children’s Hospital in Edmonton, treating those with complex conditions. But getting there included four years of medical school in Ireland, a PhD and residency at the University of Alberta, and a six-figure debt he and his wife are still paying off.
Increasingly, aspiring doctors in Canada, faced with competitive admissions at the country’s medical schools, are choosing instead to train abroad at a substantially higher cost.
In 2000, more than 100 Canadian students were enrolled at Irish medical schools. In 2026, that number increased to more than 1,200, with approximately 300 of them graduating in June.
In Ireland, tuition fees for non-EU students, an unfavourable exchange rate, limited financial aid options, and flights back and forth to Canada can leave students with hundreds of thousands of dollars of education-related debt. That’s significantly higher than the median Canadian medical school debt of $90,000, according to the Association of Faculties of Medicine of Canada (AFMC).
One student, Harrison Levine, studied biomedical science at the University of Guelph and then completed a two-year master’s degree in physiology at the University of Toronto. He applied to Canadian medical schools multiple times: during his undergrad, after graduating and again after his master’s.
Harrison Levine.MAXWELLS/Supplied
The Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland accepted him on his first attempt.
“I always knew I wanted to go to med school, pretty much shortly after I gave up on being a firefighter as a kid,” Mr. Levine said, adding, ”When I got accepted, I knew I had to take it.”
Thousands of applicants compete each year for a limited number of seats at Canada’s 19 medical schools. At the University of Toronto alone, 4,870 people applied in 2026, while its target class size for 2027 is 289.
Constance LeBlanc, an emergency physician and president and chief executive of the AFMC, said the average Canadian medical school hopeful applies three times, while some make as many as seven attempts.
Mr. Levine, now 26, is entering his third of four years at the Royal College of Surgeons. Annual tuition for non-EU students in his program is €62,635, or about $100,000. That doesn‘t include rent, food, transportation or textbooks.
Out of the 80 students in his class, about 25 are Canadians, Mr. Levine said.
To become a pediatrician, Dr. Conradi, seen here at right talking to a colleague, went through four years of medical school in Ireland, and a PhD and residency at the University of Alberta, accumulating a six-figure debt he and his wife are still paying off.Amanda Erickson/The Globe and Mail
While the amount of money involved is considerable, he said, ”if you’re spreading it over your entire life, it starts to seem more reasonable.”
Dr. Conradi left Ireland with a medical degree and $350,000 in debt. That includes federal and provincial student loans, but the majority is a bank student line of credit.
He is now 37, two years past graduating from his residency program. He and his wife are aiming to aggressively pay off the debt within the next four to five years.
Cindy Marques, a certified financial planner, said lenders are often much stricter when students are building up debt to attend postsecondary school internationally. They may require a co-signer, such as a spouse or parent – and that’s when things can get messy, she said.
“As a co-signer, you’re pretty much considered a co-borrower at this point,” Ms. Marques said. “It falls on you, too. There’s a heavy responsibility that rests on you and affects your credit as well.”
People often overlook additional costs such as life insurance and private health insurance, she added.
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When taking out a line of credit for school, interest begins to accrue the moment the borrower draws down on it, Ms. Marques explained. Rather than taking out all the money needed right away, she advised students to draw down only as necessary, to avoid unnecessary interest costs. She also said making a plan is important for international students.
“Make sure that for the sake of the day-to-day costs, you establish a bank in whatever country you’re studying in, so that you don’t have to deal with daily foreign exchange fees from your Canadian bank,” Ms. Marques said.
The path available to aspiring doctors in Canada is widening, as leaders attempt to address the countrywide doctor shortage. According to government statistics, Canada expects a need for more than 78,000 physicians between 2022 and 2031.
Dr. LeBlanc said the number of Canadian medical school seats have increased by roughly 40 per cent since 2010, and further expansions and additional medical schools are planned.
The more complicated path enabled Dr. Conradi to fulfill his childhood dream. Despite everything, he said he’d still make the same investment.
“There are a lot of people who get overseas and miss the chance of treating this like the adventure that it is,” he said. “Study hard, plan strategically, follow your passions. But then enjoy the pint of Guinness.”
Editor’s note: This article has been updated to correct details. Nicholas Conradi's grandfather and father were pediatricians, not family doctors. Harrison Levine's annual tuition for non-EU students at the Royal College of Surgeons was €62,635, not £62,635. The article was also updated to correct the Canadian-dollar equivalent of Mr. Levine’s tuition fee.
