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If you open Google and do a search for \u201cCaribbean medical schools\u201d, it will quickly become clear to you that not everyone is a fan (seriously, just check out these Reddit threads). Which is fine\u2014not everyone likes cilantro, either\u2014but just because something doesn\u2019t work for one person doesn\u2019t necessarily mean it hasn\u2019t worked for hundreds.<\/p>\n
Established, upper-tier Caribbean medical schools are credible alternatives for hardworking students unable to secure seats at US schools. That\u2019s provable fact. Thousands of students across multiple Caribbean and international medical schools have secured residencies and moved on to fulfilling careers in medicine.<\/p>\n
Then why do they have a negative reputation?<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s Why Caribbean Medical Schools Get a Bad Rap.There are more than 80 Caribbean medical schools. All of them award Doctor of Medicine (MD) degrees, and the majority of them claim to offer a US-modeled curriculum. So far so good, right?
\nWell, not necessarily.<\/p>\n
Completing your medical education and earning your medical degree is an incredible accomplishment, but it won\u2019t be enough by itself to launch your medical career. You\u2019ll need to be accepted to, and complete, a residency program\u2014a period of intensive postgraduate training in whichever specialty you select, whether it\u2019s a primary care discipline or more competitive specialties.<\/p>\n
Long story short: Without completing residency, you can\u2019t become licensed to practice medicine. And to complete a residency, you\u2019ll need to secure an invite to the program you want.<\/p>\n
The probability of a student successfully attaining a residency is directly tied to his\/her academic performance\u2014and academic performance, of course, correlates with both the quality of your medical program and the efforts you put in to learning and retaining the material. Residency program directors look at your clinical performance, your results on licensing exams, and a host of other metrics when they make decisions on who to invite to their programs.<\/p>\n
Medical school graduates who fail to place in residency can try again for a future cycle\u2014and indeed, some graduates find success on their second or third attempts. But some, unfortunately, never do, and all they\u2019re left with is medical degree they can\u2019t use, mounting debt, and horror stories to share on social media.<\/p>\n
Not all Caribbean med schools are created equal. Just like medical programs in the United States, low-quality programs are far more likely to give you low-quality results.<\/p>\n
Don\u2019t worry, though. We\u2019ve got you covered. Out of those roughly 80 Caribbean schools mentioned above, there are a scant handful considered reputable, successful, and legitimate by the public at large. We\u2019ll even show you how you can use hard data\u2014quantifiable metrics\u2014to objectively measure a Caribbean medical school\u2019s quality as best you can.<\/p>\n
Though quality is subjective, there are three hard metrics you can point to that can help determine a Caribbean medical school\u2019s overall quality.<\/p>\n
Accreditation is a process in which experts evaluate a given program and determine whether it meets the accrediting body\u2019s standards. Medical schools are subject to accreditation\u2014it\u2019s a key indicator of whether an objective, outside agency believes in the legitimacy of the degree-granting institution.<\/p>\n
Note that there isn\u2019t an official US accrediting body for Caribbean medical schools\u2014meaning the Department of Education (DOE) does not personally come to assess Caribbean med schools.<\/p>\n
Rather, you\u2019ll want to look for a Caribbean medical school that holds an accreditation recognized by the World Federation for Medical Education\/Foundation for Advancement of International Medical Education and Research (WFME\/FAIMER). This is important. After 2023, the Educational Commission on Foreign Medical Graduates (ECFMG) will issue certification only for degrees from a school accredited by a WFME-recognized agency.<\/p>\n
The two most common accrediting bodies you\u2019ll see for Caribbean medical schools are the Caribbean Accreditation Authority for Education in Medicine and Other Health Professions (CAAM-HP) and the Accreditation Commission on Colleges of Medicine (ACCM). Both are recognized by the WFME, and the standards employed by both agencies are recognized by the US DOE\u2019s National Committee on Foreign Medical Education and Accreditation as comparable to US medical programs.<\/p>\n
If the Caribbean medical school you\u2019re considering holds one of those two accreditations, consider that a stamp of high educational quality. If they don\u2019t, well, caveat emptor.<\/p>\n
Caribbean medical schools have academics admissions requirements lower than those typically seen at United States medical programs. But that doesn\u2019t mean that Caribbean medical programs are necessarily subpar or in some way easier to complete than their mainland counterparts. In fact, hundreds, of not thousands, of graduates from Caribbean medical programs get into residency programs every year.<\/p>\n
The absolute best Caribbean medical schools are just as rigorous and comprehensive as US or Canadian programs\u2014if not moreso, due to their accelerated nature. Furthermore, Caribbean med school graduates with their eyes on US practice are required to take the exact same test as their US counterparts\u2014the United States Medical Licensing Examination, commonly known as the USMLE.<\/p>\n
This three-part exam includes the following components\u2014and one of the three is the top criterion considered by residency directors when interviewing physicians for programs.<\/p>\n
\u2022 USMLE Step 1 tests a medical program student\u2019s general knowledge of the basic sciences, or medical theory.
