I was a student at auc many years ago but did not graduate. At that time, each incoming class had 100 students x 3 incoming classes per year. So I wouldn’t say there aren’t a lot of auc students, it’s just hard to know about their bias. People who are still students or already graduated will try not to say too many bad things because it will hurt their own prospects. People like me, who had bad experiences, will think most about that in their responses to you. And there are a lot of us like that. (On one of the first days of class, 1 of the faculty told us to look to the left and the right of our seat. Either me, or 1 of the people next to me would not be there in 4 years. Looking back at the people who dropped, the faculty member was about accurate. And that’s not counting the people who were held back/repeated.) So take my advice with a grain of salt, especially since I left a few years ago.
1) How does a student get dismissed? Can they repeat the class/semester if so how many times?
Students most commonly seemed to get dismissed for failing classes beyond what is accepted. I can’t remember exactly then, but you shouldn’t repeat a class more than twice (you can repeat) and you can’t fail more than a certain number of classes in a semester. You’ll have to check on these in their student handbook. I am sure you can get dismissed for unprofessional behavior but I have never heard about that or seen an auc student behave in a way that would warrant that action.
2) Are their exams very nit-picky?
They are pretty standard and you could score well if you work hard. We had a practice standardized exam for finals once.
3) Do students usually finish in 4 years?
On average, no. Only the strongest pass in 4 years. This minimum threshold is not the measuring stick you should use though. Look at the match for a given year and count the number of graduating students versus the number who started 4 years before. Also See comment above.
4) Is there a Comp exam/NBME you have to pass with a certain % before taking Step 1?
There was when I was there. I think this can only help you because the school will save you from taking the exam before you are minimally ready.
5) If you could go back would you still go to AUC or another school? How is your experience so far?
I would have not gone to auc at all. I would have fixed my gpa, studied harder for the mcat and maybe gotten a masters degree. I would have applied to us schools.
I think auc and Ross are the safest options in the Caribbean now, but they are not actually safe options. The student accomodations and resources are like vacation and actually exist, respectively. caribbean schools, mo matter which 1, will be happy to use you in advertisements if you make their school look good. But you will not be helped if you have difficulty, a big possibility if you had academic issues or test anxiety in the past or if you are just immature. There is a pitiful amount of research capacity at these schools compared to mid tier us schools, so know that you need to seek out research opportunities in your own.
If you are not past 26 years old and you think you have learned how to be a good student, go back and fix your mistakes. You can do better and you deserve better. It’s a difference of a couple years in graduating med school but your experience in med school and your job prospects are likely to be vastly different.
