What is the deal with Caribbean Medical Schools?

When I was applying to medical school, I investigated the Caribbean schools as my possible back-up plan. I was afraid my low MCAT scores would keep me out of an American medical school. These are for-profit schools set up by wealthy business men and women that will grant the M.D. degree upon completion of their rigorous training. There are many to choose from and their admissions criteria vary greatly. There are some reputable ones - namely the BIG 3: St. George's (Grenada), Ross (Dominica), and the American University of the Caribbean ("AUC" in St. Maarten). There are others obviously, but these are the big schools that have a long reputation of placing graduates into US residency training programs. Before the Caribbean rage, there was Mexico. Many of our parent's generation of physicians that could not get accepted in the U.S. went to Mexico to get their M.D. The Universidad Autonoma de Guadalajara is the big one that comes to mind. The UAG is a major international player in the medical school game. More on this later.

You might be asking "Why don't I just go to a Caribbean school?". Well, the answer is this...you will be a FMG (Foreign Medical Grad). There are more hoops to jump through as a foreign grad than any other. There are sometimes visa issues and often times they do not get top programs - although this is changing because I know some Caribbean grads that have done quite well for themselves. But, the stereotype is there. The usually land Family Practice, Internal Medicine, Peds, Psych, etc. residencies - the non-competitive ones. You can see a listing of their match lists on their websites to see where their graduates are going.

The best thing you can do is to try to get in somewhere in the U.S. You can't beat home cookin'! There used to be licensing issues with Caribbean grads - not so much anymore, especially from the bigger, more reputable schools.

The admissions standards are generally lower for Caribbean schools. They are for-profit so they used to let anyone in that could pay the bill. Now, in order to develop their reputations, they do have requirements. You must take all the necessary pre-reqs and even sit for the MCAT. Although, there is no "set" number for MCATs and gpa's that guarantees success. Let's just say they'll give you a chance when no one else will and if you're ready to pay the price for your dream! They do offer you that chance to pursue your dream, which thousands of physicians in the US have taken advantage of fully! I'd venture to say for SGU (St. George's), I'd shoot for a 3.3+ gpa and a 24 MCAT (higher numbers to be on the safe side). For Ross, a 3.1+ and a 22 MCAT would suffice. I'd say similar numbers go for AUC as well. UAG (Mexico) as mentioned above requires a 3.0 GPA. The MCAT story with them is suspect. You probably just need to take it and apply. These schools, I must mention, do accept a large number of students (600 students), usually two to three times a year!! This could be good for you OR bad for you depending on how you look at it. It's good for you in the sense that you will probably get in. But, it's bad in that they accept a lot of students and a lot of those students DO NOT MAKE IT through the program, fail out, and go home poorer. BEWARE.

I don't know the rigors of medical school outside this country. I would venture to say that it is more difficult than at a US school for the simple fact of being away from home. Med school is hard enough! But, then again, you can't beat the view and the beach!! I like Caribbean schools. I do. But you must realize that they have pros and cons. You must be fully prepared for the complete undertaking should you pursue them. I would investigate them thoroughly. Check out forums such as Student Doctor Network as well as Value MD. I'd only believe some of what is said, but you can learn more about these schools from such websites. Just take the info with a grain of salt and of course - listen to me and read my blog! :-)

I would advise you to consider foreign schools ONLY if being a physician is the only way for you and you cannot get into school in the US after three attempts. That's right...I'd try...try again...and then try again - of course only after improving your application each time. Oh yeah...don't try to play the cycles. You have no idea where the cycle is and you'll get burned. Improve your application and then re-apply. If you fail to get in after three tries and being a doctor is the only thing you could ever do - then I'd recommend Caribbean schools. Please feel free to visit the websites of St. Georges, Ross, and AUC. Visit other Caribbean schools to see what they are all about. You can click on any of the schools listed on the top, right, and bottom of this page to go directly to their site. If you have any specific questions about Caribbean schools, please feel free to ask. I know them pretty well. I hope this answers some questions and alleviates some anxiety. Please, young doctors, don't sweat this med school thing too much! Remember that you can always fulfill your dreams of going to medical school...and you can do that on the beach in the middle of paradise!

P.S. If you apply broadly, YOU WILL GET IN SOMEWHERE. No worries friends!
Just be ready to work HARD if you go this route!

P.S.S. You can search for these schools using the search box at the top of this page. Just type in SGU, Ross, AUC, etc. and off you go!!!!