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I will be adding the top three Caribbean medical schools to my list of schools. These top three Caribbean medical schools are, to the best of my research so far, Ross University, American University of the Caribbean, and St. George’s University. This YouTube clip is a quick interview with Dr. Lynn Eckhert who conducted a study, published in April 2010, on the education received at Caribbean medical schools.
I’ve started doing some more in-depth research on Caribbean med schools to find out how they compare to the DO schools I’m also looking at. I’m trying to look at objective criteria like:
- USMLE steps 1/2 pass rate on the first shot
- Years 3/4 Clinical Rotation Sites
- Placements into specialties that I am considering
- Class size
- Cost
- Teaching style
This’ll be my weekend project, aside from studying Pharmacology. *groans* I’ll be sure to post my findings as they come up. If you have any facts, evidence, or advice that you’d like to add I welcome the comments. Cheers!
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Flustered Grad 
Rishi
March 27, 2011 at 4:57 pm
Quite a few people from my undergrad matriculated to St. George’s and Ross after graduating, but I never had a chance to look into those schools’ programs. Looking forward to seeing what you find out about them!
Flustered Grad
March 29, 2011 at 11:33 am
Any chance you could put me in touch with some of them? Been sifting through a lot of data trying to boil everything down to solid, objective, non-biased figures. Post should be coming together shortly.
Chief
March 29, 2011 at 2:01 pm
Why are you thinking about caribbean schools? i personally would not recommend them but i am sure there are a lot of people who disagree with me. it all depends on what you want to do after you get your degree. I would be interested in know what you scored on your MCAT and then would probably be able to give you a better idea of what you’re looking at in terms of applying here in the US. Remember MCAT doesn’t count for everything.
Flustered Grad
March 29, 2011 at 2:42 pm
Hey Chief! Thanks for taking the time to post. I’ll shoot you an email with MCAT/GPA and such.
Benji Ho
March 29, 2011 at 9:19 pm
Hi Kevin,
I just stumbled upon your blog and thanks for sharing your journey with everyone. I’d just thought you might find it informational to check out this blog post from a soon-to-be American University of the Caribbean (AUC) student named Spencer:
http://myplasticity.com/2011/03/19/what-led-me-to-choose-auc-objective/ .
He compares the USMLE pass rates from US, DO, non-US schools, and AUC:
US schools on average have a 94% pass rate.
For DO schools overall average this it is 81%.
At non-US schools, overall this is 73%.
At American University of the Caribbean it is 94%.
St. George’s University it is 91%.
Just thought you might be interested. Good luck in the application process and in your journey to become a physician!
Benji
Flustered Grad
March 29, 2011 at 9:34 pm
Hi Benji! Thank you for taking the time to post. Looks like Spencer really did lot of legwork getting data together. Perfect! I will definitely be following his blog and your blog now with great interest. This will really help me with looking into the big three Caribbean schools. Best of luck to you with med school! Hope to see you around!
mymedschooladventure
March 30, 2011 at 2:48 pm
Not to give unsolicited advice, but be VERY careful if you do decide to attend a Caribbean school. They are easier to get into but the reason they have high pass rates on USMLE is because they pre-test everyone to determine their eligibility to take the USMLE. There are also disadvantages when it comes time to match into residencies, particularly if you are trying to go into a competitive field.
Good luck with everything, though!
Flustered Grad
March 30, 2011 at 3:03 pm
Thank you for taking the time to comment and for the friendly advice! I’m being sure to do lots of research as seek out all the information I can so that I go into things with my eyes open. I’ve heard horror stories as well as glowing success stories too.
Graduate entry medicine
May 3, 2012 at 2:10 am
You got a really useful site I have been here reading for about an hour. I am a newbie and your success is very much an inspiration for me…
Hallie Chandler
May 13, 2012 at 3:22 am
I really enjoyed your post. I think that putting the Caribbean Medical Schools on your list is a great idea. I will attending UMHS St. Kitts this fall. You might want to consider that one as well. They really invest in their students and have already seemed to earn a great reputation. Either way, I’ll keep looking back to see what happens and what you decide.