\n\u2022 USMLE Step 2 is made up of two parts\u2014clinical skills (CS) and clinical knowledge (CK).
\n\u2022 USMLE Step 3 assesses whether medical school graduates are ready for unsupervised practice.<\/p>\n
According to a 2018 survey of residency program directors, the National Resident Matching Program found that residency directors consider an applicant\u2019s USMLE Step 1 score to be the single most important criterion when interviewing medical school students for a residency spot. In fact, according to that same survey, nearly 90 percent of respondents say that they would never offer a residency position to a candidate who failed Step 1 even once.<\/p>\n
Keep in mind that for some medical programs, passing Step 1 of the USMLE isn\u2019t enough\u2014you\u2019ll need to earn a benchmark score, usually set by the program director, to even enter the consideration phase. Residency directors use special software that can filter out different applicants based on certain criteria; some filter based on whether that student passed Step 1 on the first attempt, while others filter based on numerical score.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s this mean? If you bombed the USMLE or didn\u2019t pass it on the first try, the odds are high that the majority of residency directors won\u2019t see your application. That\u2019s how important it is.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s why you may have seen some Caribbean medical schools touting their USMLE first-time pass rates. If it\u2019s a high number that\u2019s comparable or above US or Canadian pass rates, then you can feel confident about that school\u2019s academic program and support services. If it\u2019s not, be cautious: because USMLE Step scores are so closely tied to attaining a residency, you\u2019ll want to attend a school that can prepare you to ace them.<\/p>\n
Two more tips:<\/p>\n
\u2022 It\u2019s great to see a school\u2019s first-time pass rate is high, but residency directors will look at your score, not at the university\u2019s pass rate. Keep that in mind. You won\u2019t want to just pass the USMLE, you\u2019ll want to earn a competitive score.
\n\u2022 Take a look at that residency director survey we linked to before\u2014that data will give you some great guidance as you look forward to residency. (It\u2019s never too early to start planning.) You\u2019ll probably be surprised at program directors consider to be the second-most important criterion in an applicant\u2014it isn\u2019t Step 2 of the USMLE, believe it or not.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s sum up. As you\u2019re vetting Caribbean medical programs, you\u2019ll want to look at the following things, in addition to other important topics like financial aid and scholarships:<\/p>\n
\u2022 Strong residency performance
\n\u2022 Accreditations
\n\u2022 USMLE Step 1 first-time pass rate<\/p>\n
One thing to note\u2014and that most of the top-tier Caribbean medical schools stress\u2014is that medical programs are chances for you to succeed, but they aren\u2019t magic bullets. You\u2019ll have the tools, the information, and the support from faculty and peers that all medical school students need to succeed.<\/p>\n
But at the end of the day, excelling in medical school is up to you. Here at AUA, we provide all the tools needed for our students to succeed in their paths to become Medical Doctors. Take a look into our accreditations<\/a> and student success<\/a> here.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" If you open Google and do a search for \u201cCaribbean medical schools\u201d, it will quickly become clear to you that not everyone is a fan (seriously, just check out these Reddit threads). Which is fine\u2014not everyone likes cilantro, either\u2014but just because something doesn\u2019t work for one person doesn\u2019t necessarily mean it hasn\u2019t worked for hundreds. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6542487,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6595499","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-campus-highlights"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/myaua.auamed.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6595499","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/myaua.auamed.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/myaua.auamed.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myaua.auamed.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myaua.auamed.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6595499"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/myaua.auamed.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6595499\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myaua.auamed.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6542487"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/myaua.auamed.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6595499"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myaua.auamed.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6595499"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myaua.auamed.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6595499"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}