Best Medical Schools

Quite often, in any given year, many applicants to U.S. medical schools are turned away, not because of low GPA and MCAT scores, but due to lack of available space. This fact alone prevents many qualified applicants from attending the U.S. schools, and they are forced to look to the Caribbean medical schools for their training.

Unfortunately, this trend continues, and a recent study has found that over 20% of current practicing physicians in the U.S. received their medical school training at international schools. For American applicants, the proximity to the Caribbean makes those medical schools very attractive.

There are several factors that make Caribbean medical schools a natural choice for U.S. applicants. Because of the high cost for medical schools in the U.S., the Caribbean schools offer financial advantages. Even after factoring in the travel, insurance, and other associated costs, students find that attending medical school there is a real bargain.

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One of the first major hurdles for an individual that wants to become a physician, is passing the Medical College Admission Test, better known as the MCAT. For any of the medical schools in the United States, passing the MCAT, as well as having acceptable GPA scores, is required. Granted, some of the medical schools have different criteria for admission, but the MCAT requirement is the same.

The actual MCAT exam is a standardized format and covers various scientific principles and concepts, tests one’s ability at problem solving and the critical thinking required. It also tests the applicant’s skill at reading and writing! The different sections of the MCAT cover what the prospective student will study, including biological sciences, physical sciences, as well as verbal and writing skills.

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What Are Top Medical Schools In The United States

The term “top medical schools” is actually a subjective term and is interpreted differently. If one is looking for top medical schools in the United States, do you base it on general guidelines used by a ranking organization, or perhaps a field of study, etc.? In some cases, reputation is one of the primary criteria – and it shouldn’t be in most situations.

In actuality, if I had a desire to go into the field of research, and was looking for the top medical schools in the United States for this field, would I consider the same schools as someone going into the field of neurology? Probably not – we both should not only consider the school’s reputation, but its proven experience in providing quality education and graduates in the type of program we plan to pursue. Granted, if one of the current top ten medical schools offers our course of study, and we have the credentials and scores to be accepted, the name of that school will most certainly enhance our resume and possibly open more doors for us in the future.

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All Caribbean Medical Schools Are Not Alike – In Many Ways

Caribbean medical schools definitely are not all alike, and the major and most important difference is accreditation. One of the first medical schools to organize was St Georges medical school, a part of St. Georges University, and it proudly boasts accreditation by the LCME and NCFMEA. This university has been so successful that it has added a school for veterinary medicine as well a school for arts and sciences, and is one of the three schools in the Caribbean that are accredited.

The proliferation of medical schools in the Caribbean started way back in the 1970′s, when the Caribbean
islands quickly realized that tourism, although quite lucrative, can be a very fickle thing. They literally put on their “thinking caps” and came up with the idea of starting medical schools. They knew that of the 39,000 plus students that applied each year in the US, only approximately 18,000 were approved for admission to US medical schools. The 21,000 plus students annually, who were not accepted, was a large market that could be served by Caribbean medical schools, and thus medical schools began to open their doors.
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Why Caribbean Medical Schools?

Due to the very strong competition for medical school admission in the US, more and more applicants are electing to attend Caribbean medical schools. One has to be very careful, however, because there are many medical schools in the Caribbean that are not accredited by the LCME or NCFMEA. At the present time, only three Caribbean medical schools are accredited by the LCME process to be eligible for federal student loans.

Before you begin the process to evaluate the right medical school for your goals, you should decide on the state that you will want to practice in. You should also investigate if you will be able to get a residency position in your state, and find out the school’s success rate for that criteria. All in all, there are advantages as well as disadvantages in attending Caribbean medical schools. Let’s take a quick look at a few of each.

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